The primary purpose of High Conflict Co-Parenting Project is to provide a forum where the parents can work to establish a positive and cooperative method of communication thereby helping their children thrive.
New clients are referred to this program by Attorneys, Judicial Officers, Child Custody Recommending Counselors, other providers, or by self-referral.
Following referral each parent will select from the referral list of participating HCCPP counselor. They will contact a counselor to initiate their initial session.
Individual intake appointments are then scheduled. These initial sessions are necessary and essential to the success of the succeeding conjoint sessions and are structured to gather specific information for use by the counselors in the conjoint sessions.
Following the initial individual session, the two counselors meet to discuss the information gained and develop their approach for the co-parenting, four-way sessions.
The next step in the process is the four-way meeting. Typically, these are one and a half hour sessions held every two weeks (or more frequently if necessary) with both parents and both counselors present. It is in these meetings that the co-parenting counseling work takes place. The counselors have the option to tailor the length and frequency of sessions to the needs of the particular family.
The focus of the meetings is to assist parents in resolving current concerns and impasses in order to reach agreements that become part of the parenting plan. The parents will be encouraged to take any agreements to their attorneys facilitating resolution of parenting plan issues.
An opportunity for debriefing is made available for each parent following the four-way meetings. In the debriefings, the parent meets alone with the counselor assigned to him/her.
Following the debriefings, the counselors meet to discuss the process, their respective parent’s reactions to it, and to plan for the next four-way meeting.