Recover Your Relationship with Your Child

A whole family problem requires a whole family solution.

There are Four Phases to the High Road Workshop

Family Stabilization: A 4-5 day educational and interactive coaching workshop conducted by a trained High Road to Reunification coach.
Family Maintenance: The family works with a local therapist to solidify the skills learned in the workshop. This phase is where the parent who didn't participate in the workshop is also taught the skills needed to reintegrate with the children.
Reintegration: The local professional will reintroduce the parent who did not participate in the workshop with the child(ren) in a supervised, safe setting.
The New Family Paradigm: This is the phase where the maintenance care professional facilitates the child's ability to be in both parents' home without the re-manifestation of the child's symptoms.

Due To The Complex Nature Of These Cases, There Is An Intake Process That Must Be Completed to Determine if You Qualify, and to Understand the Process.

Please fill out the information below to receive the Intake Process steps:

Does This Sound Familiar?

You have been emotionally and physically cutoff from your child, for an extensive amount of time (or severely in a short period of time).
You have been falsely accused, even when the accusations keep coming up unfounded.
The judge in your case knows that you and your child should repair the relationship, and/or has ordered reunification therapy.
You have been going to "reunification therapy," doing all the therapist recommends, but things have not improved despite every effort you have made.
You continue to hear the same story from the therapist: "Your child is just not ready to see you" or "When they are ready, we will continue joint sessions."
The judge orders a different therapist, a different strategy, and/or continues to make orders that are simply not helpful.

Let's Talk About Reunification Therapy

More often than not, judges will order reunification therapy thinking that it will do what the name implies. And yet often times, reunification therapists only see you or your child individually, or when the child is 'ready.' And in this family dynamic, usually the moment they are 'ready' never comes.

This practice is completely counterproductive. Reunification requires the participation of TWO or more people. It is impossible to facilitate a reunification in a one-on-one therapy session when the child has been empowered to decide when - and if - to participate in the session.

I am contacted regularly by desperate parents who have lost valuable time with their children and the loving relationship they once had, all while stuck in "conjoint" or "reunification therapy" with no improvement.

You may be one of those parents – and that is why you are reading this page. You have spent your hard-earned money, followed the court orders and the therapists' recommendations, and yet you are still not spending time with your children, or it is still combative. In some cases, the children see you, but they treat you like a stranger with disrespect and disdain.

Your child may be telling the therapist frivolous things like:

"I don't feel 'safe' at [mom's or dad's] house" - with no explanation of why, or an unsupportive explanation of why.
"My [mom or dad] only buys me gifts to buy my love."
"My [mom or dad] does not respect my wishes."
"My [mom or dad] has not said anything about my other parent. They have nothing to do with our relationship."

Then, when asked by the therapist to clarify their concerns, the child is only able to provide vague, and sometimes rehearsed, answers.

There is no "reunification therapist" designation, and most mental health professionals do not understand this family pathology and what it is capable of. There is no such thing as authentic reunification therapy, and truth be told, if you are seeking a "Parental Alienation" diagnosis, it is not recognized as a diagnosis. It seems though that even when there is a clear emotional cutoff, nothing is being done.

Even if the therapist doesn't state the words, it is often implied by the way the therapist treats the parent, and the way their willingness to accept the notion that a child is not ready to see their loving parent. In essence, this is what is implied when a therapist says, "Don't worry. Just wait and be patient and they will come around some day." Waiting for an child who you have been cut-off from to come around is like waiting for the earth to stop spinning. It's a ridiculous notion, it is harmful to your children, and only makes matters worse when you do not take action. I have heard hundreds of parents complain that their children are continuing to suffer at the hands of an ineffective mental health professional and participating in reunification therapy that has only made matters worse.

The High Road to Reunification Workshop

The High Road to Reunification

Don't be discouraged, it is always possible to reunite. This a skill-building and coaching workshop that provides children and parents the skills to be in relationship.

It is a protocol that works and doesn't require months to years on end.

What Does the Workshop Entail?

This is a four-day program that provides the children and parent a safe and loving environment where the child and parent learn how to move forward into the new family paradigm.

The High Road to Reunification is NOT THERAPY – it is an educational and skill-building coaching program. The program works because this special problem requires a special coaching and educational skillset, which is counter intuitive to a traditional therapeutic model. As many of you have experienced, traditional therapy does not work in situations where children have been cut-off.

It is a sequential set of steps that are similar to being in school and being coached. The High Road is similar to a workshop provided by coaches such as Tony Robbins or others, who provide intensive training programs over a short period of time to help people learn the skills they need to change their life circumstance. A proven protocol to empower children and parents with the skills needed to reestablish a healthy, loving relationship they once shared.

Children are surveyed at the end of the coaching program and they often make comments that the coaching program was fun, engaging, and they felt safe. Most children are relieved after they understand the authority of the courts, and are willing to participate to get out of the middle of their parents' conflict.

Who Is Most Likely to Qualify for the Workshop?

While you may be thinking, "I want the High Road right now. I need to recover my child and repair our relationship." Please note that there are several components to the workshop, one of which needs to be ordered by the court.

The workshop may be the right next step for you if you:

Are experiencing a severe emotional and physical cutoff and your child is suffering emotionally, developmentally, psychologically, and/or physically, in several areas of their lives.
Are in the process of court and your judge (and/or other professionals involved) has ordered solutions that they think will be helpful but simply haven't been, so this is something they may consider.
Recently got full custody because the judge deemed that there needs to be a repair in the relationship with you and your child(ren), however, you are left with no guidance or tools to recover your child(ren).
Are aware you will need to learn what it takes to adjust to the new family dynamic.

