We do not have a requirement of years in practice for our mental health
providers, but they are all very experienced people. While I think
less experienced people need a way to join this effort, I know that
years experience makes a major difference in the effectiveness of a
clinician (research supports that), and I think it is all the more the
case with the collaborative divorce work. On the other hand, I do see
less experienced people as offering a fresh energy, and, thereby, a
needed optimism. My own inclination would be to provide careful
supervision or required mentoring for any new people. In the mental
health field, I cannot imagine less than five years of clinical
practice being enough for the person to have the experience base from
which to operate. Since coaches come from the mental health world,
their clinical practices will never be only Collaborative Practice.
Therefore, the requirement makes more sense, overall.
Maria Alba-Fisch,PhD
The Collaborative Divorce Team of the Hudson Valley
-----Original Message-----
From: John Crouch <crouch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, 31 May 2006 18:26:19 -0400
Subject: [CollabLaw] Five-year practice requirement?
What is the current wisdom on whether groups should require five
years of
family practice before practitioners can join?
Our group was unanimously in favor of such a requirement when we
started out
-- we wanted competent, well-regarded members, and we wanted them to
have
the experience to advise clients on what would happen in court. But
when we
finally "become Medicine Hat" and collaborative is the norm, it'll be
counterproductive to say lawyers can't collaborate for their first 5
years.
The more difficult question is, we're somewhere between those two
points,
but where? And at what point should the rule change?
And does any group have different years-in-practice requirements for
different professions? It seems to me that if there is already a
reliable
system for certifying members of a certain profession to work with
divorcing
families, that might be an effective substitute for a years-in-practice
requirement.
-- John Crouch
Arlington, Virginia
703-528-6700
crouch@xxxxxxxxxxx
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