On November 18th and 19th at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, I will begin training and Certification in Attachment-Based “Parental Alienation” (AB-PA).
My goal is to establish a baseline standard for the required professional knowledge needed to appropriately assess, accurately diagnose, and effectively treat attachment-related pathology surrounding high-conflict divorce.
I will be offering two levels of Certification in AB-PA:
Two-Day Basic Certification Seminar: The Basic Certification seminar provides all of the information needed to appropriately assess, accurately diagnose, and effectively treat attachment-related pathology surrounding high-conflict divorce.
After providing the content of these two seminar days, I will feel completely comfortable certifying that this mental health professional has been provided with all of the information necessary to appropriately assess, accurately diagnose, and effectively treat attachment-related pathology surrounding high-conflict divorce.
One-Day Advanced Certification Seminar: Participation in the Advanced Certification seminar requires prior completion of the Basic Certification seminar. The Advanced Certification seminar more fully elaborates on the deep features of the pathology.
I am putting a limit of 20 participants for the Basic Certification seminar and 10 for the Advanced seminar. This will allow for responsive discussion during the seminars.
The content organization for the seminars is:
AB-PA Basic Certification Seminar: Day 1 Agenda
Day 1 is the substantive ground.
Morning: The Attachment-Based Model of “Parental Alienation”
Much of this information is available through Foundations, and I will assume that participants have a basic familiarity with the structure of an attachment-based model.
In the morning segments of the seminar I will cover the basic structure of AB-PA with a special focus on emphasizing the integration of the three levels of pathology and providing the origin-context for the emergence of the three diagnostic indicators of AB-PA and the 12 Associated Clinical Signs.
Afternoon: The Diagnostic Indicators of AB-PA
The afternoon session of Day 1 begins with describing the origins for each of the 3 diagnostic indicators of AB-PA, with elaboration of the surrounding pathology context for each symptom’s emergence. This is followed by a description of the 12 Associated Clinical Signs of the pathology, the origin of each within the pathology, and an elaboration of the surrounding pathology context for each symptom’s emergence.
By the end of Day 1, participants will know exactly what the pathology is and exactly how to 100% identify it when it is present (and to equally determine when it is not present).
The first seminar day ends at 4:00. From 4:30 to 6:00 on November 18th, Dr. Childress will be available for an appetizer cocktail hour discussion with seminar participants.
AB-PA Basic Certification Seminar: Day 2 Agenda
Day 2 is packed full with practical information.
Morning: Assessment of AB-PA
The morning section of Day 2 will train participants in conducting the structured Treatment-Focused Assessment protocol, including the purpose and information generated from each of the six assessment sessions.
The morning section of Day 2 will also describe the integrated use of the protocol documentation instruments (the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting, the Parenting Practices Rating Scale, and the Parent-Child Conflict Coding System to document the pathology for written treatment plan report writing. Practical guidance on writing the treatment plan report for the Court will be provided.
The training in the Treatment-Focused Assessment protocol will include descriptions of the behavior-chain interview technique and assessing for stimulus control features that can reliably and definitively identify authentic versus inauthentic parent-child conflict.
Afternoon: The Treatment of AB-PA
The afternoon section of Day 2 will describe the Strategic family systems foundations to the Contingent Visitation Schedule, how to construct it, modify it, and implement it as a Response-to-Intervention trial and to provide long-term stabilization for the family.
The afternoon section of Day 2 will describe psychotherapy approaches to restoring the child’s normal-range attachment bonding motivations through processing sadness (grief), and methods for acquiring and stabilizing the child’s self-authenticity.
The afternoon section of Day 2 will also describe the High Road protocol’s role and approach to restoring normal-range functioning of the child’s attachment system in a matter of a days. In High-Road augmented recovery, the role of the treating mental health professional changes from healing the damage to stabilizing the recovery. The afternoon’s material of Day 2 will describe the integration of mental health treatment with the child’s High-Road mediated recovery.
Post-Seminar Consultation: Certification is more than receiving content, it includes ensuring accurate direct application of the material to complex family situations. Basic Certification in AB-PA through The Childress Institute includes an additional four hours of optional post-seminar individual Skype consultation for each seminar participant in the 12 months following the seminar, regarding the application of AB-PA to specific cases encountered by the mental health professional.
Certification in AB-PA has meaning.
The mental health professional who is Certified in AB-PA by The Childress Institute knows exactly how to assess, diagnose, treat and resolve attachment-related family pathology surrounding high-conflict divorce.
The AB-PA Certified mental health professional will be able to effectively and efficiently integrate mental health treatment with the requirements of the Court for documentation and evidenced-based decision-making.
The AB-PA Certified mental health professional will have a level of professional knowledge and expertise that can be relied on.
AB-PA Advanced Certification Seminar: Agenda
The Advanced seminar has four content sections:
Morning (9:00 – 10:30): The Pathogen, Trauma, and Damaged Information Structures.
Morning (10:45 – 12:00): The Intersubjective System (psychological connection)
Afternoon (1:00 – 2:30): Dark Variations: Malignant Narcissism, Sadistic Impulse, the Dark Triad
Afternoon (2:45 – 4:00): Advanced Treatment Techniques
The Advanced seminar contains the truly remarkable material.
Post-Seminar Consultation: Advanced Certification in AB-PA through The Childress Institute includes an additional two hours of optional post-seminar individual Skype consultation for each seminar participant in the 12 months following the seminar, regarding the application of AB-PA to specific cases encountered by the mental health professional.
Registration for the November seminars is through The Childress Institute website:
Registration: The Childress Institute
Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857
Dr. Craig Childress: Attachment Based "Parental Alienation" (AB-PA) 