Professional Roles

Divorce Coach

Mental health professionals on the CD team assist you as coaches and child specialists. Distinct from therapy, this relationship is focused on achieving the immediate goal of a collaborative divorce, rather than determining core causes of behavior. The coach helps the client learn not only self management skills (including anger management) and stress management, but the communication skills necessary to support the collaborative process. Learning these skills helps each client to address emotional issues that could otherwise subvert the process itself.

Coaches meet with their clients individually, giving support, coaching in the above mentioned skills, while helping them develop confidence in their own abilities. Clients also develop a trust in the process as they effectively tackle the difficult problems of their divorce. In addition, clients and their coaches meet in four-way sessions to help clients put into practice the skills they have learned in individual sessions, changing their long-standing ineffective communication patterns and teaching them to become more effective negotiators. One of the primary goals of the meetings is to help parents develop an effective co-parenting relationship that evolves from their mutual efforts. Through these efforts, they design their co-parenting plan. The coaches also provide a conflict resolution model that each of the parties can use outside their formal meeting. The hope is that they will take these new ways of relating and resolving issues into the future as they form their new co-parenting relationship. For a list of divorce coaches please use the following link. Divorce Coaches

Child Specialist

Essential to the Collaborative Divorce process is the child specialist, the only member of the team who functions as a child advocate. Unlike the court appointed evaluator whose role is restricted to evaluation and recommendations, the child specialist is able to assess the child, support the child in expressing his or her feelings and reactions to the divorce and other family issues, while using this information to help the parents understand their child. Rather than "pathologizing" or taking sides, the child specialist's role is one of support and education. Often the child specialist is the one who challenges the parents to be more aware and sensitive to their children's needs. Parents, who otherwise would discount the information as biased, are often surprisingly receptive to the professional who has only their child's best interests in mind.

In addition, the child specialist can give feedback to the team--both attorneys and coaches, which allows them to help the parents in their decision-making. In five-way meetings with the coaches, the child specialist presents information to the parents in a way that helps the parents create a parenting plan that actually takes the child's needs and perspectives into consideration. For a list of Child Specialists please use the following link: Child Specialists

Legal Counsel

Though Collaborative Practice seeks to avoid going to court, legal agreements are being crafted. You each have your own attorneys who meet with you separately and confidentially to discuss your rights and obligations. The attorneys advise you on the relevant legal matters, from child custody and support to financial settlements, including property distribution. The attorneys also participate in four-way meetings (attorneys and clients), a mainstay of the collaborative process. They are trained to help keep the meetings safe and work to make them a constructive and comfortable place for the parties to create acceptable solutions to challenges they are facing. For a list of Legal Counsel please use the following link: Legal Counsel

Financial Professional

The divorce settlement will in part determine your financial well being for many years to come. It is critical that the financial decisions be soundly structured. The guidance of a financial consultant will help protect the interests of your changing family. Reviewing all assets and income, the financial consultant will assist you in developing viable financial options for your future. Evaluating the choices, you and your lawyer can then construct a comprehensive plan for the next stage of your life. Given that two households will have to be supported on the same income level that previously supported one, underscores the importance of sound and comprehensive financial planning. The financial specialist is trained to consider in detail the economic future of your family and help reach creative solutions with the available resources. For a list of Financial Professionals please use the following link: Financial Professionals