Collaborative Family Professionals Debra Rodrigues RSW, Acc.FM,EAP Med., A.C.A.  Collaborative Family Professional and Child Specialist  Tel:905-567-8858 Fax:905-567-6559 drodrigues@pccs.ca
Debra Rodrigues, Registered Social Worker, Accredited Mediator, Counsellor, Parenting Coordinator, Custody/Access Specialist, Qualified Expert, Director of PEEL COUNSELLING & CONSULTING SERVICES, has 23 years of clinical, management and training experience. Specializing in separation and divorce and as a "neutral" in collaborative cases, she helps clients cope with the emotional process; create a parenting plan; focus on the children's needs; and/or she assists in managing the process of the meetings. Ms. Rodrigues is a member of the Peel/Halton Collaborative Association.

What is Collaborative Practice?
Collaborative Practice is a client-centred, solutions-oriented, out-of-court alternative for divorcing couples. The Collaborative Practice approach brings together specially trained legal, family and financial experts to assist parties to work toward a separation agreement that is realistic, workable, confidential and meets the interests of both spouses and their children. A collaborative divorce, if successful, should eliminate the need for time consuming, expensive court appearances.

The parties agree to the guiding principles of collaborative practice;

1. An agreement not to go to court
2. An honest exchange of information by both spouses (disclosure) 
3. A solution that takes into account the highest priorities of both spouses and children.

The parties may decide to make use of other collaboratively-trained professionals. A neutral child specialist can provide insight into concerns of the children. A neutral financial specialist can help gather and explain financial information and create future projections for settlement options. Family professionals help couples improve communication, create parenting plans, as well as manage the conflict and emotions that arise.

ROLE OF THE NEUTRAL FAMILY PROFESSIONAL IN COLLABORATIVE CASES

The Family Professional (FP), as a neutral facilitator, can participate in collaborative cases bringing value to the process.  For example, although the same thing the FP says may have been verbalized by one of the lawyers in the case, many clients report that having a neutral voice made it easier for them to “hear” what was being said.

 As a neutral facilitator, Family Professionals typically can participate in four ways:

1. Attend all joint meetings to help everyone in the meeting communicate as effectively as possible.  Although it is a legal settlement meeting, everyone is clear it is occurring based on the emotional relationship between the couple.  It is, therefore, impossible to expect that everyone will honour “perfect” communication skills.  As a neutral facilitator, the FP helps everyone to honour and abide by “expectations of conduct” that are set out at the beginning of the process. Therefore, the FP is the person who is “allowed” to interrupt, ask participates to speak for themselves, helps participants reframe what was just said in a way that it can be heard and understood, and; keeps everyone focused on resolving the conflict.
2. Help the clients to work through the very-predictable emotions that can interfere with the collaborative process. The Family Professional has the skill to help the clients contain emotions that can interfere with the productivity of the meetings.  Therefore, the Family Professional can assist the clients and their lawyers to obtain results more efficiently and with greater client satisfaction.  Lawyers who have worked with neutral FP’s often report that the FP’s ability to contain the emotions is an important value added service.
3. Help everyone on the team communicate and move forward as effectively as possible.  In collaborative practice, modeling good communication as a team can enhance the clients’ ability to work effectively.  The FP’s expertise in working with systems can also be utilized in conducting team-debriefing meetings.
4. In between the collaborative meetings, the FP can work with the clients either individually or jointly, to deal with issues on an as needed basis.  The FP may also facilitate the involvement of other professionals such as therapists or child specialists.  The FP can work with the clients during the collaborative process in his/her office, to develop a parenting plan, discuss how to tell the children about the divorce, etc.

At PCCS, we have FP’s to help prevent breakdown of the Collaborative process.