Interact Consultation
Is your relationship under strain or in serious trouble?
Are you considering separation and want more understanding of your family law options?
Have you separated but you’re confused about what your options are or what to do?
An Interact Support Consultation may be able to help.
Spend an hour with a Family Law Professional and develop realistic goals for your family and a goal plan to achieve them.
Your plan may be to try and save the relationship or it may be to end it. It’s your life, your family and your future you are deciding.
We provide resources, guidance through a structured process of understanding your situation and options and help to develop a goal plan to move in the right direction for you.
Book in for an Interact Consultation
At only $198 this may be the best hour you will ever spend since your family conflict began.
This consultation is for you if you are an individual or couples experiencing any of these issues.
- experiencing relationship conflict
- considering separation
- going through separation
- having trouble with co-parenting
Get a clear idea of your situation from a family law perspective, consider your options and develop a plan that will move you towards the future you want.
All Interact Consultations are delivered by family law specialist mediators (FDR Practitioners) who understand the issues you are facing with and understand that you want to resolve them not escalate them.
If you don’t care about your children, your ex partner or yourself and just want a big fight to the bitter, bitter end go and see a lawyer or a psychologist. We can’t help you.
What will we do in an Interact Consultation?
In the session we look at the past, the present and most of all the future.
The consultant will help you to understand your options but they won’t tell you what you have to do. We won’t bully you into leaving or staying. We will help you to consider what you really want and what your options are.
If you are going to separate or are coming for a consultation after separation we will help you to understand how the Family Law system works and if you need specific legal advice refer you to an appropriate legal practitioner.
We strongly support negotiated agreements over going to court due to the time, cost and stress savings of reaching an amicable resolution.
We are equipped to help you understand the legal system (education not advice) when going to court is the final remaining option.
We’ll help you to get clear about your goals for your family and to begin to build a plan to work towards achieving them within the limits imposed by Australian Family Law.
What happened in the past?
The first part of the consultation is a quick discussion of the history of your relationship. During this part of the session we help you to collect your Family Law “Vital Statistics”. You’ll need this information to get good quality legal advice and if you want to get court orders to make your settlement legally binding.
You will be asked to complete an Interact Support Client Information Form and a DOORS Risk Assessment.
What's going on right now?
Next our practitioner will ask you about your current situation. This is not a legal advice session but they will be giving you legal information and helping you to correct any “old wives tales” about family law. If you don’t understand your legal rights and obligations they will help you to prepare the information and questions you need to get good quality legal advice.
They will be concerned for your safety and security and link you with specialist support services if you are not properly supported.
What do future do you want?
The final stage of the process starts with what you want (your goals) for yourself and your family. Once your destination and what is important to you is clear, your practitioner will help you to your plan to move towards your goal.
They will help you to establish one or more goal plans to help you to negotiate the family law system to come out the other side with the agreements you need in place. If you have issues in your relationship but do not want to separate the session will focus on options you may not be aware of such as Relationship Mediation.
Interact Consultation
Are you confused about your options? You don't have to be.- A Interact Support Consultation via phone or video meeting anywhere in Australia
- You can do the session from any location including with your support worker or a family member or friend
- Joint sessions with your partner are OK if you want to work out how to have a non-adversarial separation
- Children cannot attend these sessions. Please arrange child care or for the child to be in a separate room out of hearing range. We will not proceed with the session if children are present.
- Face-to-Face options are subject to availability of staff in some locations.
Do you want an Interact consultation?
Let us help you to take control over your separation and divorce. Book in for an Interact Consultation and develop your action plan for a less adversarial separation, divorce or to save your relationship.
Get our Family Conflict Check Sheet
Why have an Interact Consultation session?
The benefits of an Interact Consultation
When you have conflict in your home it can be really confusing to work out what your options are and who to turn to for help.
Everyone has an opinion and sometimes the advice you receive is uninformed, biased or self-interested. Lawyers will often want to head straight to court but while sometimes going to court is the only option left available to you it is not the only option and often not the best option. Going to court should be a considered decision and not the automatic response.
