Mending Fences: A Collaborative, Cognitive-Behavioral Reunification Protocol Serving the Best Interests of the Post-Divorce, Polarized Child

. Rather than becoming mired in the bottomless pit of back and forth blame, more and more courts are seeking remedies in the form of reunification therapy. Charged with helping the polarized child to enjoy a healthy relationship with both parents, we know what doesn’t work: individual child therapy cannot remedy a family systems problem. Dyadic interventions with the child and either parent are seldom sufficient. Even family therapies fall short when they are not grounded in well-established, reliable and valid science. introduces a child-centered, systemically informed, empirically-validated and experientially-proven collaborative reunification protocol. Focusing on the anxiety inhibiting the system’s healthy functioning, well-respected and long-validated cognitive behavioral exposure methods are fused with structural family therapy to reduce the child’s anxieties about separating from one parent and approaching the other, the aligned parent’s fears of separation and loss, and the rejected parent’s fears of rejection. A common vocabulary across coordinated interventions allows children across the spectrum of ages and abilities to identify and overcome an individually tailored succession of anxiety-inducing events so as to gradually (re-)establish healthy and safe relationships with both parents. The protocol is practical, proven, and effective. The user-friendly discussion is peppered with up-to-date references to the scientific literature and international case law. Application via video conferencing platforms is discussed. : Case illustrations, sample court orders and service agreements Caveat Lector Foreword Chapter 1 There Is No Such Thing as Reunification Therapy Chapter 2 Know When to Hold ‘Em: Receiving, Accepting, or Declining the Referral Chapter 3 The Court Order Chapter 4 The Service Agreement Chapter 5 In the Age of Telehealth Chapter 6 On Villages and Blind Wisemen: MMST as a Team Sport Chapter 7 Initial Adult Interviews Chapter 8 Establishing Rapport with the Child Chapter 9 Conducting Initial Child Interviews; Segueing into Anxiety Management Chapter 10 Understanding Anxiety Chapter 11 Anxiety Management, Exposure, and the MMST Protocol Chapter 12 Working through the Success Deck: Creative, Responsive, and Graduated Exposure Chapter 13 When MMST Isn’t Enough Appendix A Sample Court Order Appendix B Sample Service Agreement Appendix C Sample Timeline of Multi-Modal Systemic Reunification Therapy Citations Acknowledgments Index