Court Ordered Therapy
A Court may direct a family to attend The Relationspace at any time during their proceedings to resolve issues that may exist or have arisen with respect of children involved in the family breakdown. A Court may require the therapy to be completed before any decisions will be made.
Lawyers and the Court often refer to this as “family therapy” or “court ordered family therapy”. Court ordered family therapy means that you are obligated to engage with the requirements of the therapy process. Court ordered family therapy may NOT be confidential, and may be shared where required by law.
The Relationspace offers an effective model of court ordered family therapy where the process is engaging, proactive, and results in the best possible outcome for children. Working with skilled clinicians who understand the unique pressures of a family separation within a legal framework provides clarity in situations which are often high conflict and heavily burdened.
Assessment and Feedback
How we start the process
A comprehensive assessment is carried out over the course of the first three sessions. In some situations, a fourth session may be requested by our practitioner to complete their assessment. Each parent has a separate and individual appointment followed by a third appointment at the discretion of the therapist. This may or may not include the child/ren and may require a fourth session in some circumstances.
Feedback
Within 2 weeks of the conclusion of the assessment sessions, the clinician will provide written feedback summarizing the assessment and treatment recommendations. For parents involved in court proceedings, this written feedback may be provided to the Court and/ or legal representatives.
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Family therapy can be ordered by a Court or can be agreed by parents seeking separation support. The “gateway” into our family therapy services is through an assessment and feedback model.
This comprehensive process applies to all new family intakes where “family therapy” is sought either by Court orders or by agreement:
1. The "assessment" is 3 or 4 appointments.
2. The "feedback" is a letter giving summary and recommendations.
3. Next steps are provided in the feedback letter which may include a recommendation to commence family therapy.
The assessment and feedback process at The Relationspace is a ‘future-focussed’ assessment, that is, the clinical will assess your family’s needs now and the future oriented factors to inform treatment and determine the most effective, evidence-based psychological interventions that are most likely to meet those future needs.
It is important that you know that the assessment is not a court process, and the clinician is not going to adjudicate any facts in your dispute. It is a common concern, that there will not be enough time in one session to inform the clinician of the details and complexity of the background, the conflict, or the family court matter; and the clinician will not possibly be able to make an assessment without all of these facts. It is important to understand these factors are not the focus of the assessment session.
In the assessment sessions, the clinician will be asking you questions about you and your family to assess what type of intervention will best improve your situation. The questions may include gathering information about you, your understanding of co-parenting, your willingness to work with the other parent and your concerns regarding your children.
Within 2 weeks of the conclusion of the assessment sessions, a written feedback letter will be provided to the parties and the lawyers and the Court to recommend further engagement with services at The Relationspace or elsewhere, with the goal to find a way forward for families experiencing high conflict relationship breakdown.
The format concludes when the summary & recommendations letter is provided.
Some important points to note:
• Parties will be allocated a practitioner at intake;
• We do not require nor invite any materials to be provided as this is not a forensic assessment of the facts of the matter;
• The letter is jointly provided to each parent and as such, the assessment is not a confidential process;
• IF family therapy is determined to be suitable, the assessing practitioner may not be the treating practitioner;
• There is no Medicare rebate for assessment and feedback sessions so a Mental Health Treatment Plan for intake is not required.
Making a booking
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