Managing Conflict as a Co-Parent

Designed to help divorced, separated and never married parents build skills to manage emotions, be heard, communicate effectively and reduce co-parenting conflicts.

Participants will learn how to:
• Identify stresses and triggers
• Appropriately manage anger
• Effectively use a variety of conflict strategies
• Express needs in an assertive, interest-based manner
• Promote healthy communication techniques

Parents may participate in this workshop alone, or with the other parent.

“Hearing the trainers say that a divorced family isn’t a broken family, it’s just a reorganized family, was music to my ears.” – Past Parenting Class Participant

Instructors: Angus McLane, M.A. Angus is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who earned a MA in Counseling Psychology in 1986 from Gonzaga University. He has worked in community mental health, private practice and state service and has extensive experience in child and adolescent therapy, adolescent sex offender treatment, family systems and juvenile corrections. He has trained in multiple evidence based practices such as Functional Family Therapy, Brief Solution Based Therapy, Incredible Years, Motivational Interviewing and Project Safecare. Angus is currently a licensed trainer for Triple P: Positive Parenting Program and he travels extensively to train agency staff in this model. He has taught the class, Helping Children Through Family Changes, for the WDRC since 1993.

Deborah Forgays, PhD. Deborah Kirby Forgays is a certified family mediator. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont and was a Professor in Psychology at Western Washington University. Her teaching and research focused on issues important to children, adolescents and families. She has been a mediator with the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center in Bellingham since she obtained her certification in 2012.