Co-Parenting Coaching
Anderson Psychological Services, LLC provides co-parenting coaching to address a variety of common situations and pitfalls experienced by separated and divorced parents.
What is co-parenting coaching?
Co-parenting coaching involves support, guidance, and child-focused solutions to challenging coparenting situations. Co-parenting is often provided by a mental health professional with training in family systems, child development, challenges related to divorce and two-household dynamics, and experience with dispute resolution. As with other types of coaching, the emphasis is on improving outcomes – improved co-parenting interactions, proactive steps to meet the needs of each child’s developmental stage, and establishing a sense of competence and stability for parents as they enter a new chapter of their lives after separation and divorce.
Co-parenting coaching can be an effective way to correct and manage communication challenges experienced by parents as they attempt to co-parent. The goal is to decrease overall conflict (verbal and nonverbal) between the parents. Decreasing conflict is important not only for the parents, but it provides necessary relief for the children.
Who is it for?
Divorcing and separated parents are often referred to a parenting coach by their attorneys, or by the “parenting consultant” appointed by the court. At the most basic level, coaching can help parents decrease conflict and improve their coparenting experience. Coaching may also help parents to become more emotionally prepared for an upcoming legal process, such as mediation, custody evaluations, or trial.
Isn’t coaching the same as therapy?
No, coaching is different. While there is still an emphasis on providing a safe and supportive space to work through a concern, coaching doesn’t require a mental health diagnosis. There’s flexibility in the pace and duration of sessions, and more time is spent finding a solution to a given issue—a current or a future situation or event—to provide relief for the family system (the co-parent and the children), as compared to therapy.
How does it work?
You choose the model. At times, both parents can work with Dr. Anderson to efficiently target a given co-parenting issue that frequently leads to conflict. At other times, it’s more appropriate for each parent to have their own co-parenting coach. Either way, coaching starts with an intake appointment to discuss the coparenting history; it addresses the overall functioning of the family system, with an emphasis on the unique needs of each of the children, and establishes goals for improving current circumstances. Often times, sessions are scheduled in advance. However, co-parenting issues can’t always be anticipated, and more immediate attention to an issue may be preferred. Coaching sessions are scheduled at a pace that is warranted given the level of distress that a parent and family is experiencing. The two-coach model, where each parent has their own co-parenting coach, can be enhanced by consultation between the coaches. Often times, creative and sustainable agreements can be developed when a safe space to work together is combined with specialized guidance for the given coparenting issue.
