The Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on A Collaborative and Child‐Focused Approach to Alternative Dispute Resolution

• Author: Stacy Harper,Chelsea Towler,Melinda Taylor,Lori Jurecko,Julie Melowsky
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12127
• Date: 01 January 2015

PERSPECTIVES

THE RESOURCE CENTER FOR SEPARATING AND DIVORCING

FAMILIES: INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON A

COLLABORATIVE AND CHILD-FOCUSED APPROACH TO

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Melinda Taylor, Stacy Harper, Lori Jurecko, Julie Melowsky, and Chelsea Towler

The Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families (RCSDF) is a teaching model for providing interdisciplinary

services to separating and divorcing families. The model wasdeveloped by the Honoring Families Initiative at the Institute for

the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver. Services are provided by graduate and law

students at the University of Denver,working side-by-side with a supervising licensed attorney,psychologist, and social worker.

The experiential and interdisciplinary model of teaching and providing direct client services is the first of its kind in the United

States. RCSDF students and staff seek to empowerparents to make positive decisions about their family’s future in a supportive

and educational environment.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

• The current system of preparing graduate and law students for careers in family law is in need of improvement.This

article provides information for educators and the family law community about the impact of interdisciplinary and

experiential learning for students.

• Parents going through the transition of separation or divorce experience psychological and financial stressors that can

create serious behavioral and adjustment issues for their children. The RCSDF worksin a holistic manner with parents

and children to minimize the levels of stress and anxiety during the transition.

Keywords: Children of Divorce;Divorce;Family Law;Mediation;Separation;TherapeuticServices;and Uncoupling

INTRODUCTION

For many separating and divorcing families our legal system escalates the level of conflict.

Additionally, the complexity of our legal system can create delay and expense for families at a time

when personal and financial complications only add to the layers of stress already inherent in the

divorce process. In response to these systemic imperfections and existing community needs, the

University of Denver opened the Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families (RCSDF)

in September 2013. RCSDF, the first of its kind in the United States, provides an array of services

for families with children that are going through a separation or divorce, including: legal education,

mediation, financial advising and mental health services on a sliding fee scale. RCSDF is also

unique in that these services are provided by students from the University of Denver’s Graduate

School of Professional Psychology (GSPP), the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), and

Sturm College of Law under close supervision and mentoring of a psychologist, social worker, and

attorney mediator.

To prepare the students for placement a rigorous two-week interdisciplinary training commenced

in August 2013. The students benefitted from national and local experts in the family law field.

Correspondence: melinda.taylor@du.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW,Vol. 53 No. 1, January 2015 7–22

© 2015 Association of Familyand Conciliation Cour ts

Training included comprehensive coverage of topics such as mediation, family law, family dynamics,

child development, and parenting plans. Students were also trained in how to work with families as

interdisciplinary teams. This interdisciplinary component is a centerpiece of the Center’s work, and

a groundbreaking approach to educating future practitioners.

I (Melinda) have long observed a lack of preparation and experience in new attorneys and mental

health professionals in the area of family law. I have supported recommendations calling for inter-

disciplinary and hands-on education that come through in efforts such as the Family Law Education

Reform Project, sponsored by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and the Center for

Children, Families, and the Law at Hofstra Law School, as well as the work being done by the

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers project at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal

System (IAALS). These and other projects have provided law schools across the country with

recommendations and models for legal education that go beyond rhetoric and analytics of traditional

curricula.

Newly graduated law students who wanta career in family law need to have a more comprehensive

foundation that can be facilitated through experiential opportunities for them to work with clients and

the community. It is not onlylaw students who are in dire need of real and hands-on opportunities, but

also mental health students who wish to work in the family law area. Graduate schools in psychology

and social work include a practicum that allows students to apply their learning through hands-on

experience. Yet, it is rare for these students to have the opportunity to work with students from other

disciplines in an interdisciplinary manner that focuses on learning and problem solving. At the

conclusion of their placement at RCSDF students will have achieved:

1. Competence in conducting mediation;

2. An ability to understand, respect, and work collegially with the other disciplines;

3. Cultural competence and cognizance of the complex value systems that impact their work;and

4. An understanding of the ethical, psychological, financial, and legal issues relevant to separat-

ing and divorcing families.

RCSDF law students demonstrate legal dispute resolution skills that include counseling, problem

solving, drafting, negotiation, dispute resolution, and the ethical application of these skills. MSW and

PsyD students demonstrate skills that include individual and family assessment; counseling in indi-

vidual, couples, and group modalities; problem solving, negotiation; dispute resolution; service plan

and parenting plan development; and the ethical application of these skills according to the tenets of

each mental health discipline.

In order to provide readers with a firsthand account of how RCSDF has built a truly interdisci-

plinary program aimed at serving separating and divorcing families, this article shares our perspec-

tives on providing services as student interns during RCSDF’s first year of operation.

WHAT WERE OUR INITIAL EXPECTATIONS?

We were fortunate enough to receive eighty hours of training (including forty hours of mediation

training), prior to beginning our work together as student interns at RCSDF. The training process

ensured that we could all begin our work on somewhat even footing, sharing a unified vision in

relation to RCSDF’s mission, while also developing a greater awareness of the significance and

unique contributions of each individual discipline.

One of our most significant “light bulb moments” occurred during mediation training. It was

surprising and enlightening to all of us to learn that mediation could quite seamlessly incorporate

mental health clinical skills along with traditional legal approaches and knowledge. This nugget of

learning and wisdom, imparted to us via training and live demonstrations/role plays, was eventually

transferred into practice at RCSDF, where all mediation sessions are conducted by teams of mental

health and law interns working collaboratively.

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