HIGH CONFLICT divorce proceedings how mental health professionals can best assist the court while maintaining ethical standards of practice March ?, 2019 Presented by: Kenneth Cole, PsyD, Michael Whitehead, PhD, Sara Ellingson, MSW, & Amy Riech, MSW

Introduction Purpose: To build effective relationships between mental health professionals and legal professionals to minimize trauma to children and families involved in divorce proceedings.

High Conflict Divorces Subsets of divorce proceedings: 10% of divorcing families are unable to design and settle their own parenting agreements and instead go to court to resolve their differences. Even following mediated settlements one quarter to one third of divorcing couples experience sufficient hostility and discord about their parenting plan that they resort to the adversarial process to settle their differences. A subset of these couples resort to legal maneuvers, court hearings, delayed negotiation, and eventual trial to resolve the parenting arrangement. Despite many legislative and judicial efforts to improve the family environment, most parents who pursue litigation in the Family Court system report negative experiences even years after the divorce.

High Conflict Divorces One psycholegal approach does not fit all situations Every case is unique and requires a different configuration of legal and psychological services Different types of service are governed by different ethical standards

APA Code of Conduct All licensed mental health professionals in Washington State (psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, etc.) are bound by the American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Standard 3: Human Relations 3.05: Multiple Relationships Past, present, and/or future (expected) relationships

Relationship types Confidential Therapeutic Relationship APA Code of Ethics 4.01 Maintaining Confidentiality Psychologists (and licensed mental health counselors) have a primary obligation and take reasonable precautions to protect confidential information Psychologists (and licensed mental health counselors) protect the individual therapeutic relationship and the public’s impression and confidence in the confidentiality of the therapeutic relationship RCW 18.83.110: Psychologists Privileged communication - Confidential communications between a client and a psychologist (or licensed mental health counselor) shall be privileged against compulsory disclosure to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as confidential communications between attorney and client

Confidential services Therapists are ethically bound to protect the confidential therapeutic relationship and are ethically precluded from offering expert testimony (opinions or recommendations) to the court regarding their client’s custody matters. Individual counseling Divorce counseling Child therapy Coparenting counseling Reunification counseling

Relationship types Non-Confidential services are provided to the court by forensic evaluators at the direction of the court. Forensic evaluators are licensed and specially trained forensic psychologists, social workers or other mental health professionals Court order provides authority and protection against malpractice claims Psychological assessment of litigant(s) – limited assessment of parenting w/o parenting recommendations Parenting Evaluations – comprehensive family assessments

Ethical dilemmas Clinicians in confidential therapeutic relationships are often asked to: Provide protected information Offer opinions regarding family matters Make recommendations regarding visitation schedules and supervised visits Offer risk assessments Diagnose, offer opinions and make recommendations regarding family members they have never met

Counseling services to children of divorce Any one of the divorce processes may traumatize the child and they may need their own supportive therapist outside of the therapeutic services being provided to parents The only role of clinicians is the emotional support of the child; not to bolster support for either parent’s legal aims Any matters of concern (abuse, neglect or exploitation) revealed to the therapist are mandatorily reported to the proper authorities

Attorney Subpoenas Clinician’s responses to subpoenas An area of inadequate general clinical training Clinician’s right to informed consent Attorney generated subpoenas lack authority of the Court

Court orders Clinician’s need to receive and review court orders before agreeing to providing services Clinician’s responses to court orders Service provision dependent on clinician’s agreement

Examples of court orders and stipulations Records requests Court-ordered services Reunification counseling Coparenting counseling Psychological evaluation Parenting evaluation

Contents of court order Purpose: Identify the nature and purpose of the appointment and outline issues to be addressed Determines financial logistics of the services being provided Parenting Evaluations Establishes that the clinician is permitted to contact professionals and collaterals who have knowledge of the family, if applicable Specifies when the evaluation and the final report are due

Q & A