Resolutions for Separating Families

programs

that support separated families include:

• Being a Dad
• Making Choices —dealing with anger in relationships
• Positive Parenting —positive communication and other parenting techniques
• Challenge of Disciplining your Children
• Ideas for Parenting Teens —how to effectively communicate & set boundaries with your teenager
• Parents not Partners —for separated parents in conflict over parenting issues
• Building Connections —helping separated parents have strong healthy relationships with their children
• Self-esteem and Communication
• Re-building —after separation or divorce

All of these programs are run as either individual or in groups depending upon the circumstances and personality of the client concerned. They can be undertaken either in conjunction with counselling and/or case management services or as stand-alone relationship skills and education courses.

Family separation is a time of crisis for most people that can pervade every aspect and waking moment of their lives. There are ripple effects, too, that persist for a long time—sometimes years—after the crisis is passed. Managing the ripple effects involves the courage to face and adjust to each new situation as a separated person as it arises. The children also need courage, and an understanding parent, when they are missing day to day contact with a parent and especially when they see other children with their Mum and Dad together.

personal counselling

someone for people in separated families to talk to about:

• practical concerns and new roles like cooking, shopping, or being the sole breadwinner
• safety or financial security concerns
• the effect of the separation on the children
• decisions that need to be made now there's no-one to share in the decision-making process
• accepting the on-going nature of the relationship with the other parent who is no longer a partner
• how to manage the raw, difficult feelings of loss that accompany separation, whether it was by choice or not
• feelings of loss of connection with the children —whether for the non-residential parent or for the parent with primary care who's so busy that there is not enough time with the children
• problems dealing with step-family members
• old wounds being opened by new circumstances such as the ex-partner taking on a new partner

family counselling

to help separated families communicate when:

• they are having trouble working out arrangements for the children that work for everyone involved
• child support payments are too much or too little
• a parent is concerned about the children's wellbeing or safety –—emotional or physical— when they are with the other parenting decisions need to be made— Which school should a child attend? How can a child be supported to have the music lessons they want when money is short all round? What to do when a parent has work changes that would mean re-locating?

family dispute resolution

for separated parents where:

• there is hostility or rigid positions
• lots of blame is happening from one or both sides
• parents are in constant conflict with each other so there is little capacity left to look after the children's emotional needs
• legal action and courts have seemed the only way through
• legal action and courts haven't worked
• guidance and direction is needed to unglue entrenched postures

case management

to help separated parents:

• listen to what the Child Consultant tells them about the children's feelings and needs
• identify the most appropriate action in response to the children's feelings and needs
• identify and agree on workable, flexible parenting plans or arrangements that everyone can live with
• learn to work with the parenting plan as agreed and adjust for circumstances as they arise
• learn to manage conflicting needs, opinions and lifestyles that will inevitably arise in the future and affect parenting arrangements

Please contact Interrelate at 1300 736 966 for your nearest centre