Greetings colleagues;

Please join us for our next meeting on April 16 at Noon via Zoom. We are pleased to have Angus Strachan, Ph.D. to speak to us about working with divorcing and divorced parents in the larger system of the divorce process. Dr. Strachan is a court recognized expert in psychological issues surrounding divorce and child custody. We look forward to an informative and lively discussion and hope to see many of you there.

Title; How to work with divorced parents: roles, ethical and clinical issues

Topics which may be covered:

• Common roles briefly (co-parent counselor, mediator, evaluator, parenting plan coordinator).
• Present a hypothetical for break-out groups, illustrating the difference between physical and legal custody, confidentiality issues and informed consent
• Present another related brief hypothetical for break-out groups, illustrating attorney involvement, declarations and testimony
• Describe two important clinical techniques (therapeutic alliance and reframing)
• Questions

Presenter bio:

Angus Strachan, PhD, is a clinical and social psychologist with Lund & Strachan who has focused on conflict resolution in teams, organizations and families. He has had a particular focus on families with separated and divorced parents, conducting mediations, family counseling and custody evaluations as an expert appointed by the court. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA in the child and adolescent mood disorders clinic where he conducts live supervision of psychiatric fellows and psychology interns in family therapy and teaches psychotherapy skills and divorce issues.

Dr. Strachan has a BA in Mechanical Sciences and Management Studies from Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Psychology from Birkbeck College, University of London. He obtained his PhD in psychology at the UCLA Department of Psychology. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London and at the Clinical Research Centre for the study of schizophrenia at UCLA.

[email protected]

Our SIG events in March and April are open for non-members, so if you have any allied professionals who may be interested in joining LACPA and are interested in this topic, please share with them. Please ask them to let me know that they are non/prospective members when they RSVP.

April 16, 2025 12PM-1PM via ZOOM

RSVP to: Philip Adler, PsyD [email protected]

Upcoming events:

May 21 12-1 David Glass, PhD, JD – Ethical Issues in Divorce

August 27 12-1 Shannon McHugh, PsyD – Child Custody Evaluation

September 17 12-1 Stacy Phillips, JD – High Conflict Divorce

(one or two more are pending).

Thank you;

Philip Adler, PsyD

Scott Harris, PhD

Co-Facilitators.

The opinions of presenters, and their approach to psychological issues and interventions, do not represent a formal endorsement of any position by the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, leadership or its members. The opinions, ideas, and concepts expressed are purely those of the presenter.