From 2017–2021, approximately 47% of divorces involved couples with children under 18 years. This means that around 217,000 children experienced their parents entering divorce during this period. This doesn’t include children in households where cohabiting couples may have separated.1
As a practitioner, you can help create supportive environments where families thrive amid changing relationships. The Child-focused practice with separating parents online course has been developed to support your work with parents who are going through separation and divorce. This course focuses on four practice skills that will help ensure children’s mental health and wellbeing is a central aspect of the conversations you have with parents during this time:
- Supporting separating parents’ wellbeing
- Supporting parenting and the parent–child relationship
- Supporting separating parents to support children; and
- Responding to the unhelpful effects that common social expectations and messages surrounding separation and divorce can have on parents.
By providing understanding and child-focused strategies, you can empower parents to navigate challenging times while promoting children’s mental health and wellbeing.
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Marriages and divorces, Australia 2021. Canberra: ABS.