Conference Attendance Hours: 1
NBCC CE Hours: 1

Made Possible by the Family Policy, Family and Community Education, and Family Therapy Sections

LIVE STREAM SESSION

Summary
This special session features a combination of mental health clinicians and educators working collaboratively to demonstrate a unique parenting education program for divorcing and separating parents, the Bridging Parental Conflict (BPC®) program. The BPC® program is designed to assist parents in managing themselves in conflict, developing parental leadership for the purpose of co-parenting, and providing security and belonging to their children. This program was developed and is co-facilitated by two Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, Joe Noble and Lori Thibodeau, who have a clinical niche in working with families in divorce or separation transitions. The BPC® program was designed with the intent to integrate therapeutic techniques and a family systems framework into an educational setting, with the goal of reaching and effecting change for healthy post-separation outcomes in high conflict co-parenting relationships. The workshop will consist of primary components: (1) An introduction of the presenters, topic, and the relevance of the session to educators, therapists, and policymakers trying to make a difference in the lives of families navigating difficult divorce transitions; (2) An overview of the BPC® program will be provided, including details of the program design, theoretical frameworks utilized, and length of the intervention, as well as demographics of program participants; (3) Parts of the program will be demonstrated, with live audience engagement in the process, infused with complementary presentation of program effectiveness, derived from formative and summative evaluation efforts that have been undertaken; (4) The special session will conclude with a facilitated discussion regarding implications for therapy, education, and policy between the presenters and the audience.

Objectives

• To demonstrate the Bridging Parental Conflict® program's unique educational and therapeutic techniques used with divorcing and separating parents.
• To examine the effectiveness of the Bridging Parental Conflict program®
• To broadly identify therapeutic, educational, and policy related implications for parenting education programs for divorcing and separating parents.