Co-Parenting Counseling: Clinical Implications and Skill Building

Description

Co-parenting concerns are among the most common and clinically complex issues behavioral health professionals encounter when working with families affected by separation, divorce, or other parenting arrangements across households. Parents may present with intense emotional activation, unresolved relational wounds, communication breakdowns, competing household rules, court involvement, or difficulty keeping children out of the middle of conflict. For children, these dynamics can create anxiety, loyalty pressure, disrupted routines, and distress during transitions between homes.

Clinicians are often asked to support parents who are no longer in a romantic relationship but must continue making decisions together about their children’s education, medical care, schedules, communication, discipline, personal belongings, new partners, blended family dynamics, and special needs. Without a clear framework, these sessions can quickly become reactive, adversarial, or pulled into past relationship conflicts rather than focused on the child’s needs.

Alyse November, Ph.D., LCSW, ACSW, CST, and Stephanie Newberg, MEd, MSW, LCSW, bring decades of clinical experience working with divorce, co-parenting, high-conflict family dynamics, court-involved cases, reunification concerns, blended families, and the developmental impact of divorce on children. Their backgrounds in therapy, divorce-related clinical work, mediation-informed practice, education, and professional writing allow them to connect the realities of family conflict with practical therapeutic strategies clinicians can use in co-parenting counseling.

This training offers a clinically grounded, skills-focused approach to helping separated or divorced parents shift away from revisiting their relational past and toward present-focused, child-centered problem solving. You will examine common obstacles to effective co-parenting—such as unresolved grief, "shadow advisors," personality disorder traits, and entrenched patterns of blame. To cut through this high-conflict behavior, you will learn how to guide parents toward areas of agreement, establish businesslike communication, set strict limits on contact methods, and ensure children are never used as messengers.

Beyond communication strategies, the course addresses the complex ethical and logistical considerations inherent in this work. You will explore how to manage informed consent with multiple parties, maintain neutrality, handle court-related concerns without stepping into the role of a legal advisor, and monitor your own countertransference. Additionally, you will tackle the daily realities of co-parenting—from navigating parallel parenting and healthy custody exchanges to managing IEP coordination, blended family transitions, and recognizing warning signs that a child may need additional support.

Key Takeaways

• A child-centered framework for co-parenting counseling: Understand how to keep the focus on the child’s needs while helping parents reduce conflict, communicate more clearly, and make practical decisions across two households.
• Tools for high-conflict and emotionally activated sessions: Learn strategies for setting ground rules, slowing escalation, encouraging self-regulation, redirecting parents toward problem solving, and identifying when individual therapy, consultation, or parallel parenting may be more appropriate.
• Practical guidance for real-world co-parenting concerns: Explore how to address parenting plans, household rules, schedules, transitions, communication methods, personal belongings, blended families, special needs, and the impact of parental conflict on children.

Why This Course?

• Clinical skills for a common presenting concern: Many clinicians work with clients affected by divorce, separation, or co-parenting conflict, even when co-parenting is not the primary reason for treatment. This training offers a practical way to recognize and respond to these dynamics.
• A grounded approach to complex family systems: The course helps clinicians stay neutral, structured, and child-focused when parents bring intense emotions, conflicting narratives, or court-related stress into the therapy space.
• Practical strategies from experienced clinicians: Dr. November and Ms. Newberg draw from extensive clinical experience with divorce, high-conflict co-parenting, and family transition issues to offer concrete interventions clinicians can apply in practice.

Learning Objectives

• Identify all the aspects of the co-parenting process.
• Identify and assess how the specific components of co-parenting affect the whole family system
• Describe conflict resolution, de-escalation, and effective communication skills specific to the issues of co-parenting.
• Apply specific skills and techniques in co-parenting counseling.

When co-parenting conflict becomes the center of a family’s life, children often feel the impact even when parents believe they are shielding them from it. This course gives behavioral health professionals a clearer structure for supporting parents, protecting children from being caught in the middle, and responding to the emotional, ethical, and practical challenges that arise in co-parenting counseling. Register today to strengthen your ability to help families move toward more stable, child-focused communication and decision-making. 

Format and Access

This is a Non-interactive, self-study course. Instruction consists of 3 hours of on-demand video and a post-test.

"Co-Parenting Counseling: Clinical Implications and Skill Building" is one of three courses that are part of the Clinical Divorce Specialist Certificate program.  You can complete individual courses, or enroll in the bundle for the full Certificate program.

Course Details

Availability: 

From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: 

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services. This continuing education course is designed for licensed behavioral health professionals.

Teaching Methods: 

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend: 

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructors

About Alyse November, Ph.D., LCSW, ACSW, CST

Alyse November, Ph.D., LCSW, obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Adelphi University, N.Y., and her PhD in Clinical Sexology from IICS. She is credentialed by the Academy of Certified Social Workers.

Alyse is the founder of Different Like Me, a company with a staff of over 30 professionals providing psychotherapy, psychoeducational testing and cognitive rehabilitation. As a licensed clinical social worker, Alyse provides psychotherapy to individuals across the lifespan. A substantial portion of her practice has focused on addressing challenges faced by children, adults, seniors, and families ranging from trauma, narcissistic and borderline family recovery, aging, chronic illness, divorce, trans-care, relationships, parenting, and special needs, end of life issues, dementia, caregiving, educational challenges, anxiety, and depression. Her PhD dissertation focused on the assessment of sexual challenges and dementia. Alyse also created DLMU which is an educational platform that provides seminars for both professional and personal development.

Alyse is:

• Certified in EMDR, Brainspotting and transgender care
• A published author and a national speaker and presenter
• Awarded 2022 Social Worker of the Year: National Association of Social Workers
• A Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator, parenting coordinator and a collaboratively trained divorce facilitator
• Palm Beach Chapter Past President/Chair for the National Association of Social Workers
• A past board member of Florida’s Voice on Developmental Disabilities and National Association of Divorce Professionals

About Stephanie Newberg, MEd, MSW, LCSW

Stephanie Newberg, LCSW, M.Ed is a licensed psychotherapist in FL and PA, working with individuals, couples and families. She has been in practice for more than 25 years specializing in: family and couples therapy, conflict resolution, grief and loss, parenting support and the implications of divorce on children and families. In addition, Stephanie is a trained family and divorce mediator/ co-parent counselor and has received intensive training in sand tray play therapy for adolescents and children. Stephanie has led numerous workshops and presentations for adults and adolescents on relationship and communication skills, dealing with the effects of divorce on families, diversity issues, cyberbullying/effects of technology on development, nutrition and mental health, and conflict resolution skills. In addition, Stephanie has numerous publications and has been on two podcasts. Stephanie is a certified counselor for first responders, trained in neuro- emotional techniques, served as a consultant for the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, PA and worked at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social work as an adjunct professor, supervisor, and field work liaison for social work students.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

Credit Hours:

This course consists of 3 continuing education hours of credit.

Counselors:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists:

Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.

Social Workers:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 3 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.

Addiction Professionals:
 

This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits, effective 3/6/2026. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

Psychologists:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.

Art Therapists:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals:

This course qualifies for 180 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This course is a non-interactive, online self-study.

Participants may request a printed version of their certificate of completion to be delivered by mail. A shipping/handling fee of $6.95 will be charged per request. Shipping internationally may require an additional charge.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement