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Impasses of Divorce: Neither Together Nor Apart
Author(s) -
Renouf Emilia
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1467-8438.1991.tb00872.x
Subject(s) - mediation , intervention (counseling) , negotiation , enforcement , irrationality , project commissioning , process (computing) , phase (matter) , lawyer supported mediation , psychology , law and economics , political science , law , alternative dispute resolution , public relations , sociology , publishing , dispute mechanism , computer science , psychiatry , rationality , operating system , chemistry , organic chemistry
This paper looks at one type of intervention that has made it possible to help separating couples, given to irrationality and engaged in protracting disputes over their children, become more rational parents, capable of using mediation as a method of dispute resolution. The central theoretical formulation in this intervention is the divorce transition impasse. The process involved in overcoming the impasse combines a therapeutic and counselling effort with the mediation. One counsellor/mediator coordinates both phases of the process, by first assessing the impasse and then shifting the factors that created it and moving on to negotiation and implementation of the agreement made. A case seen by the author is presented to illustrate the phases of intervention and the strategies used in each phase. The possibility is raised that this type of intervention offered by specialised counsellor/mediators might prove to the Family Court's advantage in dealing with potentially complex cases, such as access enforcement cases and some ex‐nuptial children disputes.