Parenting Coordination Institute

Parenting Coordination Institute Any information provided on this page is general in nature. For legal advice on your specific situation, you must seek advice from a family lawyer.

The Parenting Coordination Institute offers training in Parenting Coordination equipping lawyers, mediators, FDRPs, and mental health practitioners with the skills to practise as effective, trauma-responsive parenting coordinators. We believe that divorce does not have to be hard, messy or expensive. I am an award-winning lawyer, mediator and conflict coach and I work with separating couples helpi

ng them take the sting out of divorce. Divorce is not just a legal issue but has financial and emotional implications as well. My aim is to shift the focus of divorce from legal wrangling to a healing process where a settlement and resolution is reached in an amicable way. Your marriage did not begin with lawyers and legal papers so there is no reason for it to end that way. Divorce is not all about the paperwork. It’s about a major life transition and I want to make a difference in the way divorce is done.

Looking forward to presenting my international research into trauma informed mediation at the Vic Bar symposium next we...
09/09/2026

Looking forward to presenting my international research into trauma informed mediation at the Vic Bar symposium next week.

On a roll ………spreading the word about how trauma informed practice changes clients lives. ⭐️💫

UPCOMING CONFERENCE | AMDRAS Board members Anne-Marie Cade CF FRSA and Adam Rosser are delighted to be joining the speak...
09/09/2026

UPCOMING CONFERENCE | AMDRAS Board members Anne-Marie Cade CF FRSA and Adam Rosser are delighted to be joining the speaker line-up at the Resolution Institute National Conference in Adelaide this week.

On Day 2 of the two-day conference, I’ll be joining my fellow board member Adam Rosser and former Board member Franca Petrone up explore the development of mediation as a distinct profession, including the role of professional standards, ethics, accreditation, specialised training and professional identity and the challenges and opportunities ahead.

We will be at the conference throughout the event. If you’re attending, don’t hesitate to come and say hello - we hope to see many of you there. Anne-Marie Cade

Family law and mediation work asks more of you than legal skill alone. You’re sitting with people in crisis, holding con...
08/09/2026

Family law and mediation work asks more of you than legal skill alone. You’re sitting with people in crisis, holding conflict that runs deeper than the file in front of you, while staying regulated and effective yourself.

What makes my supervision practice different is that it’s genuinely trauma-informed: we talk about the vicarious weight of this work and build real tools to help you stay grounded without absorbing everything your clients bring into the room. Whether you’re a family lawyer or mediator working solo and need supervision or simply want a safe space to talk through whats challenging you get in touch. Looking after yourself isn’t separate from doing this work well. It’s what makes it sustainable.

Book in a chat with me.

TRAUMA RESPONSIVE TRAINING Conflict, distress, uncertainty - for many clients, that’s just what walking into a law firm ...
02/09/2026

TRAUMA RESPONSIVE TRAINING
Conflict, distress, uncertainty - for many clients, that’s just what walking into a law firm feels like.
Trauma-informed practice gives lawyers, dispute resolution professionals and support staff the tools to recognise it, respond well, and protect their own wellbeing.

I deliver tailored trauma-informed training for law firms and mediators — online or in person, anywhere in Australia (and beyond).
Free consultation → get in touch. Email- [email protected]

Looking forward to presenting this training on Friday for The College of Law Australia Date & time: 4 September 2026, 12...
02/09/2026

Looking forward to presenting this training on Friday for The College of Law Australia
Date & time: 4 September 2026, 12pm to 2pm AEST

Legal and dispute resolution processes can unintentionally create or compound trauma. A trauma-informed approach asks a different question - how can we design and conduct processes that support meaningful participation, procedural fairness and dignity, while reducing avoidable harm?

This practical workshop draws on my recent international research into trauma informed practice across Scotland, Canada and the US and explores how trauma-informed principles can be applied in mediation, litigation and dispute resolution.

Participants will learn about how trauma can influence memory, communication, impacts on emotional regulation, trust and decision-making as well as on a person’s ability to participate effectively in legal processes.

I’ll be convering the following-
1. How to recognise the way trauma can affect communication, decision-making and participation in legal processes.
2. Applying trauma-informed communication and process design strategies to support engagement and procedural fairness.
3. Identifying practical approaches to managing safety, trust and client support within legal and dispute resolution settings.

I’ll be speaking at the Resolution Institute conference in Adelaide on the 11th of September and sharing my insights and...
28/08/2026

I’ll be speaking at the Resolution Institute conference in Adelaide on the 11th of September and sharing my insights and learnings on Trauma Informed Practice from my recent research fellowship.

1. From theory to practice: trauma- informed mediation and parenting coordination.

If you are attending the conference I look forward to meeting you there.

27/08/2026

The scope of authority of a parenting coordinator is set out in the court order.

I received my first order for parenting coordination back in 2018 and inspite of having trained as a PC in the US a few...
27/08/2026

I received my first order for parenting coordination back in 2018 and inspite of having trained as a PC in the US a few years before that I realised there was so much more to learn to be an effective PC.

Learning from established systems was a golden opportunity as I was able to get a good understanding about what worked and didn’t work from PCs who had being doing the work for a very long time rather than having to build from scratch.

The lived experience of those doing this work on a daily basis is invaluable. My trainings incorporate a lot of these learnings.

How much do you think original research shapes real change in how a profession operates versus just following what’s already common practice?

studied Parenting Coordination in 16 cities across 7 countries. Here’s what surprised me most.I was awarded a Churchill ...
25/08/2026

studied Parenting Coordination in 16 cities across 7 countries. Here’s what surprised me most.

I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate best practice in Parenting Coordination internationally. On my travels I met with judges, parenting coordinators, lawyers, mediators, researchers , thought leaders, social workers, psychologists and policymakers across the United States, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, Hong Kong and Singapore. What surprised me most wasn’t the differences between these systems. It was the one thing they all agreed on - parenting orders are not the end of conflict. For many families it’s the beginning of a new phase of it.

That gap is what led me to found the Parenting Coordination Institute. My research grounded in what’s actually working overseas is what underpins PCI’s training and frameworks today. If you work in family law, mediation or psychology and haven’t come across Parenting Coordination yet, you will. I’d love to hear where you’re seeing this gap in your own practice.

At PCI, trauma-informed practice isn’t an add-on. It’s built into how we train parenting coordinators to work with high-...
23/08/2026

At PCI, trauma-informed practice isn’t an add-on. It’s built into how we train parenting coordinators to work with high-conflict families with structure, safety, and genuine understanding of what’s driving the conflict in the first place.

High conflict rarely comes out of nowhere. Behind the repeated disputes, the entrenched positions, the inability to agree on even small things, there is often a history of hurt, of fear, of grief that was never properly processed. A parenting coordinator who understands trauma doesn’t just see difficult behaviour. They see a nervous system still bracing for threat, long after the relationship has ended.

That distinction changes everything about how we train.

It means teaching PCs to recognise the difference between a parent who is being deliberately obstructive and a parent who is dysregulated. It means understanding that safety and dignity have to come before any expectation of “reasonable” co-parenting behaviour because you cannot ask someone to negotiate calmly while they’re still in survival mode.

It also means holding boundaries with compassion. Trauma-informed doesn’t mean permissive. Structure, consistency and clear expectations are themselves protective for parents and for children.

This is the work that actually changes outcomes for children. Not just managing the dispute in front of you, but understanding what’s underneath it and building a process robust enough to hold that complexity safely.

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Melbourne, VIC

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+61401601737

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