Clinically sound support for every stage of separation and divorce.

In the collaborative divorce model, both spouses retain collaboratively trained lawyers and agree to resolve their separation outside of court. Our clinicians sit on these teams as Mental Health Professionals, helping manage the emotional process so that legal negotiations can stay productive. Heartwood is part of the Victoria Collaborative Family Separation Professionals (CFSP), a network of counsellors, psychologists, social workers, financial planners, and lawyers trained to work together toward positive, court-free resolutions for families in transition.

What this looks like in practice

• Joint and individual sessions alongside the legal team
• Coaching through high-emotion conversations and decision points
• Keeping children's developmental needs part of every negotiation

We help separating parents design parenting plans that actually fit their children's ages, temperaments, and routines, not a generic template. Once a plan is in place, our Parenting Coordinators step in to resolve the ordinary disputes that come up day to day, so families aren't returning to court for every disagreement.

Good fit for families who

• Are finalizing or revisiting a parenting schedule
• Need a neutral third party to interpret or adjust an existing plan
• Want to reduce legal costs tied to ongoing minor disputes

A Hear the Child Report documents a child or youth's views and preferences through a structured, neutral clinical interview, giving the court or both parents' counsel a clear, ethically prepared account of the child's perspective, without putting the child in the middle of the dispute.

Our process is built to be defensible

• Structured interview methodology, not informal conversation
• Clear, non-diagnostic, court-ready language
• Prepared by clinicians experienced in cross-examination

Coercive control changes how a family law file should be approached, from safety planning to how a parenting plan is structured. Our clinicians bring an informed lens to individual counselling, and are available to consult with lawyers and other professionals navigating these dynamics on a file.

Some of our clinicians work exclusively with the children and youth inside a separation, supporting them through the transition itself, and through more complex resist/refuse dynamics, always with a trauma-informed, developmentally grounded approach.