What is Team Collaborative Practice, and what are the roles of each of the Collaborative team members during the use of Team Collaborative Practice as a dispute resolution process?
When a relationship breaks down there is the untangling of a variety of relationships; legal, financial, emotional, relational, parental. Collaboratively trained professionals with a diverse range of expertise can help to address the different issues that need untangling. They include lawyers, financial professionals and family relationship specialists.
Financial professionals can help the parties understand their financial reality and introduce neutrality into financial issues over which there is often disagreement. The element of neutrality a financial professional provides an opportunity to see how various scenarios will play out, given what the parties have expressed as important to them, without worrying if the other person has a hidden agenda. Options can be developed and evaluated without the concern of who put the idea forward.
Family relationship specialists offer expertise in two possible capacities. One is as a child specialist who can meet with both the children and their parents, and gives feedback to the parents and the other collaborative professionals about what is most important for the children. They can report on how children are coping, and provide parents with information that may help the children adjust and thrive throughout the divorce and the rest of their lives.
Family relationship specialists can also assist parties as a coach working with the parties to help them express themselves in the Collaborative meetings while minimising the conflict dynamic. This enables each party to communicate more effectively so that they each have the opportunity to speak their truths in a way that feels honest and authentic and in a way that is more likely to be heard by the other party where they may not have been heard before. Parties can choose to work with one neutral family relationship specialist or possibly with two coaches; one for each party.
Rather than having the lawyers do everything the Collaborative team with the parties can look at the different issues that arise out of the separation and allocate particular tasks amongst the members of the Collaborative team most skilled at dealing with the issue and who can focus on issues within their expertise. The value of dollars spent will be greater because they are spent on professional services within the Collaborative team members area of specialisation targeted to the results the parties want and need. It is possible to reduce costs by the allocation of tasks and specialist intervention reducing the work of the other Collaborative team members.
| It's easier with a team! |