Family Peacemaking with an Interdisciplinary Team: A Therapist's Perspective

• Published date: 01 July 2015
• Date: 01 July 2015
• Author: Susan J. Gamache
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12159

FAMILY PEACEMAKING WITH AN INTERDISCIPLINARY

TEAM: A THERAPIST’S PERSPECTIVE

Susan J. Gamache

Interdisciplinary teams provide an unparalleled opportunity for peacemaking in families within the consensual dispute resolu-

tion continuum. This interdisciplinary environment was born out of the integration of Collaborative Law, in which lawyers

limit the scope of their services to settlement by way of a signed agreement, and Collaborative Divorce, a team approach to

divorce services that includes a lawyer for each party along with a Collaborative Divorce Coachfor each party, a neutral finan-

cial specialist, and a neutral child specialist. Taken together, Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice supports the resolution of

legal issues out of court as well as addressing any emotional, relational, or behavioral problems that create obstacles to the suc-

cessful resolution of the separation process.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Collaborative Practice creates legal representation in a consensual environment limiting services to settlement negotia-

tions by way of a written agreement.

The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals includes 5,000 members in twenty-five countries.

Legal representation in a consensual environment together with interdisciplinary teams create endless possibilities for

dispute resolution processes.

Collaborative Lawyers, Collaborative Divorce Coaches, child specialists, and financial specialists can create custom-fit

interdisciplinary teams that work together out of court to support families through marital transition.

Interdisciplinary teams are family centric, bridging appropriate disciplines and resources to the needs of the family to

address the vast majority of divorce-related problems.

Divorcing families are moving targets, learning and evolving through the process.

Therapeutic teams support families with more complex relational, emotional, and mental health problems to find reso-

lutions out of court.

Divorce is a mainstream event in Western culture; we need supportive processes to encourage the best possible out-

comes for all family members, especially the children.

Keywords: Children of Divorce; Co-Parenting; Collaborative Divorce; Collaborative Law; Collaborative Practice;

Consensual Representation; Out of Court; and Peacemaking.

INTRODUCTION

In the rapidly evolving field of consensual dispute resolution, interdisciplinary teams provide an

unparalleled opportunity for peacemaking in families transitioning through divorce. The introduction

and integration of interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice (CP) into the continuum of consensual

dispute resolution has opened the door for countless new opportunities to bring different types of pro-

fessionals together to elevate our collective understanding of the various disciplines involved, to

coordinate services, and to become more sophisticated in our practices in order to assist families to

not only survive the divorce transition but to thrive and to create a lasting peace for all family

members, especially the children. Interdisciplinary teams grow in the fertile field of various types of

practice groups within the international CP community. The International Academy of Collaborative

Professionals (IACP) now supports over 5,000 members in twenty-five countries and is growing

stronger every day. This community gives Collaborative professionals the opportunity to not only

meet each other but also to learn, grow, and evolve this practice together.

What does peacemaking mean to family therapists? Within therapeutic traditions, we don’t gener-

ally think about peacemaking per se. We think about health and well-being; theories of development,

Correspondence: sg@susangamache.com

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 53 No. 3, July 2015 378–387

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C2015 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts