Uncertainty. Fear. Changes in Behavior. These are just some of the reasons why clients come to NFRC during a family transition. It’s hard to know what to expect during divorce and family change. You don’t have to go through it alone.

There is no one-size-fits-all form of therapy because individual family circumstances make each and every family change unique. As a result, there may be certain issues that cannot be fully addressed in group therapy. To help explore and deal with such issues, NFRC offers individual, couples and family counseling (for parents and their children ages three and older).

Couple’s may seek counseling to strengthen their relationship, explore and agree to realistic expectations prior to and during a committed relationship.

Trained therapists customize their interventions based on couples’ goals, challenges they bring and what they need. Communication, conflict resolution, handling emotions such as anger and sadness, mental illness, major decisions to make, children, children’s challenges are some of the couple issues that are addressed.

It takes time and hard work to blend families. Bringing losses and challenges from the past, love and hope for the present and future, couples blending a family come in many different

“shapes and sizes.” Based on a couple’s goals, NFRC therapists work on couple’s expectations, agreed upon parenting and co-parenting roles, engaging with extended families, when appropriate, working with past partners and focusing on fostering parent-child relationships.

Sometimes it takes some added time to figure out all of the co-parenting challenges.

NFRC provides co-parenting consultation to assist co-parent communication, child focused decision making and parent plans. NFRC staff work with diverse family compositions and continue to work with parents as they work through challenges with children, modify agreements based on changing needs and perhaps form blended families.

Reunification involves both parents and a child who has had challenges with one parent. These “resist and refuse” situations can result in refusing to spend time with a parent, refusing to follow an agreed upon access schedule. Sometimes, children may fear being with a parent as they have had problems with that parent prior to family transition.

NFRC requires both parents to first meet separately with an NFRC therapist to obtain a family history, then the counselor brings parents together (virtually) for one or two sessions to assess how well parents can get along and communicate about their child and most importantly, support the reunification work. Then the NFRC therapist meets with the child(ren), separately. The NFRC reunification counselor determines the frequency of meetings.

The cost for reunification is $250.00 and hour. It is not therapy, so it is not insurance reimbursable.

KidsConnex is a two-session program for children ages 8-11 experiencing family transitions. Through this virtual program Children will have the opportunity to express their feelings, and work toward understanding and learning how to navigate the changes in their family. Each child receives a Kid’s Guide for Navigating Family Changes to be used during the program. Parents will also receive a Parent Connection Guide to use with their children. Each session will be facilitated by NFRC counselors; Trish Adkinson, M.Ed., NCC; and Pam Blackwell, M.Ed., LCPC.

Play therapy is a theoretically-based approach that allows children to share their thoughts, feelings, needs and experiences in an alternative way. Developmentally, children often lack the verbal language skills to express themselves effectively. Play therapy provides a natural method for them to reach healthy solutions for their problems and identify ways to think about, feel, and articulate their needs.

Play therapy provides a warm and inviting setting for children to explore and facilitate self-expression by providing a wide array of play materials carefully selected for play therapy, including games, toys, play materials and creative expression tools.

TeenConnex is a two-part educational program for teens in high school. This program will teach teens how to cope with stress and build a toolbox of strategies to assist them in changing their negative thinking This two-part program will encourage teens to interact with each other and will include a brief follow-up session for their parents so they, too, can learn skills to support their teen.

Teen Therapy Group for High School Students is the other program we are offering. Group sessions will meet for eight consecutive Wednesdays. This group will be formed around what goals each teen has, and we will assist them in working toward establishing connectedness and empathy with each other and supporting needed changes.

The individual Men’s Support Groups present a great opportunity for men experiencing a family transition to share their experiences and receive support from one another through mutual understanding and with the guidance of professional therapists.

Each group includes eight to ten weekly sessions for men. Each session lasts 1 1/2 hours, and includes six to eight participants per group, as well as a peer counselor and one therapist.

The individual Women’s Support Groups present a great opportunity for women experiencing a family transition to share their experiences and receive support from one another through mutual understanding and with the guidance of professional therapists.

Each group includes eight to ten weekly sessions for women. Each session lasts 1 1/2 hours, and includes six to eight participants per group, as well as, trained facilitators.

Collaborative law is based on three simple principles. These include pledging to not go to court, transparency/honesty between spouses and attorneys, and a solution that keeps the best interest of both the children and the couple in mind. NFRC staff serve as divorce coaches and child development experts and work with the entire team of collaborative law professionals.

Collaborative Law is an alternative to conventional litigated divorce or mediation. It attempts to work toward the goal of reaching a non-adversarial legal agreement between two clients using trained attorneys along with mental health professionals and a financial planner.

Each client chooses their own attorney to represent them who has been trained and certified in collaborative law. Each client also has a certified divorce coach and parents work with a child development expert to help them craft a child focused parenting agreement. After initial meetings with attorneys, all meetings between attorneys and clients are held jointly with both attorneys and parents present for all discussions. Divorce coaches may participate in the meetings to support their clients. An independent financial planner trained in collaborative law is also available to work with the couple and attend joint meetings.

Many local attorneys have gone through formal collaborative law training and a collaborative divorce can be substantially less expensive than a traditional litigated divorce. Lists of collaborative law attorneys are available from NFRC or on the internet.

International Association of Collaborative Practices

www.collaborativepractice.com

Howard County Collaborative Law Professionals

www.collaborativepracticehc.com

Montgomery County Collaborative Dispute Resolution Professionals

www.collablawmaryland.org

Maryland Collaborative Practice Council

www.marylandcollaborativepractice.com

NFRC takes pride in being a local and national resource for families and for professionals. NFRC has collaborated with lawyers, mediators and judges over the years to develop the child-focused co-parent education programs that are used as a model nationwide, impacting the process of family transition in a tangible way.

NFRC has presented programs to Howard County Bar Association, Maryland Judicial Institute, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; served on the Maryland Family Law Commission, Statutes Committee to further define decision-making factors about custody; trained school counselors at all grade levels to facilitate programs in schools for parents and students; trained Family Support Service Coordinators, military officials judges and others professionals throughout the State; helped create and participated in the Maryland Advocacy Board for Children of Divorce (ABDC); and developed curriculum for family law students in the fellows program and the Center for Children, Families and Community at University of Baltimore.

The FamilyConnex™ Tool

Lawyers, mediators and judges can use FamilyConnex™, and online co-parent planning program to work with parents to address the developmental needs of children, while taking into account their individual challenges, concerns and personalities.

FamilyConnex™ can help professionals to:

Defuse tension between parents and encourage neutral, ongoing communication via the online program;

Equip parents to understand and respond to their children’s needs;

Determine each parent’s ability to parent and co parent;

Help their clients make child-focused decisions that are in the best interests of each child; and

Create a parent plan that is based on children’s needs.

People love their children and want to be the best parents possible. During a time of transition when parents are dealing with legal, financial, social and psychological stresses, making major decisions that are in children’s best interests is challenging. NFRC can support you while you are helping parents through the transition.