Navigating a high-conflict divorce can be a daunting experience, filled with emotional turmoil and challenges that require personalized therapeutic support. At Century Psychology Group, we specialize in high-conflict divorce counseling tailored to residents in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Our approach is designed to help individuals manage their emotions, improve communication, and build healthier relationships during these trying times. Approximately 50% of children in the United States will experience their parents’ divorce, with over 1 million children involved in divorce cases each year, underscoring the importance of our services.
Dr. Daneshrad is the most kind and understanding therapist. She always makes me feel heard and has helped me tremendously throughout the years. I highly recommend her.
How High-Conflict Divorce Counseling Supports You
High-conflict divorces often lead to a cycle of anger and resentment that may jeopardize the wellbeing of everyone involved, especially children. Our sessions focus on understanding the dynamics at play and equipping you with strategies to navigate your divorce effectively. Dr. Shannon Daneshrad, our lead psychologist, has over ten years of experience specializing in high-conflict divorce cases. We utilize evidence-based techniques to foster emotional regulation, communication improvement, and conflict resolution, enabling our clients to gain clarity and direction in their lives.
Exploring High-Conflict Divorce Dynamics
High-conflict divorces are characterized by ongoing disputes, often escalating into custody battles over children or property disputes. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for establishing a healthier co-parenting relationship. High-conflict divorces constitute approximately 5%–25% of the divorcing population but occupy up to 90% of family court resources. Many clients experience persistent feelings of anxiety and uncertainty regarding their future and their children’s wellbeing. Our skilled counseling services are designed to break down these conflicts and untangle emotional patterns through targeted intervention.
Key Strategies in High-Conflict Divorce Therapy
In high-conflict divorce therapy, we employ a range of strategies aimed at reducing friction and fostering constructive dialogue:
- Emotion Regulation Techniques: Clients learn to identify and manage overwhelming emotions that can cloud judgment.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches: These methods help in recognizing thought patterns that contribute to conflict.
- Mindfulness Practices: Techniques to center oneself and respond rather than react impulsively during stressful interactions.
Our experienced team at Century Psychology Group has a deep understanding of high-conflict situations and how to navigate them effectively, creating a path toward emotional wellness. Dr. Daneshrad’s advanced training in trauma-informed care ensures our clients feel safe and understood.
Navigating Co-Parenting During High-Conflict Situations
Co-parenting can be particularly challenging following a high-conflict divorce. Effective co-parenting strategies focus on minimizing conflict and maintaining stability for your children. Our professionals provide tailored guidance to help you and your ex-partner communicate effectively and jointly make decisions regarding your children’s upbringing. By fostering cooperation, we ensure that children are sheltered from adult conflicts, promoting their emotional health and security. Research shows that high-conflict divorces can lead to prolonged legal battles, with cases lasting longer than two years.
Understanding Emotional Impact of Divorce on Children
Children caught in high-conflict divorces often face emotional distress, which can manifest as anxiety, behavioral issues, or academic challenges. Our counseling services emphasize recognizing and addressing these impacts through focused therapy designed for families. By applying principles of trauma-informed care, we help families rebuild trust and strengthen relationships post-divorce, ensuring that children’s best interests remain at the forefront. Children exposed to high-conflict divorces are at increased risk of emotional and behavioral issues, including anxiety, depression, and difficulties in school.
Rebuilding Parent-Child Relationships After Separation
When a child refuses or resists contact with a parent after a separation or divorce, the effects reach the whole family. The parent who has been pushed away often feels helpless and rejected. The other parent may feel caught between supporting the child and honoring the custody arrangement. And the child, who is frequently caught in a loyalty conflict they can’t fully explain, carries a burden no child should have to manage alone.
These situations rarely develop overnight. By the time families seek reunification therapy, they have often been through prolonged conflict, mediation, attorneys and court proceedings. Trust is low on all sides, and each family member has usually formed firm beliefs about who is responsible and what needs to change.
Reunification therapy is designed to repair the relationship between a child and a parent they have become distant from. Its goals are straightforward: reduce the child’s distress, rebuild safe and healthy contact, and help both parents support the relationship going forward. How those goals are pursued, however, varies widely from one provider to another, and the approach has a significant effect on whether progress lasts.
