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Meeting with Children for Separation and Divorce Practitioners

In this course Dr Lorri Yasenik and Jon Graham explore the skills necessary to meet with post separation children and youth. The course is highly experiential providing many practice opportunities. The skills taught will add to the practitioner’s tool box for work with children as well as work with parents who find it difficult to remain regulated in traditional ADR processes. Lorri, a child specialist and registered play therapist, family mediator and Jon a specialist in complex family mediation bring an eclectic skill set into this training.

Meeting with Children for Child Protection Practitioners

This 3-day program is designed for those working in the Child Protection system. The training is designed to increase practitioner skills in using non-evaluative approaches to child inclusion. The program emphasizes child meetings and the use of inquiry skills in addition to forensic interviewing skills. Once a child has a child protection status, child protection systems need to continue to gain the input of the child to ensure child inclusion. In some jurisdictions, there is no establishment of “best interests” of a child until the child also provides his/her input. This is a principle that could be adopted by all jurisdictions based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This program trains practitioners to use a number of standard tools used to identify child and parent readiness for child inclusion as well as a tool for organizing and categorizing child/youth feedback. The training adds a guiding structure for the practitioner to ensure ongoing child inclusion as well as to how to provide feedback to parents and other caregivers.

Meeting with Children for Child Protection Practitioners focuses on:

Introduction to non-evaluative child inclusive practice principles
The difference between inquiry skills and forensic interviews
Practice activities and case examples
Introduction and practice using 3 practitioner tools: Child and Youth Readiness Scale (CYCRS), Parent Readiness Scale (PRS) and the Child and Youth Concerns Scale (CYCS)
Strategies for increasing Parent Readiness and Child and Youth Readiness for child inclusion
Use of the CYCS for report writing as related to including the voices of children and youth
Child inclusion: How and when to include children and youth directly vs. indirectly after gaining their input?
Introduction to and use of a child development tool

Meeting with Children for Judges

This one-day program is designed for Judicial Officers working in the Family Court system. This training focuses on core skills and principles for meeting with vs. interviewing children and youth. This practical training program is intended to provide Judicial Officers who either must meet with children or choose to meet with children with the tools for engaging in non-evaluative ways. The training will provide special guidance for safe and effective ways to make contact with young people.

Meeting with Children for Judges focuses on:

Principles of meeting with children vs. interviewing children
Introduction of a “standard way” to meet with children
A non-evaluative meeting approach
Two simple projective activities to use with children/youth
Focus on child development principles for meetings
Provision of a child development tool
Practice activities and case examples

Meeting with Parents for ADR and Family Law Practitioners

This two-day program is designed for family law practitioners including mediators, parenting coordinators, family dispute resolution practitioners, family law lawyers, children’s lawyers, children’s therapists, and child consultants. MWP uses the Child-Centred Continuum Model for understanding and working with parents who present from highly dysregulated to more emotionally organized. This training looks at four levels of parent presentations and examines ways to increase Parent Readiness to hear their children’s input.

Meeting with Parents for ADR and Family Law Practitioners focuses on:

Identifying the continuum of parent presentations
Strategies for working with and increasing parent readiness for child inclusion and parenting planning
Strategies for calming and managing dysregulated clients
How to bring appropriate levels of information back to different parents at each level of readiness parents from children
Identifying the intersection between child readiness to provide input and parent readiness to hear their child
Advanced use of the Parent Readiness Scale and the Child and Youth Readiness Scale in practice
Identifying Child Development factors related to parent feedback
Parent and Child Temperament

Parenting Coordination Training

Parenting Coordination is a child-centred alternative dispute resolution process that is particularly appropriate for parents who are in high conflict post separation and divorce. Parenting Coordination is an on-record, “With-Prejudice” process. Parenting Coordinators are typically mental health or legal professionals with additional training in child development, family systems, domestic violence, mediation and arbitration. Parenting Coordinators assist parents in high conflict to implement and, in some instances, create their parenting plans.

Parenting Coordination is a structured, mental health, ADR process that combines family systems interventions, psycho-education, case management, conflict management, negotiation and, when necessary (if part of the process), decision-making functions (arbitration). Parenting Coordinators have extensive experience and qualifications for working with high conflict situations related to separation and divorce.

Parenting Coordination training learning objectives

Participants will:

Learn about the multifaceted role of the Parenting Coordinator
Identify how and when to include children and also how to make use of the Child and Youth Concerns Scale
Create a structured approach to managing the PC role including strategies to assist parents in high conflict
Learn how and when to record session content and how to develop a contract that addresses the necessary components for the PC process
Explore the role of Arbitrator as part of the PC role and compare and contrast PC with Arbitration and PC without Arbitration
Review inclusion of children and identify developmental issues and special ways to include children in a safe an appropriate manner
Learn about family systems in relation to high conflict
Identify how and when to use the Parent Readiness Scale and how to work with dysregulated clients
Learn about and identify alienation factors and management strategies
Be exposed to domestic violence screening and assessment and how to work with power imbalances
Identify ethics and ethical dilemmas through case examples and small group exercises
Partake in role-plays and small group exercises in order to enhance practical skills needed by the Parenting Coordinator

Click here for more information about Parenting Coordination training

Advanced Approaches to Pre-Meetings with Family Law Clients

This one-day program focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for an advanced practitioner working with separating parents. This course will be of interest to family mediators, family dispute resolution practitioners, parenting coordinators, family law lawyers, and collaborative lawyers. Those in attendance will study a number of factors that will assist in understanding and preparing to work with clients during their pre-meetings. This training will assist the practitioner to become more systematic during pre-meetings. Participants will have the opportunity to look at a number of case examples and they will examine a variety of issues raised by their clients and identify ways to organize and manage the different types of information that comes forward. Practitioner “use of self” will also be explored.

Advanced Approaches to Pre-meetings with Family Law Clients focuses on:

Trauma informed practice
Understanding temperament factors
A staged approach to client meetings
Parent readiness factors and use of the Parent Readiness Scale (PRS)
Use of self when working with client presentations
Ethical practice
Practical exercises: case studies
Strategies for calming dysregulated clients
Preparing self: Practitioner Readiness Checklist

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