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In my role as a Family Mediator and Family Counsellor writes Michelle Rumsey I have worked with children who have experienced their parents’ conflict. Conflict is not always children witnessing parents shouting, it can be parents not verbally communicating, it can be parents being verbally negative about the other parent to the child/ren, or it can be a parent refusing to include the other parent in daily activities or communicating about the children’s needs. All forms of conflict children witness,…

Sometimes for a variety of reasons one parent doesn’t see their child for an extended period of time after a separation and this can be a tough situation for that parent and for the child. The temptation is to want to pick up the relationship where you left it but your child may not feel comfortable with this. So I’m really pleased to introduce this guest blog by Mette Theilmann. Mette is an experienced and qualified parent & family life…

I’d like to have a conversation about something that has been on my mind for a while writes our founder, Louisa Whitney. Before I start I want to heavily caveat this post. I’m going to be talking about family roles that are quite traditional in this post. Some may see them as gender stereotypes and justifiably so. This is not the norm for all families – far from it. In mediation we see families with the roles I’m going to…

If you work in family law, or follow it closely as a result of going through a separation, or having experienced a separation, then it can’t have escaped your notice that there has been much talk about a government consultation on mediation. The driving force behind the consultation is to encourage more people to access early help via mediation following a separation so that they are hopefully diverted away from the court system which is currently struggling with staff and…

Family Mediation or Couple Therapy is the question asked by family mediator, Michelle Rumsey here at LKW Family Mediation? In the initial stages of Family Mediation, we are often asked the question ‘I am not sure if I need family mediation or couple therapy?’. What is the difference? Couples engage in therapy for many different reasons. They may decide they cannot overcome the challenges in the relationship on their own and would like couples therapy to help them find a…

One of the questions that crops up regularly in conversations with separating parents – both in mediation and outside the process – is the topic of introducing new partners. This can be a tricky subject and it’s challenging to balance the needs of the different people involved. Here are 10 top tips for anyone wanting support and guidance on managing this issue in the most loving and constructive way possible. If you’re a separated parent then you need to be…

Louisa Whitney writes: You might have seen me talking on social media about the 4 Cs of effective communication and I thought it would help to write a blog about them in more detail. They are the four fundamental pillars of communication. They’re fundamental because as with table legs you need all the legs for the table to stand securely and not fall over. The same is true of good and productive communication. Before I explain more I just wanted…

What is it they say? The three most stressful things in life are losing a loved one, divorce and moving?  That sounds about right and, having worked in the world of family law for many years now, I have seen that going through a divorce can indeed be stressful and sometimes this can lead to depression.  But what about staying in a bad marriage?  Can this cause depression?  I’m not a medical professional (watching countless hours of Greys Anatomy doesn’t…