Resources for Health Care Professionals

Health care professionals, whether they be doctors or nurses, whether they are working in hospital settings, private practices or community clinics, all have the opportunity to help families affected by divorce.

In designing this site we talked with many colleagues and reviewed our own pediatric experience over the last 25 years in which we have seen hundreds of divorcing families. From this grassroots experience we will offer practice oriented tips and strategies.

For resources on this site see the navigation bar on the left or scroll to the hyperlinked summary descriptions below.

Each year the parents of two million children decide to divorce. Not only are these children in need of support from health care professionals, so too are the millions who continue to struggle with the effects of the break-up of their family.

This page contains a brief overview of the research and a list of current references.

Why there is a place for health care professionals to play an active part as advocates for children

The high incidence of divorce shows no sign of decreasing. Health care professionals need to focus their efforts on supporting the children of these families as they adapt.

This page lays out a series of strategies through which the office can provide responsive care for the families of divorce.

Parents often want to discuss the everyday issues they are facing with their children because of the divorce. The most important points are outlined here

A list of the themes which arise in the families of divorce.

This page presents a series of questions that can provide valuable information to enable the practitioner to anticipate problems and effectively counsel families.

Families often look to health care professionals for advice about visitation schedules. It often takes more than a year to find what works for a given family.

Children often use the "safety" of the office to vent their concerns and anxieties. The response of the medical professional can be critical to starting a healing process.

As office nurses frequently take on the role of counseling parents, this article written specifically for nurses provides guidelines as to how to approach the divorcing family.

What are the various ways parents and children can use to stay in touch with each other when their time is divided between two homes?

Why do children feel at fault? And how can parents respond to their children's expressions of guilt?

Trying to avoid giving responses that shut-down conversations with children is not always easy. This page contains suggestions on ways to help children express themselves.

Recovery is a misnomer when applied to divorce. Children go through a series of re-examinations of what went wrong in their family as they mature.