Back for 2021! Introductory Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice Training

As we continue to engage in a “virtual” court structure, our collaborative trainers have developed an online collaborative divorce training that introduces professionals to a process that enables couples to complete their divorce without ever stepping into a courthouse building. Lawyers, licensed mental health professionals, and financial specialists work together as a team to help families reduce conflict, exchange financial data, and resolve legal issues. This training meets the minimum standards established by the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) and fulfills a requirement for membership in IACP and CCND.

The collaborative model is a non-adversarial approach to divorce that differs from mediation, arbitration, and other dispute resolution options.

Training Topics will include:

• How to make the paradigm shift from a litigation model to a collaborative model

• The stages of a collaborative case

• The roles of each member of the professional team

• Ethical considerations for each of the professions

• The roadmap of a collaborative case

Participants will learn:

• The process and substantive skills for completing a collaborative case

• The basic components of interest based negotiations

• How to work effectively within the interdisciplinary team

• Strategies for dealing with impasse

• How to avoid common mistakes

• Basic assessment tools for determining the right process for clients.

This training offers a unique opportunity for 6 monthly follow-up consultations with the trainers, included in the registration fee. The course promises to be challenging and rewarding for participants. It will be highly interactive and will include opportunities to learn and practice new skills in small groups and role play exercises. Participants will expand their repertoire of services to offer future clients. They will meet allied professionals and colleagues and have valuable networking opportunities.

Program Trainers:

Kim L. Duell, Esq.

www.kimduell.com

Attorney Duell has practiced family law for 35 years, constantly seeking better ways to support families going through this process. She has extensive training in mediation and collaborative divorce and has worked extensively with children as a GAL and AMC. She is a member of two practice groups, Collaborative Divorce Lawyers Association of Greater Hartford (www.collaborative-divorce.com) and Collaborative Divorce Professionals (collaborativedivorceprofessionals-ct.com) and has presented at the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA) and local bar association and practice group workshops on a variety of topics. Her goal is to provide an array of options to clients and families with an emphasis on problem-solving and improving communication skills for all.

Attorney Duell’s law practice is in Hartford, Connecticut, where she brings her love of mediation and yoga to the world of family law.

Elizabeth S. Thayer, Ph.D.

www.beaconbehavioral.com

Dr. Thayer is a licensed psychologist at Beacon Behavioral Services LLC, in Avon and West Hartford, CT. She is trained in mediation and collaborative divorce and has many years of interdisciplinary experience as a mental health collaborative divorce coach. She is co-president of the Collaborative Divorce Group of Connecticut and a member of the International Association of Divorce Professionals (IACP) Trainers Committee. She is co-founder of the PEACE Program, a parent counseling program for parents of divorce, and the co-author of two publications: The Co-Parenting Survival Guide and Adult Children of Divorce.

Dr. Thayer provides individual, group, couples and family therapy and mediation and has given numerous presentations, workshops, and trainings for professionals. She is on the board of the Children’s Law Center and a former board member of CCND.

This training meets professional training requirements for membership in both

CCND and IACP.