Reunification Therapy: Reunification Counseling addresses parent child contact problems by working with the whole family, with the goal of rebuilding a troubled parent-child relationship.
Reunification Therapy can assist parents and children in exploring and rebuilding a troubled relationship between parent and child. Substantial research indicates that children almost always benefit from an ongoing relationship with both parents, and the success of reunification therapy is increased when both parents are in full support of the process.
Because the process of reunification can bring up challenging issues and difficult feelings for every family member, it can be very helpful if both child/ren and parents each have their own individual therapist. Parents can benefit from individual therapy in order to better understand the child’s experience, and better support what the child may say or feel. Children can benefit by having a trusted person with whom to process the issues as they arise. The involved therapists can coordinate as a clinical team to support every family member.
The process of reunification therapy varies in length and complexity depending on the needs of the family. Reunification counseling begins with the therapist meeting with both parents, either conjointly or individually as appropriate; and with each child separately for at least two sessions. The parent desiring reunification and the child(ren) will then be brought together as soon as it is appropriate. Pursuing reunification in no way guarantees a specific result, there are times when the issues related to the case impair the accomplishment of reconnecting parent with child.