Our Approach: Separate First, Together When Ready
At Century Psychology Group, we don’t put a child in a room with the parent they’ve been resisting at the start of therapy. We meet with each of them separately, and we bring them together only when we believe both are ready and open to reconnecting.
In individual sessions, children can say what they really feel without watching either parent’s face for a reaction. Over time, we learn what’s underneath the resistance. Sometimes it’s fear, sometimes it’s loyalty to the other parent, sometimes it’s an old hurt that was never addressed. It’s rarely as simple as it looks from the outside, and children need to know they’ll be heard before they can move.
The parent receives their own space as well. A parent whose child has pulled away is often grieving, frustrated and confused about what went wrong. In separate sessions, we support them through that and help them prepare to reconnect in a way their child can actually accept. That might mean learning to listen without defending, to acknowledge the child’s experience, or to be patient when everything in them wants to fix it now.
Joint sessions don’t happen on a fixed schedule. They happen when the child and the parent are both open to it. By then, each has been prepared. The child knows they won’t be pushed, and the parent knows what to expect and how to respond. That first meeting becomes a real beginning instead of another painful setback.
In our experience, this approach leads to more lasting reconnection than pushing early contact. It can take a little longer to reach the first joint session, but what’s built afterward is far more likely to hold.
Who We Help
We work with families in which a child is refusing or resisting time with one parent, including cases involving concerns about parental alienation. We also support parents navigating high-conflict divorce and co-parenting, and we accept both court-ordered and attorney-recommended reunification cases.
High-Conflict Divorce Counseling FAQs
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High-conflict divorce counseling offers specialized support for individuals facing an emotionally charged divorce, helping them navigate challenges, improve communication, and stabilize family dynamics.
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High-conflict divorces can lead to emotional distress in children, manifesting as anxiety or behavioral issues. Specialized counseling can help mitigate these effects and promote emotional stability.
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Strategies include emotion regulation, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and mindfulness practices, all aimed at reducing conflict and improving communication.
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Effective co-parenting involves establishing clear communication, setting boundaries, and focusing on the children’s needs. Counseling can equip parents with strategies to navigate this process collaboratively.
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Our team is led by Dr. Shannon Daneshrad, a licensed psychologist skilled in high-conflict divorce therapy. We prioritize personalized, culturally competent care and are committed to supporting your journey towards wellness.
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It depends on the family. We move to joint sessions when both are ready, and we keep both parents informed along the way.
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They play an important role. We work with them as well, because a child reconnects most easily when both parents support it.
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Yes. Attorneys and minor’s counsel can call us to discuss a referral.
Why Us for High-Conflict Divorce Counseling
At Century Psychology Group, led by Dr. Shannon Daneshrad, a licensed psychologist with dual licensure in California and Virginia, we bring an extensive background in treating high-conflict divorce scenarios. Our licensed psychologist specializes in:
- Individualized therapy that focuses on emotional patterns and conflict resolution.
- A unique understanding of family law and custody-related issues.
- A culturally sensitive approach, including bilingual support for English and Farsi speakers.
With a deep commitment to client welfare, we ensure our sessions are confidential and focused entirely on empowering individuals to embark on their journeys toward emotional wellness. Contact our award-winning team today to learn more about how we can support you through this process.
Our reunification and high-conflict family work is led by Shannon Daneshrad, Psy.D., Licensed Psychologist (California license PSY34382). Dr. Daneshrad sees families in English and Farsi, and our team also offers services in Spanish, in person in Beverly Hills or by telehealth.
Contact UsStart Your Journey to Emotional Wellness Today
If you’re looking for high-conflict divorce counseling to reclaim your emotional health in Beverly Hills or its nearby areas, reach out to us at Century Psychology Group. Schedule your consultation with our experienced team to discuss your needs and develop a plan tailored specifically to you. We’re here to support you through this challenging time and help facilitate healthier relationships moving forward.
Medically reviewed by Shannon Daneshrad, Psy.D., M.A. on
