Coparenting Education and Coparenting Coaching

Cooperative Coparenting through Separation or Divorce offers an in-depth look into building healthy coparenting relationships.  This course builds from the 4-hour Crossroads of Parenting and Divorce course to allow parents eight sessions of education about how conflict impacts children, how to help children during separation and conflict, and how to build new coparenting communication and conflict resolution skills. 

This course is designed for coparents to complete together.  However, the course can be modified for individual participation.  Most coparents choose to meet virtually, but in-person sessions can be scheduled.  

Coparents are encouraged to attend together whenever possible.  At times, parents may meet individually for breakout sessions,  to cover sensitive course content, or when other outside circumstances necessitate individual meetings.  This course is designed for coparents who may be experiencing high conflict; it is not designed for parents experiencing ongoing domestic violence.  

This course will benefit coparents who are:

- newly separated and interested in building a functional coparenting relationship,  

- experiencing heightened and/or ongoing conflict, particularly about communication or parenting time,  

- interested in refining communication skills, refocusing on their children, or improving conflict resolution and setting agreements.

Cooperative Coparenting through Separation or Divorce covers all the fundaments of moving toward a functional coparenting relationship.  The course is designed with updated video content, PowerPoint visuals, and engaging activities.   Each parent will receive a workbook, 90 minutes of weekly instruction for eight sessions, discussion and activities with the instructor, engaging homework, and a certificate of completion upon meeting course requirements.    

Topics included in Cooperative Coparenting Education:

• The impact conflict has on children
• How to replace destructive reactions with constructive responses
• Practical skills to manage anger, increase impulse control, resolve conflict and talk without arguing 
• How to set up a two home communication system
• Identify and confront negative patterns
• Taking more responsibility
• Handling finances
• Dealing with typical issues such as returning clothing
• Handling transfers/exchanges
• The impact of a significant other

Coparenting coaching is a supplement to coparenting education that focuses on family or situation-specific issues, topics, concerns, or questions. Sometimes, coparenting coaching is called coparenting counseling; however, it is not therapy.  Coparenting coaching is only offered alongside coparenting education and is not a stand-alone service. 

• Coaching enhances the skill-based learning process by utilizing practical applications in real-life scenarios to help coparents form healthy coparenting perspectives, identify relevant tools, skills, and resources, and explore potential options for resolution.  .
• Coaching can be scheduled for eight sessions or sixteen sessions.  If coparents cannot agree on the length of service it will default to eight sessions.
• Coaching does not include assessments or recommendations, or aim to resolve the coparenting conflict during the coaching session, although some conflicts are resolved.

When coparents agree to participate in coparenting coaching they also agree to participate in coparenting education.  Each week coparents will meet on Zoom or in-person for two hours; an hour and a half of coparenting education and a half hour of coparenting coaching. 

Each coparent will prepare a coparenting issue, topic, concern, question, or snippet of communication to bring to the session discuss during the coaching session.  The instructor will coach or guide coparents in exploring the topic together through thought-provoking questions and discussion, and help identify tangible tools and skills to create possible solutions.  Each coparenting topic for coaching will be discussed during the session and a summary of the session will be emailed to each coparent for review and use in furthering resolution. 

The cost of coparenting coaching sessions is usually less than both parents attending therapy once per week, and likely for a shorter duration, too.  Coparenting coaching fees are often split 50/50 between parents. Each parent may qualify individually for the tiered fee schedule.  There is a discount for paying in full prior to the first session.