Therapeutic Reconciliation Counselling is offered to families where there has been a disruption in the parent and child’s relationship or the parent and child have never had a relationship. The purpose of this type of counselling is to restore and/or facilitate positive and healthy relationships between children and their parents.
This type of counselling involves the whole family and both caregivers and the child(ren) are expected to participate. Reconciliation Counselling accepts that there will be different versions of the past events that led the family to this type of intervention. Reconciliation focuses the family on moving forward and assists them in defining a new co-parenting relationship.
Goals for the program include:
- To restore and/or facilitate a relationship between the estranged parent and the child(ren)
- Uncovering and attempting to resolve the reasons for resistance to visitation
- Assisting the parents to fully understand the needs of each child(ren) and the negative repercussions for the child(ren) of a severed or compromised relationship with a parent
- Correcting the child(ren)’s distortions and replacing these with more realistic perceptions that reflect the child’s actual experience with both parents
- Helping each parent to distinguish valid concerns from overly negative views relating to the other parent
- Improving each parent’s parenting skills and family communication skills
- Facilitating and monitoring parenting time where appropriate
While the parents may have different views about the cause and reason for the breakdown of the child(ren)’s relationship with their parent, they agree not only on the goals and objectives defined, but also that they are each a part of the solution to meeting these goals and objectives.