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Seminar by Karen Woodall

C&ADad

C&ADad

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Hello everyone

Anyone who's experiencing the horrors of alienation probably knows that Karen Woodall is one of the biggest names in the field- I've certainly learned a lot from reading her works & her blog.

Just thought I'd put this up- she's giving an online seminar on 30th March, its free, its geared towards how you deal with children that have gone through this, and strategies for alienated parents.

www.eventbrite.ie

"Therapeutic care of the Alienated Child and Family" by Karen Woodall

Unique event on psychoanalytic approach to understanding & evidence based, structured approach, to treatment for alienated child/family
www.eventbrite.ie www.eventbrite.ie
 
Cheers for that. I'll sticky the post. Yes I used to read her blogs a lot. It helps understand what's going on doesn't it? And how to manage it.
 
Ash said:
Cheers for that. I'll sticky the post. Yes I used to read her blogs a lot. It helps understand what's going on doesn't it? And how to manage it.
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She is probably the foremost expert, I agree. I paid for some sessions with her other half- Nick Woodall- he was also very good. Due to the rise of people like Dr Proudman & the resulting drop in credibility of the concept of 'alienation' they've lost a few cases recently- but in terms of learning strategies for alienated parents she's up there with the very best.

The unfortunate thing about her work is that all of it sort of comes down to the same point in the end- "The only real way to stop it is to remove the child from the negative influence"- ie transfer of residence is the only surefire way to resolve. Thats scary stuff bearing in mind how rare it is for a court to make that kind of order. Not impossible though- there is a way but you have to make sure you have that independent report at your side.
 
Funnily enough I was suggesting contacting Nick Woodall for a consultation :). As you already have I hope that is giving support.

The way to get residence transferred due to PA is to have evidence for the PA via psychologists reports, as you might already know. It happens more than you might think. The only ones we tend to hear about are the big cases with published judgements. Recently as well, because of the anti PA brigade, there have been cases where the terminology was changed to "manipulation" by the Mother - there was a change of residence case where that was proved. So terminology is quite important - the term "parental alienation" has become muddied in the court process and we usually advise people not to use it but skirt round it, describing the behaviours and saying things like manipulation instead. Then the court picks up what's happening and decides for themselves it's PA. Cafcass in particular are very suspicious of any parent claiming Parental Alienation, and partly that is because it is exactly the kind of allegation an alienator would make (projecting). Of either sex.

I didn't realise the current trend had led to the Woodalls losing a few cases. There has been an absolute vitriolic attempt by the academic PA band to undermine a lot of psychologists as being unqualified for the job, citing they need to be members of a particular psychological organisation (when there is more than one type of validation).
 
Quick bump for this- event happens tonight at 6pm.

Its free- anyone going through this horrendous nightmare check it out, this is perhaps the foremost expert in the UK on the subject.
 
Don't know if anyone else attended, but I thought it was brilliant (and scary). The webcast will be released soon, when it does I'll paste it up here.
Some snippets:

* PA as a term is a very risky thing to throw around in a court. Its much better to use terms like "manipulation", "splitting", "emotional abuse"
* The effects of this abuse on children in her experience is as severe as rape or witnessing a murder. She has clients who are 67 who have failed to function normally in society due to what they went through at the hands of an alienating parent.
* England & Wales are very 'behind the curve' in terms of awareness & understanding, mainly due to pressure from certain groups to discredit the concept entirely
* It is virtually unheard of for a child to totally reject a parent- even in cases of proven abuse the child craves a relationship. If its 'overnight' rejection, it is a massive red flag that influence, manipulation is going on.
* When you're an alienated parent, you have to be a certain type of person. Your children will be hypersensitive to everything about you so you have to conduct yourself very carefully. Give them space, give them time, be the person you know they need you to be

The difference between this & others is that it gave lots of advice on how to treat & deal with what we refer to as PA.

In my opinion something like this should be required viewing for all separated parents, if only to get an understanding of the impact on their children if they attempt to manipulate them into rejecting the other parent.
 
Thanks for that - sounds like a push back by the Woodalls.
 
Ash said:
Thanks for that - sounds like a push back by the Woodalls.
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When you hear someone talk that works in the field, can refer to her own experience, and has seen first hand what this does, it makes you realise how off the wall & deluded the 'deniers' are.

Nobody is saying that some people don't use PA as an excuse, and for sure there are people that don't understand it and chuck the term around without really knowing the complexities. But to just deny it exists, and say that "only men can be alienators", that is absolute garbage.

Unfortunately, she did kind of say that England & Wales are very far behind other countries, and placed the blame for that firmly at the feet of the various pressure groups who have very effectively campaigned to have PA derided and seen as a standard tool for men to somehow abuse women & manipulate the courts.

She never once in the entire seminar used the term "PA", and actually got quite passionate about using other terms when the host kept using the term PA. In a court setting, her experience is that the minute you utter the words PA you get sidetracked into a debate about whether it exists. She prefers to highlight the emotional abuse, manipulation, influence, and in her opinion that will get you a lot further in a court than opening yourself up to a debate about whether PA is a 'thing'.
 
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Missed this with parents evening last night. Any chance there's a recording as would be really interested to listen to it.
 
Thanks for that - I'll have a look at it later .....
 
I haven't finished watching it yet but first bit good.
 
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