Psychology of Relationship Breakdown 2012


Course Date: May 4, 2012

Course Agenda ▼

Welcome and Introduction

John-Paul E. Boyd — Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger, Vancouver
Rebecca St. Clere England, PhD, RPsych — Ward St. Clere Inc., Vancouver

Overview of Relationships: Parent-Child, Adult Love, Lawyer-Client

  • the formation of early relationships: the bio-psycho-social model
  • attachment theory: internal working models, styles of attachment, personality disorders
  • adult love and the reworking of old attachments
  • the “masters and disasters” in adult love: predicting relationship outcome
  • the lawyer-client relationship and the emergence of dysfunctional patterns of relating
  • psychoanalytic concepts that aid in ethical professional practice
  • other relationships that can aid or hinder healthy practice

Rebecca St. Clere England, PhD, RPsych — Ward St. Clere Inc., Vancouver

Separation and Divorce: The Adult's Perspective

  • grieving relationship loss—expected trajectories of adjustment and moving on in healthy ways
  • challenges to healthy coping—personality disorders, insecure attachment, and other complications
  • re-partnering—how subsequent relationships may help or hinder client adjustment to divorce
  • promoting healthy adjustment—therapy, resources, and your potential role

Jennifer Pringle, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver Couple & Family Institute, Vancouver

Networking Break

Separation and Divorce: The Child's Perspective

  • impact on children of divorce
  • risk factors and protective factors related to children’s outcomes
  • parenting plans
  • counselling the client to buffer the child

Mary Korpach, PhD, RPsych — Surrey

Lunch (on your own)

Negotiating Settlements

  • understanding your client: implications for practice and process
  • choosing the right process: face to face negotiation, mediation, collaborative practice, mediation with counsel
  • client satisfaction, support, and empowerment

Nancy J. Cameron, QC — Nancy Cameron Law Corporation, Vancouver
Phyllis M. Kenney — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver

Issues in High Conflict Custody Litigation

  • identifying high conflict files
  • managing client expectations
  • is the court receptive to psychological issues in high conflict litigation?
  • issues related to s. 15 assessments
  • proposals for the management of high conflict litigation by the court

George W. Gordon — Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger, Vancouver

Parenting Coordination Practice

  • assessing client capacity for engagement in the parenting coordination process
  • retaining client focus on parenting coordination work as child centered
  • importance of continuing client education on child development issues and parental communication
  • creating appropriate client expectations
  • creating clarity around communication and boundaries in the parenting coordination process
  • the ongoing role of counsel in the parenting coordination process

R. Craig Neville — Watson Goepel Maledy LLP, Vancouver

Networking Break

Applying the Theory to the Facts: Panel Discussion

Facilitator: John-Paul Boyd — Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger, Vancouver
Nancy J. Cameron, QC — Nancy Cameron Law Corporation, Vancouver
George W. Gordon — Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger, Vancouver
Phyllis M. Kenney — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
R. Craig Neville — Watson Goepel Maledy LLP, Vancouver

View From the Bench

The Honorable Madam Justice J. Miriam Gropper — Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver