Clinical observations of family therapy with high-conflict divorced and separated couples
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Don MacDonald, Ph.D.
Presentation Type
Event
Project Type
Research proposal
Primary Department
Marriage and Family Therapy
Description
Couples and children struggling with separation and divorce need family therapists to provide them with, above all, hope for the future and a path forward. Parenting plans intended to lay the custodial groundwork have been filed in the courts, but these official documents typically are free of any specific guidance about how parents can best mitigate the trauma of breakup for children during one of the most stressful times in the lives of both parents and children. This study aims to pose the following research question to clinicians: What are best practices for supporting parents who are longing to protect the psychological health of their children but not yet capable of resolving their interparental conflict or having already exposed their children to high levels of the conflict? How, for example, do marriage and family therapists structure their sessions in order to provide a road map for the healthy realignment of the family's subsystems?
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Copyright held by author(s).
Clinical observations of family therapy with high-conflict divorced and separated couples
Couples and children struggling with separation and divorce need family therapists to provide them with, above all, hope for the future and a path forward. Parenting plans intended to lay the custodial groundwork have been filed in the courts, but these official documents typically are free of any specific guidance about how parents can best mitigate the trauma of breakup for children during one of the most stressful times in the lives of both parents and children. This study aims to pose the following research question to clinicians: What are best practices for supporting parents who are longing to protect the psychological health of their children but not yet capable of resolving their interparental conflict or having already exposed their children to high levels of the conflict? How, for example, do marriage and family therapists structure their sessions in order to provide a road map for the healthy realignment of the family's subsystems?