That is because going to the Family Court costs a lot of money and guarantees that you will be locked in conflict for years further affecting your family relationships. When you are in court it also significantly affects your ability to communicate and resolve day to day issues with your former partner if you are continuing to co-parent.
Going to court is like having surgery to separate. Sometimes your relationship is so sick that it seems like you require the order of a judge in order to reach a resolution but the reality is only about 15% of matters the start in the Family Course actually get to the stage of a Final Court Order. Most are worked out by a compromise during the court process and after a lot of cost and distress.
The greatest benefit of the Interact Consultation is that it will help you to face the reality of your situation and all of the options you have to improve your situation while also maintaining a high priority on making sure that you, your former partner and your children are safe from harm or from further harm.
The consultant will help you to understand your situation, consider your options and develop a plan to move forward and take back control of your life.
Before you separate
If you can considering separation but are confused about your options an Interact Consultation can be a great first step. If you have not had legal advice the Consultant can help you to prepare to get good quality legal advice.
Separation may not be the only or best option but when considering ending a relationship it pays to talk with someone who understands the family law system but doesn’t have a vested interest in any one of those options. Find out what your options are, especially if you have concerns about your safety or the safety of your children.
During the Separation
We hear many, many stories of people who spend excessive amounts of money on family law and usually that is because they do not understand how to work well with lawyers. The fact that your lawyer quoted you $10,000 or $20,000 doesn’t mean you may not be in for a very expensive surprise if you are not keeping track of how they cost of the process.
If you feel that you are not being well advised, feel that you are locked out of the family law system or feeling lost or confused for any other reason you may benefit from an Interact Consultation.
When Trying to Co-Parent
If you have finalized your property settlement that is generally the end of that stage of your separation. Arrangements for children many need to be adjusted as your children grow and their needs change. There are many ways to achieve this and they do not normally require you to go back to court or put up with orders that don’t work for anyone.
What happens in an Interact Consultation Session?
During an Interact Consultation the consultant will help you to gain clarity about your goals and options in regards to your current situation. When you are separating there are the Financial and Legal aspects to consider but also very much the emotional side of things.
Unlike a legal consultation where the lawyer will focus only on the legal issues the consultant in an Interact Consultation will be talking with you about the bigger picture of navigating through the many challenges associated with separating.
Because the consultant is a Family Law Professional they will also be helping you to bring together the information you need to get good quality legal advice and help you to prepare to speak with a lawyer if you are not aware of your rights and obligations under Family Law.
During your Interact Consultation we help you to go through a structured process of :
- collecting the basic information needed for family law
- clarifying your current situation and the issues you are experiencing
- finding out about your family and what you want to change
- exploring what you have already tried and other options you may not have considered
- supporting you to decide what your next step or steps should be to move towards a safer, more positive and respectful situation for you and your children
Is an Interact Consultation the same as a Legal Advice and Strategy Session?
No. Interact Consultation are facilitated by Family Dispute Resolution practitioners with additional training from Interact Support. Interact Consultations are not legal advice sessions but we can help you to prepare and refer you to a lawyer if you need legal advice.
Legal advice is important but it is only part of the picture when you are ending a relationship and usually lawyers are only able to assist you with the legal aspect of your situation.
Is an Interact Consultation the same as Marriage Counselling?
No. During an Interact Consultation you may identify that individual, couples or family counselling may be beneficial for you but an Interact Consultation Session does not use a counselling methodology.
It is more like a coaching session in that you clarify your goals and with the help of the practitioner reality test it and work out a plan to achieve them. Interact Consultations are designed to help you to understand your options and work out what to do and are much more focused and structured than a counselling session.
Often only one person from a couple comes to an Interact Consultation but it is quite acceptable for both to attend if you want to have an amicable separation and avoid the conflict that can often be generated by going to individual lawyers as your only source of information.