by Megan Haselschwerdt, M.S., doctoral candidate in Human Development and Family Studies
If we don’t study parent-child relationships in affluent communities, we ignore unhealthy patterns that may set these youth up for failure. If we as a society continue pointing out potentially problematic parent-child interactions in low-income communities without acknowledging that these same patterns appear similar in affluent communities, we aren’t doing anyone any service.
A family court judge approached Professor and Marriage and Family Therapist Bill Doherty with an interesting observation: some of the divorcing couples the judge worked with were approaching the process with such high levels of cooperation, he wondered if their marriages were still, in fact, salvageable. This led to research and then the creation of the Couples on the Brink Project in Minnesota. The project trains therapists, collaborative lawyers and clergy to help couples on the brink of divorce who want to take a second look at their options for their marriage.
Former NCFR president, professor, and Marriage and Family Therapist Bill Doherty discusses the creation of the Couples on the Brink Project in Minnesota, which offers a new type of counseling to married couples considering divorce.
