Workshop & Aftercare

Our Workshop

The Family Bridges workshop helps families whom therapists and the courts thought were beyond help.

The Family Bridges workshop is the earliest specialized program for troubled and severely alienated parent–child relationships. Since 1991, the Family Bridges workshop has been the gold standard globally in helping children and teens reconnect with a parent from whom they are alienated. To date, it is the only program whose short-term and long-term effectiveness has been documented with well-accepted peer-reviewed research using reliable measures. Its curriculum is grounded in scientific, evidence-based instruction principles.

In this structured 4-day educational and experiential workshop, the target parent and their severely alienated children participate together without any other families and without the presence of the other parent. The workshop is scheduled to commence the day after the Court temporarily transfers decision-making authority to the target parent, and places a minimum 90-day no contact order between the alienating parent and the children or, in the case of recovered abducted children, immediately upon their return.

The two primary goals of the Family Bridges workshop are:

To prepare children to cooperate with court orders that require them to live with a parent whom they have rejected, or claim to hate or fear
To improve the quality of the parent–child relationship

“The children’s lawyer said in court that she sees no more signs of depression and sadness in my son, and that there has seen a 180-degree shift in the children’s attitudes towards most things. Both children are now saying kind things about me. Life feels so good and normal right now, that at times I can almost forget the horrors that we all had to endure.”

– A formerly alienated mother of two teens

Who can enrol?

The Family Bridges workshop is offered to families when:

A child’s view of the target parent is unrealistic
A child rejects a parent after divorce, refuses or resists contact with a parent, or treats a parent with gross contempt and guiltless disregard
The family needs help adjusting to court orders that place the child in the sole care of the target parent and suspend contact between the child and the other parent until specific conditions are met
A child’s negative attitudes and behaviours toward the parent are not a reasonable or proportionate response to that parent’s behaviour towards the child

While the workshop is geared towards children from age 9 to 18, some adult children experiencing severe alienation participate as well. There is a modified protocol that is appropriate for children 9 years of age and younger.

The Family Bridges workshop is not appropriate for:

Children whose rejection is reasonable, proportionate to, and warranted by the history of the child’s relationship with the target parent
Children whose target parent is found to be incapable of exercising custodial responsibilities, such as parents with severe physical illnesses
Families in which the children spend most of their time away from the target parent, or who will be with the target parent only for a short period of time e.g. holidays or school breaks
Most parental alienation cases that are at a mild or early moderate stage

“The kids are doing amazing. I am so happy!! People keep remarking that they are completely different kids. My daughter is enjoying being a teenager and it is amazing to be able to text her and laugh with her (when she’s not being a typical crazy teenage girl) and get to be her Mom again.”

– A formerly alienated mother

“It has been one year since we were awarded custody of the children. It has been a phenomenal year… so full of blessings. The children have adjusted so well, have made terrific friends, and have excelled in school. We are a family.”

– A grateful mother

“If it were not for the Family Bridges workshop we would never be where we are now. Now things are going really well with the kids. My son has been talking so much about all his thoughts and feelings about what has happened these last few years…Things are relaxed, with nothing more than the normal ups and downs of daily life.”

– A formerly alienated mother of two teens

“My son is like a whole different child, funny and joking. Last weekend we were with my dad and brother and their families, and they said it was night and day their attitudes and demeanor. It was like the last 3 or 4 years had never happened, and we got them back (which we have.) All of this has helped me relax more and become more and more affectionate with them.”

– A formerly alienated father

“It was almost as though they had never been alienated.”

– A formerly alienated father

Aftercare Protocol

Family Bridges Institute is the only organization to provide a standardized, structured Aftercare Protocol for the alienating parent upon completion of the Family Bridges workshop.

The Aftercare Protocol is conducted by a mental health professional with the alienating parent and their negative advocates during a series of appointments throughout the minimum 90-day no contact period. It is the standard protocol used in every Family Bridges workshop case around the world.

The Family Bridges Aftercare Protocol was developed based upon the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child. It was designed as a child protection model, an emergency intervention and a behaviour change model for the alienating parent. The ultimate goal is to give children the best chance of having a loving and healthy relationship with both parents, when possible. The curriculum is structured to help alienating parents understand, acknowledge and demonstrate learning about parental alienation; to accept responsibility for their alienating behaviours; to better meet their children’s emotional and psychological needs post-divorce; and to educate them about a parallel parenting model. It is designed to work in tandem with Court oversight and strong bench management.

The pace, duration and outcome of the work done in the Aftercare Protocol are contingent upon the alienating parent’s cooperation, active participation and comprehension.

Frequently asked questions

Enrolment & Participation

Logistics

Methodology

In some cases, the court will order a target parent to participate with the children in a Family Bridges workshop. In other cases, the court will grant the target parent sole decision-making authority to pursue whatever remedy he or she deems necessary and/or appropriate, including, but not limited to, a Family Bridges workshop.

Divorce decrees and court orders determine who has the authority to make educational and health care decisions for children. If a parent has the sole authority to make such decisions, and does not need to consult with or obtain the approval of the other parent, a parent can choose to enroll a child in a Family Bridges workshop just as the parent with such authority can enroll a child in different types of educational experiences, tutoring, counseling, medical treatment, etc.

In some particularly volatile situations, where concerns are raised about one parent interfering with the custodial parent’s right to enroll the child in a Family Bridges workshop, such as by unlawfully retaining a child, it may help for the court to take judicial recognition of a parent’s exploration of, or intent to have the child participate in, a Family Bridges workshop.

Family Bridges Institute recommends that all children participate in the workshop, as even those children less alienated can benefit from the educational materials. Parents will need to make arrangements for the care of children under age 9 during some modules of the workshop.

Judges and parents will often express concerns about the severity of the alienating behavior in children who are about to age out of the Court system, and they wonder about excluding them from the Court orders out of fear that the older children are beyond reach or that they may disrupt the workshop for their youngers siblings. Family Bridges Institute recommends that all children within the family are included in the planning for the intervention. The workshop leaders are trained to determine when the older child is sabotaging the workshop for their younger siblings and to manage this situation with the target parent.

Most children do not choose to attend the workshop. Many comply with a parent’s expectation when the Court Orders give that parent the legal authority to make such a decision. Some adult children choose to participate. A few children younger than 18 years of age choose to participate. In some cases, the court takes judicial notice that the parent intends to enroll the children in the workshop, and in other cases the Court Orders explicitly require the parent and children to participate in the workshop.

In this respect, children’s enrollment in a Family Bridges workshop is similar to their enrollment in other educational and therapeutic experiences in which children may not voluntarily choose to participate, such as when a court or parents expect children to participate in psychotherapy and counseling, admit children with drug-abuse problems to a drug rehabilitation program, admit children with mental health problems to a residential treatment center or hospital, or enroll children in a boarding school, military academy, or other private school against the children’s stated wishes.