Working with induced psychological splitting in children of divorce

This training, which was originally scheduled for New Orleans, was postponed as a result of Covid-19. New dates will be announced in due course.

It is hoped that this training will now coincide with the AFCC 58th Annual Conference in Boston, MA.

The Family Separation Clinic has pioneered work in the United Kingdom with children and families affected by parental alienation over the past decade and has worked with a wide number of practitioners around the world to share knowledge and skill in development of practice.

Based on our successful clinical work, this training builds on practitioners' existing knowledge and experience to offer mental health professionals the understanding and skills to intervene in cases of alienation using psychoanalytic theory to underpin understanding and treatment.

The Family Separation Clinic offers unparalleled knowledge in how to manage cases of alienation using the legal and mental health interlocking partnership which releases children from the defence of psychological splitting. Combined with the principles of practice with such cases, mental health practitioners can reformulate their understanding and intervention to provide repeated success for the families they support.

About This Training

This two day development training is for experienced practitioners working with children and families affected by induced psychological splitting, aka parental alienation.

Working with the principles of successful practice in assisting children to resolve the defence of psychological splitting, practitioners will learn:

• How to reformulate understanding and intervention with families affected by psychological splitting to bring about long term resolution
• The principles of practice with families affected by parental alienation
• An Object Relations theory of therapeutic work with families affected by parental alienation
• How to adapt existing therapies to create potent interventions to match the problem of splitting
• How to build structured interventions which resolve alienation

This training is open to experienced psychotherapists and psychologists only. Those who have trained previously with the Family Separation Clinic are welcome to join this training to refresh and update their practice with the latest knowledge and skills base from successful work in Europe.

Cost: $800 (lunch included)

Restricted to 10 places

'It was amazing. Informative, exciting, personal, and it brought me back to doing intensive work with the treasured background I have had in psychoanalysis, object relations, trauma, and attachment theory. I could not recommend it any higher. I loved the flexibility of the program and the focus on inter-generational trauma, and the defenses against experiences it. Working in this way seems so much more natural. You have brought back my spirit and love of this work.’
    Dr. Alice R. Berkowitz, Los Angeles, United States.

‘It was a great privilege for me to take part in the 3-day course in Israel. Gently, sensitively and wisely, you have led the course in providing knowledge and guidance, but even more so, you have emphasized aspects regarding the natural resources available in each of us as therapists. You have brought me confidence in myself, the curiosity to add and study the subject, to delve into it, to explore and experience it. My deepest thanks to you for that!’
    Hagit Stern, MSW., Akko, Israel.

‘Enlightening, practical and hopeful’
    Rebecca Campbell, MA, LMFT, Corpus Christi, TX, United States.

Karen Woodall

Karen Woodall is the lead therapist at the Family Separation Clinic and is a specialist in working with divorce and separation and its impact on children. She is a psychotherapist with over twenty years experience in working with parents and children affected by family separation. Karen is an internationally recognised expert on children’s post separation rejecting behaviours and the phenomenon of the alienated child. As well as her work as a therapist, Karen works as an expert witness in the family courts and delivers training to professionals around the world. She is also an author and blogger and writes for the Huffington Post on issues that affect the family. She is currently studying for a PhD.

Karen was previously the Director at the Centre for Separated Families, a national charity that works with the whole family in order to bring about better outcomes for children. She is the co-author of Understanding Parental Alienation: Learning to Cope, Helping to Heal (Charles C Thomas 2017) and The Guide for Separated Parents (Piatkus 2007) and with her colleague, Nick Woodall.

Nick Woodall

Nick is a co-founder of the Family Separation Clinic. He holds a Masters degree in psychodynamic psychotherapy from the University of London and is also a therapeutic mediator, accredited by the School of Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology, Regents University. He has worked with families experiencing divorce or separation since 1999 having previously worked at the Centre for Separated Families and now specialises in working with families where children have become alienated. As well as his work as a therapist, Nick works as an expert witness in the family courts and delivers training to professionals around the world.

Nick has worked on family separation policy and service design for the UK Government and is the co-author of Understanding Parental Alienation: Learning to Cope, Helping to Heal (Charles C Thomas 2017) and The Guide for Separated Parents (Piatkus 2007) with his colleague, Karen.

Karen and Nick both have extensive experience of delivering training to psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, child protection and social work professionals, court assessors and others, around the world, and meeting the specific needs of individuals and groups.