Working with Highly Conflictual Families and Couples - Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Program Northern California

Presented by Jeffrey Zimmerman, PhD ABPP

Presenter Bio

Dr. Zimmerman is a licensed psychologist (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York) with over 40 years of experience working with families and couples in conflict, and those experiencing the stress of separation and divorce. He is a trained mediator and parenting coordinator and is also trained as a Divorce Coach and Child and Family Specialist in the Collaborative Divorce model. He was the co-founder of a co-parenting program for high-conflict divorcing or divorced families entitled “Parents Equally Allied to Co-Parent Effectively” (the PEACE program). He is co-author of three books on divorce entitled, “The Co-Parenting Survival Guide: Letting Go of Conflict After a Difficult Divorce”, “Adult Children of Divorce: How to Overcome the Legacy of Your Parents’ Break-up and Enjoy Love, Trust, and Intimacy” and his most recent book “Loving Your Children More Than You Hate Each Other: Powerful Tools for Navigating a High-Conflict Divorce. Along with Dr. Lauren Behrman, he has pioneered the development of the Dual Parenting Coordinator approach for working with high-conflict parents.

Dr. Zimmerman received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Mississippi (1980). He also is a past President (1993-1994) of the Connecticut Psychological Association and Past President (2017) of the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, Division 29 of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Zimmerman is a frequent presenter and trainer at local and national professional conferences. Dr. Zimmerman mentors and trains mental health professionals to facilitate conflict resolution with intact couples and in providing non-adversarial divorce services, even when parents are in intense litigation.

Dr. Zimmerman’s practice is based in New York City. You can find him on the web at “www.jeffzimmermanphd.com”.

Interpersonal conflict can cause substantial stress on couples, parents and their children, as well as, on the mental health professionals who try to serve these families. This 3-hour workshop will focus on addressing sources and types of conflict, and the strategies mental health professionals can employ to help intact couples, and those that may be divorcing or divorced. Ways to help children in high-conflict families will also be addressed. Additionally, options for managing ethical challenges and other stresses on the clinician will be discussed. This workshop will employ didactic and experiential transformational learning strategies and will be transtheoretical with regard to treatment approach.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

Identify major sources of conflict in families
Describe the impact of conflict on children
Discuss options for reducing conflict when working with couples
Discuss options for reducing conflict when working with divorcing and divorced parents
Describe strategies for addressing ethical challenges when working with high conflict families
List self-care strategies to employ when working with high conflict families

Instructional Level

Advanced

Licensed mental health professionals employed through Kaiser Permanente and psychological assistants performing under supervision of a licensed psychologist.

This CE program is free to Kaiser Permanente employees.
Instructional Methodology
Lecture
Audio/Visual
On-line Presentation

Continuing Education Information

Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Program is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Program maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Refund and Attendance Policy

All programs offered on KP Learn for CE credit through the KP Northern California Mental Health Training website are free of charge to Kaiser Permanente Staff and trainees. Once a course is selected in the KP NCAL MH Training Website, the registration process begins, and it will appear in the individuals KP Learn profile for completion within 90 days.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Those who attend the program in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive CE credits. Please note that credit will only be granted to those who attend the entire program. An attestation of attendance will be given once the individual has completed viewing the program, which will then initiate the final steps of completing the evaluation forms to receive a certificate of completion.