With the publication of Foundations, interest has been expressed about my possibly presenting at a conference in various locations, both nationally and internationally. I want to take a moment to address this topic before returning to the substance of attachment-based “parental alienation” in my future posts.
I am willing to talk anywhere, anytime.
Professional Conferences
With regard to standard professional conferences, I will soon be submitting a proposal to the California Psychological Association for a 90-minute seminar at their 2016 convention (submission deadline August 31). I will also be submitting a proposal for the 2016 national conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (submission deadline 10/2/15). And when the 2016 call for proposals comes from the American Psychological Association I will submit a proposal to them as well.
My proposal to the California Psychological Association will be for a seminar on the theoretical foundations and diagnosis of an attachment-based model of “parental alienation,” similar to my seminars delivered through the Masters Lecture Series of California Southern University. These Masters Lecture Series seminars are available online (search terms: California Southern University Childress parental alienation).
My proposal to the AFCC will be for a talk on the Single Case ABAB protocol and the Treatment Needs Assessment protocol as alternative assessment and remedy approaches when negative parental influence on the child is alleged. If this seminar proposal is accepted, I’m confident it would be a powerful ground-breaking talk that would impact our approach to assessing and responding to the “parental alienation” pathology within the legal system.
We’ll see what happens.
But I’m just one lone psychologist working in obscurity in Southern California to change the world. I figure that at some point the accuracy of an attachment-based reformulation of the “parental alienation” construct will reach a tipping point in the consciousness of the professional community so that it receives some attention and can no longer be ignored. At which point, if I’m not 10 years dead, I’ll begin getting invitations to present at these professional conferences.
Speaking Tour
I have also recently submitted an application to PESI (www.pesi.com), a continuing education organization which provides speakers for professional seminars presented across the country. Mental health professionals must acquire a specified number of continuing education credits during each licensing/re-licensing period. Among the things PESI does is arrange speaker tours to various cities to provide seminars offering continuing education credits for mental health professionals.
I’m always being asked, “Do you have a referral or know someone who understands an attachment-based model of ‘parental alienation’ in <location>?” I’m sorry but I don’t. If I am sent on a speaking tour, however, this might be one way to train up therapists in your area who are knowledgeable in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of attachment-based “parental alienation.” So I thought PESI might offer this opportunity and I submitted my proposal to them to become one of their stable of speakers. We’ll see what happens here as well.
If you want to contact PESI and support them taking me into their stable of speakers, their website is www.pesi.com.
Sponsored Conference Presentation
There have also been feelers extended to me regarding my willingness to travel to various countries for talks. I’ve been contacted by people from England, Australia, France, and South Africa who have all expressed interest in bringing me to their countries for a presentation. Works for me if it works for you.
Here’s my thoughts on inviting me to present at a special sponsored conference:
1.) Generate the interest and focused attention of the professional psychological association and legal association in your country on my talk. For the U.S. these would be the American Psychological Association and American Bar Association. You want them to be aware of my talk, you want their anticipation and attention on my talk, and you want them totally focused on what I’m going to say.
My talk will not disappoint them.
2.) Give me at least one day, I’d recommend two days, Saturday and Sunday, around the following schedule:
Day 1:
- Theory (2 hours)
- Diagnosis (2 hours)
- The Pathogen (1 hour)
- Questions
Day 2:
- Treatment (2 hours)
- Legal (2 hours)
- Professional Issues (1 hour)
- Questions (until there are no more questions remaining)
The High Road Protocol
If you really want to spark the conference into the next level, include Dorcy Pruter discussing the High Road to Family Reunification protocol. She has the treatment intervention nailed.
The High Road protocol is a four-day psycho-educational intervention that effectively resolves the child’s symptomatic presentation in a matter of days. The High Road protocol still requires a period of the child’s protective separation from the pathogenic influence of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent. But in the context of a protective separation the High Road protocol will quickly recover the child’s authentic normal-range functioning.
I’m a psychologist. In general I would be recommending therapy since that’s what I do. However, in the case of the pathology of attachment-based “parental alienation” I would recommend the High Road protocol of Pruter as the initial intervention. I have reviewed the High Road protocol, I understand how it accomplishes what it does, and if we can recover the authentic child in a matter of days rather than an extended period of three to six months of therapy, why wouldn’t we do that? She has the intervention nailed.
However, even after the High Road intervention protocol recovers the authentic child, this recovery will remain fragile for the first six to nine months, so the child and formerly targeted parent will need a period of follow-up relationship therapy to stabilize the child’s recovered authenticity before reintroducing the pathogenic parenting of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent.
