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Providing Ethical, Trauma-Informed Reunification Therapy
An On-Demand Professional Training for Mental Health Providers
Providing effective reunification therapy begins with structure, safety, and ethical clarity.
This on-demand professional training offers a comprehensive, trauma-informed framework for mental-health professionals working with parent-child estrangement, high-conflict divorce, and court-involved family systems.
Designed for clinicians and helping professionals, this course walks you through the foundations, phases, and practical skills of reunification therapy, while emphasizing child safety, therapist neutrality, and ethical decision-making.
Presented by Victoria Valdez, LMFT, this training thoughtfully examines:
- The definition and purpose of reunification therapy
- How reunification therapy differs from traditional family therapy
- The role of the family court system and legal context
- Parent-child estrangement vs. parental alienation
- When reunification therapy is not appropriate due to safety or trauma concerns
- Trauma-informed, ethical approaches to reunification when it is indicated
What You Will Learn
Practical Skills & Strategies
✔️ Comprehensive assessment of history, attachment, and legal context
✔️ Use of evidence-informed assessment tools, including:
- ACEs
- AAPI-2.1
- Parenting Sense of Competence Scale
- Parent and child intake considerations
✔️ Coaching parents in emotional regulation, consistency, and trauma-informed parenting
✔️ Building rapport and emotional safety with children using developmentally appropriate techniques
✔️ Managing loyalty binds, resistance, and high-conflict dynamics
✔️ Structuring joint sessions with clear ground rules and therapeutic scaffolding
Ethical, Legal & Documentation Guidance
✔️ Clarifying therapist role vs. evaluator role
✔️ Understanding court expectations and legal interfaces
✔️ Ethical communication with attorneys and GALs
✔️ Objective, defensible documentation practices
✔️ Tracking progress, interference, and measurable outcomes
You Will Learn How To
✔️ Identify appropriate indications for reunification therapy
✔️ Distinguish estrangement from alienation during assessment
✔️ Apply a structured, phased reunification model, including:
- Assessment
- Parent preparation
- Child sessions
- Parent-child sessions
- Transition and maintenance
- Termination and follow-up
✔️ Conduct reunification work using trauma-informed pacing and child-led readiness
✔️ Structure parent-child sessions safely and effectively
✔️ Maintain therapist neutrality while prioritizing child safety
Who This Training Is For
✔️ Therapists, counselors, and social workers
✔️ Providers working in court-involved or high-conflict family systems
✔️ Clinicians new to reunification therapy seeking structure and guidance
✔️ Experienced providers wanting to strengthen ethical and trauma-informed practice
✔️ Graduate students and early-career professionals
Led by Victoria, a Marriage and Family Therapist, Parent Coach, and neurodivergent mother of three neurodivergent children, this training bridges clinical expertise with real-world understanding. Victoria brings over 15 years of experience supporting families across foster care, school-based counseling, and in-home services, giving her a grounded, nuanced perspective on family systems under stress.
Her experience will help you to:
- Approach reunification therapy in a developmentally informed, trauma-aware way
- Support children with ADHD, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation during reunification
- Work with parents without relying on punishment, coercion, or shame
- Navigate co-parenting dynamics and high-conflict situations with greater skill
- Interrupt generational parenting patterns that can derail reunification progress
Whether you’re new to reunification work or looking to deepen your clinical effectiveness, this webinar offers practical tools, ethical guidance, and a compassionate lens for supporting families through one of the most delicate phases of healing.
If you want to do reunification work that is effective, humane, and truly child-centered, this training is for you.
Victoria has over 200 hours of specialized training in:
- Play Therapy
- Anxiety and Depression Relief
- Trauma and PTSD Processing
- Grief and Loss Work
- ADHD and Executive Functioning Support.
Learn more about Victoria’s qualifications here. Check TSC's Google reviews to learn about what clients and professionals have said about her.
