SEPARATED PARENTS POLICY

At The Counselling Space our focus is always the emotional and psychological wellbeing of the children we see. Many come from separated families. Many separated parents are able to maintain amicable relationships and constructive communication, particularly where matters concern their children.  Some children come from families where there is significant conflict, and may have seen or experienced violence, abuse or controlling behaviour. This policy outlines our practice’s philosophy to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of our clients is always prioritised.

Important: We do not take referrals where the purpose of the assessment or counselling is to generate information for legal decision-making around issues of parental separation, for Family Court related matters, where there is an intention to subpoena child files for court matters, or we have reasonable belief this may occur.  If we believe that counselling is being used for this purpose, we will make the decision to stop counselling services until Family Court matters are resolved. Clinic reports for the purposes of Family Court disputes will not be provided. Under such circumstances, we will recommend you consider attending your nearest Relationships Australia or Interrelate office, who receive Federal Government funding to offer subsidised counselling for separating and separated families.

We work directly with the ‘nominated’ parent. For us, this is the referring parent, who has arranged for counselling.  It is the nominated parents’ obligation to provide us with a copy of any relevant legal documents or court orders, including AVO’s.

It is the responsibility of the nominated parent to inform the other parent, invite them to attend, and provide feedback to them.  Clinic correspondence will be sent to the nominated parent and it is the responsibility of that parent to forward to the other parent. We do not have the capacity to provide separate feedback to each parent but welcome both parents to attend appointments where the separation is amicable and safe, and there are no court orders or AVO’s that would prohibit this.

We are happy to work with the other parent where it is safe to do so, where there is no AVO in place, and where the other parent has consented to pay for any clinic time spent liaising directly with them (and have placed their credit card on file for this purpose). 

Payment is to be made on the day of the child’s appointment by the nominated parent.  If there is legal agreement that requires the other parent to pay all or part of the treatment costs, it is the nominated parent’s responsibility to settle the account and collect reimbursement from the other parent.  If there are other arrangements for payment, these must be agreed to by Angie prior to the first session.    Please be aware that where a parent seeks a lengthy phone or other discussion (more than 10 minutes) this will be considered a payable session, and charged in 15m increments as per our current fees policy.  

Where there is parental conflict, we reserve the right to limit our services until the dispute has been resolved.  If necessary, we may make the difficult decision to stop counselling if the conflict is disruptive to the Clinic or impedes the care of the child.

Please help us to provide the best care for your children by providing all information regarding your family situation at or before your first appointment with us.

It is important you understand the implications of this policy for you and your family.  Please feel welcome to talk directly with Angie if you have any questions.

Policy updated OCTOBER 2022