WORKSHOP TOPIC:  “Drafting Parenting Plans for High Conflict People: It Is All in the Details, Details, Details”

PRESENTERS:  Robin M. Deutsch, Ph.D., and Tanya Gurevich, J.D., LICSW

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

Mediating agreements with high conflict people is quite challenging as clients often come to you with very different ideas about what they, their children, or the family needs. Breaking down the components of their necessary agreement, and beginning with those things they can agree on can create an atmosphere of both hope and progress. In this session we will discuss the components of a parenting plan for high conflict people, how those may be different from other mediation clients, and strategies to get to yes.
 

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Dr. Robin Deutsch provides consultation, mediation, parenting coordination and expert witness services in Wellesley, MA. She is Board certified in Couple and Family Psychology. She developed and was the director of the Center of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law at the William James College where she is currently a Professor in the Clinical Psychology department. Previously she was an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and for over 20 years Director of Training and Forensic Services in the Children and the Law Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. She developed and teaches the Certificate in Child and Family Forensic Issues at William James College and is a founder of Overcoming Barriers, an organization that provides family-centered services for families in conflict. She has published extensively on issues related to attachment, alienation, co-parenting after divorce, high conflict divorce, parenting plans, and parenting coordination, and is the co-author of "7 Things Your Teenager Won’t Tell You: and How to Talk about Them Anyway" (Ballantine, 2005, 2011) and co-editor with Abigail Judge of the book "Overcoming Parent-Child Contact Problems: Family-Based Interventions for Resistance, Rejection, Alienation" (Oxford, 2016).
  
Dr. Deutsch currently serves as Chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) working group to Review Scientific Literature Regarding High Conflict Family Relationships with Child Involvement. She was the 2008-2009 President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and the former Chair of the APA Ethics Committee (2007). She served on the AFCC task force that developed Guidelines for Examining Intimate Partner Violence, the American Psychological Association (APA) task force that developed Guidelines for Parenting Coordinators (2011), the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Task Force that developed Guidelines for Parenting Coordinators (2006), and the AFCC Task force that developed Guidelines for Court Involved Therapists (2010). She is a fellow of APA, 2006 recipient of the American Psychological Association Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy, the 2017 recipient of the Massachusetts Psychological Association Kenneth D. Herman, Ph.D. J.D. Career Contribution Award, and the 2018 recipient of the AFCC John E. Van Duzer Distinguished Service Award.

Tanya Gurevich J.D., LICSW provides coaching to parents on a variety of child-related topics, with particular focus on issues facing families going through the divorce process. In addition to her coaching services, Tanya is a clinical social worker and a trained family mediator in her own practice, Needham Mediation and Counseling.

For over a decade, Ms. Gurevich was a practicing family law attorney and has extensive experience working with high conflict families as a custody evaluator and a parent coordinator. Ms. Gurevich is also a long-time certified instructor for Parents Apart, a court-approved program for divorcing parents, and has presented at numerous workshops about parenting during divorce.  She has served on the boards of Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, Massachusetts Association of Guardians ad Litem, and The Divorce Center.

Ms. Gurevich holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and a Juris Doctor and Masters in Social Work from Boston College. To learn more about Ms. Gurevich’s background and practice, please visit mylifechanges.net.

*** FOR MEMBERS ONLY ***

MCFM Member Meet-Up

PLEASE NOTE: “Member Meet-Up" sessions are open to MCFM members only. Nonmembers are welcome to attend the workshop, but they may not register for the Meet-Up sessions.

“Member Meet-Up” is a casual get-together for conversation and connection before each Professional Development Workshop. There’s no set agenda . . . just an informal opportunity to ask questions and share ideas while getting better acquainted with your colleagues. New to MCFM? We’d love to meet you! Not so new to MCFM? Catch up and contribute your thoughts to the conversation.

The session will run from 1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. If you would like to participate, please sign up using the "Register Now" link.
 

Join your fellow mediators for drinks and appetizers to wrap up the day. No agenda, no registration--just come on over for some informal conversation and networking. Members and not-yet members are welcome to attend!
 

COST: The workshop and Member Meet-Up are free.
 
RSVPs REQUESTED for Workshop and Member Meet-Up (Meet-Up available to MCFM members only):

Click "REGISTER NOW" link on this page.
 
QUESTIONS? Email admin@MCFM.org