Karen Woodall – Psychotherapist, Writer, Researcher, Trainer

In just ten days time we will be welcoming practitioners in legal and mental health management of cases of abuse of children in divorce and separation, to our International Symposium at Cambridge University, watching the event online will be parents and other family members and interested practitioners from all over the world.

The Symposium is being held during a time of severe and sustained campaigns of misinformation about the harm that is suffered by children in divorce and separation, as such it provides a safe space for serious consideration of the issues for senior social workers and other practitioners involved in family court work. So far we have not announced the speaker list because of the continuous harassment faced by those of us who do this work, we want to protect those who work to protect children, from the constant allegations and threats of false representations. These are dangerous times for those who speak up about alienation of children, however we continue on with the work to raise awareness and develop best practice, so that the issues we are concerned with cannot be (re) buried by the uncontained behaviours of well known ideological activists.

We are particularly protective of the two adult children who will give their testimony live on the 12th September. Each of these adult children are now safe and well after being removed by the Court from the care of a parent who had caused them serious harm. I wrote about the live testimony given by Josh at a seminar at the House of Lords in November, in an article published today by the Family Court Journal NAPO and you can read that here. In the article, I rebutt the false claims made in an article in the earlier edition of the journal, that treating experts are causing harm to children. This falsehood, which emerges from research based upon claims made by mothers found to have abused their children, (some of whom have abducted their children to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), is one which is widespread amongst ideological activists and yet it has no basis in reality. These false claims, based upon research which contains unreliable evidence, is why the struggle to help the public to understand the risk of harm to some children in divorce and separation is a long and difficult one. We continue to do the work however, precisely because we know from young adults like Josh and Alex, why it is so essential.

The testimonies of these two now adult children, will be made available in the coming months as part of our programme of education around the reality of why children are removed from harm during divorce and separation and how intervention using a relational trauma model of practice, helps them to recover a normal healthy future.

Josh will be speaking about his experience at the Symposium along with Alex Dean, another child removed from a parent who had caused serious harm. Both Josh and Alex are now working to help other children and young people, Josh begins his training in social work this autumn and Alex has written a book which will launched at the Symposium and available to buy on the day (I will add details on the day of how you can purchase the book from the Family Separation Clinic and other outlets).

The Family Separation Clinic looks forward to welcoming these two extremely bright and articulate young people to the Symposium, their experience of recovering from harm will be the subject of discussion and learning on the day and afterwards and we will ensure that their work and experience is protected from those who seek to deny the reality of the alienation they suffered and the underlying abuse which caused it.

If you would like to join us online to watch the Symposium you can book here

Due to a generous donation to support the Symposium, if you are a professional and you would like to join us in person please email us at office@familyseparationclinic.co.uk with your name and title and we will make arrangements for a ticket to be sent to you. Details of the venue and speakers will be sent with your ticket.