Anchor

'Team around the family'

For clients who are struggling with high conflict separation or where communication around child arrangements has broken down.

What is the Anchor approach?

Our unparalleled ‘Anchor’ approach to family mediation offers couples the opportunity to work together with specialists in the Family Mediation Clinic.

Anchor is designed for couples who would usually be unlikely to come to an agreement outside of court or who are already involved in the court process.

We provide a ‘team around the family’ to address all aspects of your changing relationship. The involvement of our multi-disciplinary team provides a unique space for the thinking and planning that underpins your move towards separated lives.

Your case is managed from start to finish by a family consultant – a highly trained and experienced family practitioner who ensures that you get the right support at the right time.

How does the programme work?

Meetings with one of our family mediators enable the legal and practical work to be progressed efficiently and cost-effectively. Meanwhile, time spent with our experienced therapist/s allows you to address the emotional and relationship issues together as they arise, as well as making a space for you to think about the wellbeing of any children you may have. If appropriate one of our specialist child therapists will meet with your child/children to support them through the process and to gather their wishes and feelings too.

We also include access to a specialist co-parenting coaching course ‘New Ways For Families’® to all couples who are struggling with high conflict co-parenting and/or reaching agreements around child arrangements.

At key points the mediator and therapist will both meet you together, at “anchoring” meetings, so that everyone fully understands what obstacles might stand in the way of an agreement and can develop a plan for the best way forward.

Why not just go to court?

Our experience suggests that agreements which have been mediated in a robust and open manner, as Anchor offers, are more likely to get earlier buy-in and provide a better way forward for the family than a court-imposed order.

The multi disciplinary approach of ‘Anchor’ offers complete flexibility enabling couples to work together to develop solutions that address the practical and legal aspects of their separation, and understands their emotional needs too. Our child centred approach refocuses parents on the needs of their children, and the result is an arrangement that works and is trusted by the whole family.

At the end of the programme over 70% of couples will manage to come to an agreement. We will provide you with all the paperwork required to enable your agreements to be made into a legally binding court order if appropriate.

Anchor practitioners have been trained by the ‘High conflict institute’ and have many years of experience working with families where there is implacable hostility and allegations of parental alienation.

Benefits

Holistic

Our specialist practitioners comprising a family mediator, therapist/s and co-parenting coaches use their combined skills to work with you both, providing support and guidance with both the practical and emotional aspects of your separation or divorce.

Safe environment

Anchor is designed for those couples who want to try and move past any conflict and work together. Our in depth screening meetings ensure that this approach is the most suitable for your situation. Online meetings allow you to access meetings from your own home.

Reduced conflict

Inevitably, taking separate legal advice tends to focus on differences and can increase conflict. Instead Anchor focuses on the common ground allowing you to reach appropriate and safe agreements even on the areas on which agreement can’t be found immediately and enables you to avoid the court process altogether.

Impartial

Our Anchor mediators, family practitioners and any other experts brought into the process, are impartial and independent – they won’t favour one of you over the other.

Tailored and flexible

While there is a standard framework for Anchor, this can be tailored to suit your particular needs and requirements.

Confidential

Privacy for you and your family: Anchor gives you the opportunity to reach an agreement in private ensuring that your personal information remains confidential.

A final outcome

We work with you to achieve a binding agreement – so that everything will be settled.

Optional Services (with an additional cost)

Additional counselling or mediation sessions

You may be progressing well with the core team of mediator and counsellor but just need more time with one or both to resolve all the things you need to sort out.

Or you may decide that your children would benefit from meeting with one of our specialist children and young people’s therapists.

Early Neutral Evaluation

It is often the case that clear legal guidance and advice provided to both parties by an impartial expert at the right time can unlock solutions to problems which couples are struggling to resolve. That is why we offer a process known as early neutral evaluation as an optional feature of Anchor. If you add early neutral evaluation to your Anchor package, a neutral third-party expert (such as a barrister or family lawyer) will provide a written evaluation of the likely outcome if your case went to court. This can provide a basis for further in-depth mediation, or the opinion of the expert can be accepted and made into a court order.

Expert opinions

Where expert advice on other specialist areas is required, such as pensions or financial advice, the Anchor team can call on a unique network of trusted advisers to feed into the process.

Legally Binding Court Order

We can arrange for a legal professional to convert your agreements into a court order (if appropriate and required).