Support & counselling for highly contentious parents
Strongly divided family conflicts are characterised by a different dynamic. In these families, the emotional problems take centre stage and basic forms of communication between the parties are often only possible to a limited extent or not at all.
If highly contentious parents do not succeed in ending or calming their chronic conflicts, the child/children are at risk of psychological impairment, developmental risks and other lasting problems.
In order to fulfil the highly contentious criterion, a number of basic conditions must be met::
The work of the ORIBeHo department (abbreviation for “radically child-oriented support and counselling for highly contentious parents”) of the Luxembourg Red Cross generally aims to provide court-initiated counselling for highly contentious parents in the event of separation and divorce, with a focus on the future exercise of their parental responsibility in the best interests of the child. This means that the best interests of the child always take centre stage.
The aim is to clarify the conflict system through support and counselling. This involves analysing the relationships within the family, the conflictual parenting and its impact on the child(ren), as well as compiling a conflict biography. A family counsellor from the department also assesses whether there is a potential risk to the child’s welfare. The department’s tasks also include supporting the child(ren) during a so-called “change of custody”, i.e. when they move from one parent to the other and live there for a period of time. In an emergency, the ORIBeHo department also provides a telephone on-call service for parents who are in serious conflict.
The ORIBeHo department works in such a way that, with the support of a family counsellor, individual meetings are held with the parties in family rooms and joint meetings are held with the parents in dispute and with the child(ren). It is important that the latter two meetings and discussions take place in a neutral setting, i.e. in the ORIBeho counselling rooms in Bertrange.
The ORIBeho department employs two family counsellors who have a degree in social pedagogy as well as additional training in family activation management, systemic family therapy and integral trauma therapy. Both are currently completing further training as experts in family court proceedings and as specialists in memory contact.
ORIBeHo
10, Cité Henri Dunant
L-8095 Bertrange
2755-6510