This Event has now taken place. You can view recodings by clicking on the links below
ABOUT THIS EVENT
The webinar series is aimed at professionals who work on the frontline with children and families, as well as at any public and non-profit bodies and policymakers, whose work affects children and families.
Who is this Event for?
It is particularly suited to: Psychologists, psychotherapists, mental health professionals, social workers, judges, barristers, solicitors, NGOs, community and voluntary workers (victim services, gender organisations, children’s rights etc.), mediators, parenting guidance providers, teachers, GPs.
And also to anyone working with families to help and support them in parenting children positively. This webinar will also be useful to TDs, Senators, councillors and party political members as it will enable them to learn more about this issue and how it can be addressed.
The Webinar Series will be based on one presentation per day by leading parental alienation experts with questions and answers.
Guest Speakers our first speaker is Clinical Psychologist Dr. Craig Childress, who will be discussing a treatment-focused approach to solving custody litigation and parent-child conflict in the family courts. The child and family pathology in court-involved family conflict will be described, along with its diagnosis and treatment. A treatment-oriented approach to litigation and resolution of the family conflict as an alternative to custody-focused litigation will also be described.
Our second guest speaker is Dorcy Pruter, CEO and founder of Conscious Co-Parenting, she will talk about prevention and reunification strategies that restore the authenticity of children being impacted from complex trauma surrounding divorce.
Should you have any queries about the webinar or questions for the guest speakers please do feel free to contact us at conference@alienated.ie
Speaker Profiles
Dr. Craig Childress is a clinical psychologist on the forefront of assessment, diagnosis and treatment of attachment related pathology surrounding divorce and high- conflict families. An attachment based description for “parental alienation” is grounded in the established constructs of professional psychology Bowby, Minuchin, Beck, van der Kalk, Tronick and returns professional psychology to the proper path for effective solutions.
Dr. C. Childress selected Books, Articles, Resources:
- An Attachment Based Model of Parental Alienation: Foundations (2015)
- Single Case ABAB: Assessment & Remedy (2015)
- Essays Book: Diagnostic Indicators (2015)
- The Domestic Violence of Parental Alienation (2016)
- The Narcissistic Parent: a Guidebook for Professionals (2016)
- Assessment of Attachment Related Pathology Surrounding Divorce (2016)
- The Attachment-Related Pathology of “Parental Alienation” (2017)
- Silence is Complicity in Child Abuse (2017)
- Brief to the Kansas Legislature (2018)
- Petition to APA (Childress & 20.000 Parents, 2019)
- Paper presented to the APA Convention (Childress & Pruter, 2019)
- Puerto Rico Amicus Opinion (2019)
Dr Craig Childress website is at https://drcachildress.org/
Dorcy Pruter CEO and founder of the Conscious Co-parenting Institute has been on the forefront of developing direct and active solutions for the recovery of children from the complex trauma of “parental alienation”. Through reunification coaching and co-parenting education, Dorcy provides strategies and solutions for parents and children to reconnect, or stay connected, during and after a high-conflict divorce. Her goal is to help establish custody plans and co-parenting roles that encourage positive relationships between children and BOTH parents. Working with both mothers and fathers, as well as attorneys and therapists, Dorcy has spent the last several years as a Family Reunification Coach and Custody Consultant. She has worked on numerous cases, nationally and internationally, garnering positive results. The High Road workshop is proven effective time-after-time in direct experience and research data and the Custody Resolution Method is solving family conflict in courts with data.
D. Pruter Courses & Resources:
- High Road Workshop: 4-day workshop for family recovery
- Custody Resolution Method: data tagging, compilation and coaching
- Higher Purpose Parenting: parenting course for targeted parents
- Reunited: parenting course for reuniting with now adult children
Dorcy Pruter website is at https://www.consciouscoparentinginstitute.com/
About the Organiser this Webinar is organised by Alienated Children First (ACF), a parent-led voluntary non-profit and victims’ organisation that condemns all forms of Domestic Violence, as well as false allegations of both: Domestic Violence and Parental Alienation. ACF have been raising the awareness of parental alienation abuse in Ireland through education, lobbying and publicising the issue in the media. ACF have submitted two influential reports to the UNCRC and the Family Justice Oversight Committee at the Department of Justice and led a successful council motions campaign bringing the topic of parental alienation to all Irish councils. ACF are also a part of an international consortium to positively address and educate about parental alienation. ACF believes that only through the active dialogue with the victims of parental alienation, education and raising awareness can Irish society understand the extent and damaging effects of this problem and bring a stop to this cruel form of abuse on children.
Alienated Children First website is at https://alienated.ie/
What is Parental Alienation? Parental alienation is sadly common in relationship breakups in Ireland and worldwide. It demonstrates when one parent decides to use a child as a means to “punish” the other safe parent and ranges from occasional denial of access right up to eradicating the other parent from the child’s life. Parental Alienation is a result of psychological and emotional manipulation on a child. The child often learns to reject, hate and abuse the target parent and the whole side of the extended family. Research proves that this has a very damaging impact on the mental and emotional well being of the child, can last throughout adulthood (ACEs) and can affect future generations.
Parental alienation is not a gender issue. This happens to mothers and fathers. This happens to boys and girls. This happens to sisters and brothers. This happens to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The abuse of the child affects everyone. When openly discussed most people in Ireland know at least one family or person affected by this.
Unfortunately, the courts and other statutory bodies can be used by an alienating parent to push the targeted safe parent away from the life of the child, court orders can be ignored and broken without consequences and false allegations can be made against the targeted parent. This is very damaging for the long term mental and emotional well being of the targeted parent as well as the child.
Parental alienation is an issue that has been gathering recognition in Ireland and will be researched and publicly consulted on by the Department of Justice later this year. Craig and Dorcy have committed to helping alienated families across the world through academic research, training and education.
