PURPOSE OF THE MODULE

• To help parents to understand the role that conflict plays in separation.

• To offer parents the opportunity to learn about conflict management.

• To help parents to begin the process of separating emotionally and psychologically.

THEORY BEHIND THE MODULE

Increasing awareness of the role of conflict

Separated parents are often engaged in ongoing conflict with their children's other parent. This module offers an opportunity to understand why this arises, its role in separation and how to manage it more effectively.

Offering understanding of why conflict occurs

In order for parents to be able to manage the conflict in their lives, they must first of all understand why it arises. This module helps parents to understand why they are fighting and the role that their conflict plays in the process of separating out their relationship with each other from their relationship with their children.

Building skills for managing conflict

Many parents find that they can only complete the process of separation through the experience of conflict. Those parents who attempt to remain friends, at least at the beginning, will often find themselves mired in conflict. This module offers a road map that allows parents to understand the healthy role that conflict can play in separation. The module also offers parents the skills that are needed to ensure that conflict is not an ongoing part of their separated family relationship.

Preparing parents for life as a separated parent

For a co-operative relationship to work, each parent must be able to experience themselves as a separate person, free from the ongoing inter-relationship with their child's other parent. This module prepares parents for that experience by enabling each to consider how the future will look as a separated family.

Module Three: All about your children >>