Separation is Hard Enough without Lockdown
Among the many challenges currently facing family therapists is work with couples and families in the process of separation and divorce. A paper by Lebow (2020) addresses the unique dynamics of these circumstances and provides practical suggestions. COVID both potentiates and constrains separation and divorce. For some couples, lockdown, with it’s isolation from external supports and additional stressors of schooling and work from home, unemployment and income reduction can produce a ‘hot house of interaction’ that escalates to negative sentiment override where problems are magnified and divorce ensues. Yet, at the same time the usual step-wise process of physical, emotional and legal distancing is constrained. The option of moving out of the home may not be available and the legal system unavailable.
Lebow is clear that our first consideration must be for the physical and emotional safety of all family members and suggests that ‘standard helpful ideas, like the value of honesty and self-disclosure, may need to take a backseat to promoting a holding action until separation and the assurance of safety is more feasible’. He recommends developing and monitoring an effective time-out strategy and planning an alternative should this fail. Children should be protected from their parents’ conflict and especially intimate partner violence, and couples from endless recriminative conversations.
This is a context where practitioners need to be willing to take a clear, assertive and interventive stance to protect all family members from a situation that is difficult at the best of times and particularly intense now.
LEBOW,J. (2020) The Challenges of COVID-19 for Divorcing and Post-divorce Families Family Process x:1–7, 2020
NDIS Services
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Bower Place is seasoned in face-to-face and online service delivery and we have organised our staff into expert teams to respond to each client’s need in their unique context. This may be for direct services to clients or those providing other forms of care. All staff have access to the most recent and secure technology in order to offer the highest level of therapeutic services on-line and with safety and confidentiality. We are skilled in working with individuals, couples, families and work groups. We also provide support and guidance to those who work with their own clients or patients.
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Bower Place has a 33-year history of providing expert professional help to children, adolescents, adults, couples, families and organizations struggling with the most difficult personal, relational and social difficulties. In response to the pandemic we have organised our staff into expert teams to respond to each client’s need in their unique context. The need may be for direct services to clients or to those who are providing other forms of care. All staff have access to the most recent and secure technology so we can continue to offer the highest level of therapeutic services on-line and with safety and confidentiality. Our system allows us to work with individuals, couples, families and work groups to address individual and relational difficulties.
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Knowledge and Training – Professional Development
Professionals in both the public and private sectors have expertise in their chosen field, be it medicine, law or accounting, but are constrained to respond to the emotional demands of their clients. They may also feel overwhelmed by those demands. The task of emotional helping requires specialist expertise in managing complex situations, an ability to assess the dynamics and difficulties that present both individually and relationally and understand the impact of the current health crisis on individuals, families and the work contexts. This is particularly true of those working in the human services field; psychology, social work, accounting, law whose clients look to for clear, unequivocal guidance, support and advice. As the demand from our clients increases, we may find ourselves doubly overwhelmed and unable to adequately respond to them and others in our world.
High quality training and professional development to colleagues, business leaders, teams and organizations will continue to be offered as on-line supervision and training. Input can be tailored to the specific needs of the individual practitioner, team or work group to help them work more effectively with their client group while remaining effective and functional.
Bower Place provides confidential expert face-to-face and online consultations for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families experiencing the impact of the COVID-19. When humans experience extraordinary external stressors, individual and relationship distress between couples and within families can escalate.
For bookings or further information please contact Bower Place (08) 8221 6066 or info@bowerplace.com.au