PFI

The Pandemic has showed that Time can be experienced subjectively: Time both crawls and races by. Events seem to have occurred both yesterday and months ago. For divorcing couples, this dialectic is also true, making Time both friend and adversary to professionals navigating any couple's divorce, as well as an essential player in every Collaborative case. Like Grief and healing after Trauma, Time has its own pace - we can’t control it, but we can recognize its currents and plan a way to stay afloat and move efficiently on its path.

The future growth of Collaborative Practice will depend on our ability to adapt our process to meet the needs of each family as well as the evolving needs of the next generation. The focus of this workshop will be on discovering ways to assess the unique dynamics of each family, and by utilizing flexibility and adaptability, developing the most efficient and effective team composition, meeting structure, professional roles and responsibilities, and overall strategy for the process, in an effort to arrive at successful outcomes for the families we serve.

The need continues for thoughtful, well equipped trainers to teach and engage collaborative practitioners around the world. As collaborative practice trainings expand to all areas of the globe, the training community needs to think carefully about creating and delivering trainings that culturally relevant, inclusive, and practical.

How can we be effective advocates while remaining true to the goals and values of the Collaborative Process? The IACP Ethical Standards address advocacy including: our obligation to support client self-determination, set reasonable expectations, be mindful of the impact of our personal values and beliefs and avoid contributing to interpersonal conflict. This course will explore Collaborative Advocacy in light of s. 3.2 of the Standards. How do we use an interest-based model where there is little trust or goodwill and what is the role of the law?

The purpose of this interactve program is two-fold: (a) to identify the ways in which diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice issues show up in our Collaborative cases, and (b) to explore how Collaborative practitioners can address those issues when they arise. We will do this work in both small discussion groups and plenary sessions.

We are excited to bring Practice Group Leaders together to share critical knowledge, skills and resources, to promote successful leadership and to facilitate the growth of strong Practice Groups around the world. This workshop will help Practice Group Leaders to share in the collective experience and wisdom of Practice Group Leaders who have experienced the same challenges, successes and failures.

Biases around race, gender identity, culture, ageism, sexual identity, and status impact Collaborative process in many ways. We’ll explore through demos, role plays, group activities, and large and small group discussions how a variety of biases can impact the team, and the challenges of identifying and curbing them in the process.

The Pandemic has showed that Time can be experienced subjectively: Time both crawls and races by. Events seem to have occurred both yesterday and months ago. For divorcing couples, this dialectic is also true, making Time both friend and adversary to professionals navigating any couple's divorce, as well as an essential player in every Collaborative case. Like Grief and healing after Trauma, Time has its own pace - we can’t control it, but we can recognize its currents and plan a way to stay afloat and move efficiently on its path.

Resistance to change comes up in our work often. Resistance makes us feel anxious, or maybe even incompetent, as professionals, impacts client participation, and is predictive of poor outcomes in the collaborative process. Often, resistance is viewed as a client behaving defiantly. A more constructive viewpoint is that resistance is an indication that the client may not be ready to change. Resistance is a signal to the professional team that you may need to change direction or listen more carefully. This requires you to understand your client's perspective and proceed from there.

What happens on the road to resolution? We usually hit a few bumps and sometimes fall into gaping potholes. Then we shift into repair mode - because we are great problem-solvers. Sometime this works and sometimes it leads to more resistance, even though we are just trying to help!! Can curiosity lead us to the Superpower Repair Shop that will get us back on the Road to Resolution? In this workshop we will learn to notice and respond to conflict behaviours (in ourselves and others).