Additional Training
If you decide to bring me over to present in your country, then I would suggest you arrange to have me provide your child protection social workers with an additional seminar in the days following the primary seminar, focused on their role in assessing the child psychological abuse of attachment-based “parental alienation” (attachment trauma reenactment pathology). The pathology of “parental alienation” is a child protection issue.
If you decide to bring Dorcy over (which I would recommend if you can), then I suggest you arrange for her to train four to six interventionists in the High Road protocol to seed this solution in your country.
Keep in mind that mental health therapists will make especially BAD interventionists with the High Road protocol. We can’t help ourselves, we try to do therapy. The High Road to Family Reunification protocol is not therapy. That’s why it can achieve in a matter of days what it takes therapy months to accomplish. The High Road protocol is an entirely different type of intervention model.
Just follow the structured series of activities in the sequence laid out by the protocol and these psycho-educational activities will restore the normal-range functioning of the child’s brain systems. We can explain how this happens at the conference.
I would recommend selecting interventionists who are psychologically healthy former targeted parents (who have no currently active emotional issues that would impair their ability to enact the intervention protocol). Newly graduated therapists may be able to enact the protocol as long as they DON’T try to do therapy. Therapy will activate the child’s grief and guilt and totally undermine the intervention protocol. The High Road intervention is not therapy. Just follow the structured steps of the protocol activities and it will work. Don’t try to improve it or make it “better” or add therapy.
It is a set of catalytic interventions that require the proper intervention in the proper sequence to restore the normal-range functioning of the various brain systems. Just follow the steps.
Reimburse My Expenses
If you want me to present somewhere, all I ask is that you cover my expenses. This will include my travel expenses of hotel and airfare as well as the time that I will need to take away from my private practice. Seeing patients in my private practice is how I pay my bills. If you’re going to take me away from my private practice I will be losing money needed to pay my bills, so you’ll need to reimburse me for my lost earned income from my private practice.
I’m not seeking to make money off of family tragedy. But neither can I afford to lose money. I have a family to support and bills to pay. If you take me away from my private practice I simply ask that you reimburse me for my lost earned income for the days I’m away from my private practice.
If you want to do this conference route, you may want to charge for the conference and provide continuing education credits for mental health professionals and attorneys. This could potentially offset the costs for my travel and lost earned income. Any remaining money would belong to the sponsoring organization.
In the United States, some universities have student honor societies, such as Psi Chi for psychology and the student bar association at law schools. I always thought it would be a nice idea if a university’s Psi Chi organization joined with the university law school’s student bar association to host a seminar presentation in an attachment-based model of “parental alienation” – The Interface of Psychology and the Law in High Conflict Divorce: Future Directions.
Presentations
I am working on developing presentations to professional organizations. I am exploring opportunities to provide continuing education seminars around the country to educate mental health professionals through an organization such as PESI. If someone wants to bring me someplace to present, I’d be more than happy to come and talk. All I ask is that you reimburse for my travel expenses and lost earned income from my private practice.
If you want to bring me overseas, I would suggest that you plan for a two-day talk. I would strongly recommend you get the focused attention of your professional mental health and legal associations on my talk. I will not disappoint.
If I am allowed to present on Saturday and Sunday with the focused attention of the mental health and legal communities on my talk, I am fully confident that “parental alienation” will be solved in your country by Monday morning. Bold words. Here’s why.
Up on my website, near the top of the Parental Alienation section, is a new checklist I developed entitled:
Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation Component Pathology
(Attachment Trauma Reenactment Pathology)
(Splitting Pathology in a Cross-Generational Coalition)
This checklist lists all of the component constructs of an attachment-based model of “parental alienation.” There is nothing new in an attachment-based model of the pathology. All of the component elements are fully established psychological principles and constructs. All of the component elements are amply supported in the peer-reviewed research literature.
There is NOTHING NEW in an attachment-based model of “parental alienation.” It’s important that you let that sink in.
There is NOTHING NEW in an attachment-based model of “parental alienation.”
The pathology of “parental alienation” is already described in the established peer-reviewed pathologies of professional psychology. There is NOTHING NEW in an attachment-based model of “parental alienation.”
There is nothing new in an attachment-based model of “parental alienation.”
The only barrier to the solution is ignorance.
Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857
Dr. Craig Childress: Attachment Based "Parental Alienation" (AB-PA) 