PERTH When the Family Fractures: Working Confidently with Separated Families in Clinical Practice

A 1-Day Intensive for Mental Health Professionals

Parental Separation affects a significant proportion of our clients, yet most practitioners receive minimal training in managing these complex family dynamics. This workshop utilises Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) to fill critical knowledge gaps, helping you work more effectively with young people and their families while protecting your time, energy, and professional well-being.

This workshop is ideal for psychologists, social workers, counsellors, psychiatrists, mental health nurses, GPs, and all other mental health professionals working with adults or children affected by separation. It will help clinicians who feel uncertain when separation dynamics emerge in individual therapy, or who are struggling with managing consent issues and parent involvement. Especially if you are worried your therapeutic recommendations might complicate legal matters; you’re unsure when to take on these cases and when to refer; or your between-session workload with these clients is unsustainable.

Morning and afternoon tea included.

You'll Leave Knowing

• evidence-based interventions that work in separated family contexts
• how separation impacts child development and attachment
• tools to identify red flags, know which cases to accept and when to refer
• when you need both parents’ consent (and when you don’t)
• how to prevent being triangulated and maintain therapeutic boundaries
• confidence about providing court-appropriate documentation
• methods to structure sessions and manage between-session contact
• how to protect yourself legally while maintaining therapeutic effectiveness

Be part of systemic change, supporting families in their time of greatest need – efficiently, effectively, and (importantly) without burning out.