Training Description: 

According to the APA there is a divorce about every 36 seconds in the US. This means 525,600 families with minor children are divorcing each year. This training aims to give clinicians the tools to help parents have a healthy divorce by coaching clients about nesting. Nesting, or “birdnesting,” as it’s sometimes known, refers to a transitional or temporary arrangement where the children stay in the family home and parents take turns living there and being “on duty” with their children. This plan gives children more time to adapt to changes in the family and means they don’t have to immediately move. Like birds who alternately swoop in and out, caring for the babies while the babies remain safe and secure in their soft, protected nest, parents work together to create a home for their children that is safe, stable, and loving. Parents also use this time to consider the future of their marriage and decide to work on reconciliation or move toward separation or divorce. In this training, you will learn what nesting is, and how to discuss the benefits and potential pitfalls of nesting with your clients. You will be able to assess clients for appropriateness, and through case examples, you will learn about some of the pitfalls. You will learn how to help clients create a successful nesting plan with documented agreements around communication, parenting time schedules, dating, parenting, living arrangements, and finances, all tailored to the unique needs of your clients' families and children. You will also learn how and when to bring nesting to an end and what comes after. When indicated, nesting can offer a better chance for your clients to share a healthier and more harmonious narrative of the restructuring of the family—or, at least, a less adversarial view of separation or divorce. 
Participants will receive 2 CE Credits. 

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

• describe nesting, various nesting arrangements, and how nesting benefits the children and their parents
• assess clients for appropriateness and identify nesting "deal breakers"
• develop a documented nesting/parenting agreement with clients
• support and guide parents through the nesting process and assist them when necessary when nesting ends

Biography

Ann Gold Buscho is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in family issues related to divorce, parenting, parenting planning, and co-parenting counseling. She is passionate about helping parents divorce respectfully so that the entire family can heal and thrive. Her book, The Parent’s Guide to Birdnesting: A Child-Centered Solution to Co-Parenting During Separation and Divorce, was published by Simon & Schuster in September, 2020. In 2013, Dr. Buscho was honored with the Collaborative Practice California Eureka Award, which recognizes those who have made significant contributions to Collaborative Practice in California (CP Cal).  Dr. Buscho is also a co-founder of a residential treatment program for traumatized emergency responders and their families where she volunteers regularly. A graduate of Stanford University and the California Graduate School of Psychology, she has raised six children and lives in San Rafael, California. 

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