Bookedited by Abigail M. Judge, Robin M. Deutsch.
Summary: In recent years there has been heightened interest in the clinical and legal management of families in which children resist contact with one parent and become aligned with the other following divorce. Families affected by these dynamics require disproportionate resources and time from mental health and legal professionals, and cases require a specialized clinical approach. Traditional models of individual and family therapy are not designed to address these issues, and strategies and resources for mental health and legal professionals have been extremely limited. This text describes interventions for families experiencing a high conflict divorce impasse where a child is resisting contact with a parent. It examines in detail one such intervention, the Overcoming Barriers approach, involving the entire family and combining psycho-education and clinical intervention.
Contents:
Part I. Family-based Interventions : indicators, models and clinical challenges. Clinical decision making in parent-child contact problem cases : tailoring the intervention to the family's needs / Barbara Fidler and Peggie Ward
The current status of outpatient approaches to parent-child contact problems / Shely Polak and Jack Moran
More than words : the use of experiential therapies in the treatment of families with parent-child contact problems and parental alienation / Abigail Judge and Rebecca Bailey
The perfect storm : high conflict family dynamics, complex therapist reactions and suggestions for clinical management / Abigail Judge and Peggie Ward
Part II. The Overcoming Barriers Approach. Overview of the Overcoming Barriers approach / Peggie Ward, Robin Deutsch, and Matt Sullivan
Management of the camp experience : the integration of the milieu and the clinical team / Carole Blane, Tyler Sullivan, Daniel Wolfson and Abigail Judge
"East Group" : group work with favored parents / Peggie Ward
"West Group" : group interventions for rejected parents / Matthew J. Sullivan
"Common Ground" : the children's group / Robin Deutsch, Abigail Judge, and Barbara Fidler
Co-parenting, parenting and child-focused interventions / Matt Sullivan, Robin Deutsch, and Peggie Ward
Translating the Overcoming Barriers approach to outpatient settings / Barbara Fidler, Peggie Ward, and Robin Deutsch
Program evaluation, training and dissemination / Michael Saini and Robin Deutsch.