Paul Lodge

B. Arts (Hons) B. Philosophy in Social Work (Hons)
Postgraduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution

Paul Lodge is a Medicare Accredited Clinical Social Worker and Family Consultant who has worked, for more than thirty years, with children and parents in child-focussed settings. He works with families who are experiencing, or have experienced, stressful events and processes – particularly, those that are associated with separation and divorce.

Before joining the Relationspace team, Paul was a Senior Family Consultant at the Family Court of Australia for twenty one years. He was the recipient of the Court’s highest honour, the Janet Kitcher Excellence in Performance Award (2007). Prior to the Family Court, Paul was Head of Social Work at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney – a position which he held for ten years.

The portfolio of competencies and services provided by Paul include:
• child and family conflict resolution/mediation;
• single expert reports;
• standard family reports;
• attachment-based educational groups for parents;
• individual supervision for professionals;
• evidence-based seminars and lectures across a range of subjects pertinent to the family law field – including attachment in infancy and early childhood, parent/child estrangement, child sensitive parenting schedules, relocation; substance misuse and parenting; and family violence.

An interest in, and commitment to, the attachment framework as a way of accessing the internal world of young children has underpinned Paul’s professional life. During his time at the Family Court he undertook intensive attachment training at workshops conducted by one of the world’s leading practitioners in the field. Paul credits these workshops, together with his many years of experience in working with children and families at The Children’s Hospital and The Family Court, for his capacity to observe and interpret the attachment behaviours of infants and very young children in challenging contexts – such as the development of child sensitive post-separation parenting schedules.

Paul has regularly presented social science oriented seminars and lectures to judges, federal magistrates, family lawyers and social scientists in a variety of forums. He has received uniformly positive feedback from these professions for his communication and training skills and extensive knowledge base.