What is this new training?

“Those to whom the separating parents turn have a vital role to play in understanding the family needs and ensuring they access the right support”  Family Solutions Group Recommendation November 2020

In response to the Family Solutions Group (FSG) report the Institute of Family Therapy and FLiP Faculty have developed ReFLEx Training, a series of CPD video-learning resources designed to help family law professionals take a more holistic approach to acting for their clients.

9 workshops leading to a Certificate in Essential Skills are available to order - see below

By reflecting on the broader emotional and psychological issues at play we aim to provide you with a range of essential skills that, in addition to your core legal knowledge, will allow you to excel at your role. 

  • Improved Client Relationships

    Understanding the wider context of your work and the need for non-legal skills will enable you to work more effectively with and for your clients.

  • Improve Outcomes

    Using these necessary skills leaves you better placed to assist clients in achieving beneficial & long lasting settlements for them and their families.

  • Recognition as an outstanding professional

    Build your reputation for excellence by building stronger client relationships and delivering truly client focused solutions.

Video

A short film from the What About Me report in November 2020. These courses will help you be better lawyers for the parents of these children and for the children themselves.

ReFLEx Workshops

A suite of nine self-paced learning workshops that build your CPD evidence.

Completion of all 9 courses results in the award of a ReFLEx Skills Certificate.

The 9 workshops to complete the ReFLEx Skills Certificate:

#1: The impact of conflict on children: Lia Younes is a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. In this workshop she outlines the psychological journey and consequences of divorce on all parties. (Trainer: Lia Younes)

#2: Listening: one of the hardest skills and yet one of the most important, this workshop will furnish you with the dos and don’ts of effective listening. (Trainers: GIllian Bishop and Andrew Pearce)

#3: The art of effective questions: different kinds of questions have different impacts and knowing how to frame them can be incredibly powerful. We explore what gets in the way of how they can be asked productively, and how to use them to smooth the process of relationships. (Trainers: Jeanne Ziminski and Joanne Jackson)

#4: The importance of Language: following the reports from the Family Solutions Group this workshop looks in detail at why language matters in the family law world and how we can improve our communications for he benefit of our clients and their families. (Trainers: Helen Adam and Andrew Pearce)

#5: Boundaries: do you know where and what your boundaries are? This workshop explores boundaries in depth, how they can sometimes catch us unawares and how we can learn to set and maintain them effectively. (Trainers: Rachel Watson, Catherine Rodger, Lucy Robertson-Richie and Gillian Bishop)

#6: Child Development: this workshop looks in detail at how we all develop from in utero to early adulthood. Providing comprehensive information and plenty of practical tips this workshop helps make dealing with child arrangements more bespoke and child focussed. (Trainer: Lia Younes)

#7: Managing Conflict: Therapists Andrew Pearce and Joanna Harrison explain what conflict is and help us explore our own attitude to conflict. Through the use of a case study we are helped to understand the drama triangle and the ways client conflict can leach into everyone’s life. The workshop provides tools for dealing with conflict in practice and understanding what is going on for the client and ourselves. It finishes with a look at conflict in the workplace and looking after our own wellbeing. (Trainers: Andrew Pearce and Joanna Harrison)

#8: Dynamics of relationships: In this workshop Dr Avi Shmueli, Clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, explains what a couple is, how relationships work, what goes on when things go wrong and how that affects the way divorce and separation pan out. Through input, exercises and “real life” examples in film we are helped to better understand and read our clients. (Trainer: Dr Avi Shmueli)

#9: Systems and other theories in a family law world: Family therapists from the Institute of Family therapy look in detail at the various psychological phenomena that happen around us every day and affect the work we do. Looking at systems, multiple perspectives, patterns, attachment, family scripts and endings we can begin to understand some client behaviours and attitudes. Practical suggestions such as reframing and reducing blame are explored through the use of exercises. (Trainers: Lucy Robertson-Ritchie, Taiwo Afuape and Gillian Bishop)

Each course may be purchased for £114.00 inclusive of VAT (£95 + VAT) each. If you buy the three separate courses at the same time this will be at the discounted rate of £300.00 inclusive of VAT (£250 + VAT).

If you are interested in a block booking for your team please contact us directly on: [email protected] We will be happy to assist, provide you with a quote and an explanation of how this will work.

The ReFLEx Skills Diploma

For those interested in developing an even greater understanding of these areas, deeper level workshops will be developed in due course which will lead to a ReFLEx Skills Diploma.

Topics which these further workshops will cover include topics such as:

Identifying and Dealing with Psychological Issues (the danger of labelling); Use of the Genogram; The Importance of Story; Safeguarding and Screening; Referrals to other Professionals; Vicarious Trauma; Introduction to Reflective Practice

All courses and bundles

Click each card for further details

Two founding organisations focused on delivering a wider appreciation of the context in which Family Law Professionals work.

FLiP FACULTY Ltd.

FLiP Faculty has championed the message that only a small percentage of family law work is pure law. The far greater aspect is understanding and delivering services effectively to clients who are often struggling to deal with very difficult situations in their lives.

FLiP Faculty has developed a range of courses aimed at supporting Family Lawyers in their work including training people to act as supervisors in the field. For more information about FLiP Faculty please see their website

The Institute of Family Therapy

The Institute of Family Therapy (IFT) is the largest family therapy education provider in the UK. It provides high quality training and clinical work in the field of systemic psychotherapy with families, couples and individuals. To find out more about IFT please see their website.