Abstract

For most Behaviour Analysts, working with kids with separating or separated parents is not a niche area of practice—it’s the daily reality. You’ve likely seen firsthand how profoundly our systems can fail families in these moments of greatest vulnerability.

In Australia, 1 in 4 kids are growing up in two-home families. The dominant pathway for resolution is: lawyer up, escalate conflict, and hope for the best—at enormous financial, emotional, and developmental cost.

But what if there’s a better way-—and you can be at the forefront of change?

In this keynote, clinical psychologist and collaborative co-parenting coach Tiffany Rochester shares compelling research, real-life examples, and practical tools to break the cycle of conflict. Drawing on evidence from contextual behavioural science—including functional assessment and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—and the innovative model of international collaborative practice, she reveals how Behaviour Analysts can powerfully contribute to early wrap-around support for families, helping end unhealthy relationships in healthy, hopeful ways—even in high-conflict dynamics. Your expertise in functional assessment, skill acquisition, generalisation, and systems-level collaboration makes you a key catalyst for healthier family outcomes—well beyond the therapy room.

You’ll learn how:

• Traditional legal and therapeutic models often make things worse—and the little-known pathways that fundamentally change the story for children and parents.

• The collaborative team— coaches, financial neutrals, and lawyers can work together to protect children and break the intergenerational cycle of harm.

• To use behaviour analytic tools for early intervention—teaching, modelling, and reinforcing effective communication, healthy boundaries, and psychological flexibility in separated families.

You’ll leave with renewed hope, practical confidence, and the conviction that parental separation can be a good news story—for kids, parents, and the professionals who support them.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this keynote, participants will be able to:

1. Identify why traditional legal and therapeutic pathways often escalate conflict and risk for children in separated families.
2. Describe the evidence-based factors that most powerfully protect children’s wellbeing post-separation—and how these can be strengthened in everyday practice.
3. Explain the core principles and process of Collaborative Practice, including the roles of coach, financial neutral, and collaborative lawyers.
4. Apply practical, behaviour analytic strategies (drawn from ACT and contextual behavioural science) to support parents in reducing conflict and building healthy co-parenting relationships—even when only one parent is ready to change.
5. Reflect on their own professional boundaries, confidence, and role in changing the narrative for separating families in their community, and
6. Recognise how the principles and practices of behaviour analysis uniquely position them to support collaborative, values-driven change in separated families and interdisciplinary teams.

Duration: 1hr 15 min

ABAA PDUs: 1.5

Biography

Tiffany Rochester is a Clinical Psychologist and Co-Parenting Coach living in Boorloo, on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja (Perth, Western Australia). Recognised as a 2024 Women Changing the World Award recipient, Tiffany is a sought-after international speaker, trainer, and consultant in the mental health sector—particularly in work with separated families and the family court system. With over two decades of clinical experience, she draws unique insights from both therapeutic practice and the legal system.

As the founder of The Same Mountain and Co-Parenting Companion, Tiffany has developed evidence-based frameworks that transform high-conflict family dynamics into workable co-parenting relationships. Her approach integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy, and ProSocial principles, along with practical strategies drawn from extensive experience, including:

• Expert witness testimony in Family Court proceedings

• Court-mandated therapy for families in legal disputes

• Child and adolescent mental health services

• Youth justice system intervention

• Perinatal mental health support

• Working with neurodivergent children, adults, and families

Tiffany’s career includes leadership roles such as Past President of the ANZ Association for Contextual Behavioural Science, Research Associate for Telethon Kids Institute, and Council Member for Collaborative Practice Western Australia. Based in Western Australia, she regularly consults with mental health professionals nationwide on complex separated family cases.

Her straightforward, practical approach has earned her a reputation for translating complex clinical challenges into actionable solutions. Tiffany integrates real-world experience with current research in her training, helping practitioners work confidently and competently with separated families while maintaining sustainable, ethical practice boundaries.