There are Four Phases to the High Road Workshop

Family Stabilization: A 4-5 day educational and interactive coaching workshop conducted by a trained High Road to Reunification coach.
Family Maintenance: The family works with a local therapist to solidify the skills learned in the workshop. This phase is where the parent who didn't participate in the workshop is also taught the skills needed to reintegrate with the children.
Reintegration: The local professional will reintroduce the parent who did not participate in the workshop with the child(ren) in a supervised, safe setting.
The New Family Paradigm: This is the phase where the maintenance care professional facilitates the child's ability to be in both parents' home without the re-manifestation of the child's symptoms.

Due To The Complex Nature Of These Cases, There Is An Intake Process That Must Be Completed to Determine if You Qualify, and to Understand the Process.

Please fill out the information below to receive the Intake Process steps:

How is this Different from Other Reunification Programs?

My name is Dorcy Pruter and I am the CEO and Founder of the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute.

I solved the crisis in my own family by using the same principles that I now teach in the High Road to Reunification workshop and in coaching.

I have personal first-hand experience being a child of this family dynamic. I reunited with my dad whom I was cut-off from and helped him reunite with his other children.

My name is Dorcy Pruter and I am the CEO and Founder of the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute.

I solved the crisis in my own family by using the same principles that I now teach in the High Road to Reunification workshop and in coaching. I have personal first-hand experience being a child of this family dynamic. I reunited with my dad whom I was cut-off from and helped him reunite with his other children.

I also prevented the alienation from taking hold in my own divorce. I have two beautiful daughters with whom I share custody of with their father. Initially our divorce resulted in my alienating mother, aligning with my ex-husband and trying to alienate me from my children. Then, the man I was dating after my divorce, was also being alienated from his child. These events brought a perspective I had not really considered before: what it was like to be my own father.

I have taught and coached hundreds of clients on reunification strategies that work. I have studied and trained and collaborated with some of the world's leading experts in High-Conflict Divorce and Custody strategies. I am a certified life coach and trained mediator, trained by two of the leading mediation and conflict-resolution training schools in the country.

Over the years, I have coached targeted parents, children, and even the alienating parents-- to reduce and eliminate conflict in their relationships. I have coached adult children on how to have a relationship and love both of their parents, even when their parent's relationships are wrought with conflict. I have become one of the most sought after reunification coaches in the world.

....and it wasn't always that way.

I was told by many of the leading experts that there is nothing to be done about parent-child cutoffs. I refused to accept failure as an option, so- I created the High Road to Reunification workshop to recover the healthy parent/child relationship for these families.

Parents and children are suffering at the hands of a vile pathogen. A pathogen, that not only robbed me of my childhood and a loving relationship with my father and extended family, but one that is vicious and continues to attack me and others, as we try to expose it and bring it into the light.

Truth be told, I bring a wealth of knowledge and insight that most people don't have. While it may have been painful, I know that my childhood and adult experiences happened so I could help recover families for generations to come.

I share all of this information with you so you are aware of how deeply I understand you and your children, and the extraordinary power of the pathogen. I have been exactly where both of you are. It was out of sheer frustration and lack of a clear answer and solution, that I went to try to figure out what the actual problem was, what the solution was and WHY the mental health professionals were not getting it. This is when I discovered the terminology, "Parental Alienation," coined by leading expert at the time, Dr. Richard Gardner, that then lead me down the path of realizing why so many professionals were missing the mark. That is why I focus on what the actual issue is, that I, too experienced firsthand: a parent-child emotional cutoff due to the pathogenic parenting behavior & practices of the other parent.

Here are some facts that may have paralyzed your family, too:

"Parental Alienation" is Not an Actual, Diagnosable Pathology unique to all of mental health that can be diagnosed by a mental health professional. That is a fact and the sooner you realize what is actually happening, the sooner you can help your family. This idea that everyone keeps fighting about whether or not "Parental Alienation" is real or junk science must stop. The pathology is not unique to all of psychology and in fact is able to be diagnosed by a mental health professional who is properly trained in family systems, attachment theory, and personality disorders as what actually is emotional child abuse and not "Parental Alienation." Any other therapist will miss the pathology and make matters worse. This is a known fact and this is not therapeutic advice.
You are Not a Victim. While I know right now you may feel like a victim of this pathology, and you have certainly been victimized by it, YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM. In order for you to rescue and protect your children, you must change the way you see the problem and yourself in the problem as well. YOU ARE YOUR CHILD'S AUTHENTICALLY LOVING AND PROTECTIVE PARENT! The ONLY way to protect your children is from a mindset of being authentically protective– and the ONLY way to do this is to empower yourself with knowledge and the victors mindset. There are no victims, only volunteers. It took someone outside of mental health to create the process of solving the problem. It took someone on the inside of mental health to properly diagnose the problem. This person is Dr. Craig Childress. It is through his diligent work and desire to recover the children, that the diagnosis has emerged.
Properly Educated Mental Health Professionals Are Your Ally. The truth is, the the majority of mental professionals don't understand what is happening to your family and how to treat it. These are not my words, these are the words of the leading child psychologists and many in the mental health community. They are searching for answers and they are using your families to try to figure it out. The majority of mental health professionals are NOT trained in meeting the needs of this special population– there has never been specific training in "reunification therapy" for the mental health community. While it may not feel like it now, and it is not your job to educate them, the mental health community is also suffering at the hands of the pathogen. Our goal is to recover the mental health community and empower them with knowledge to rescue and protect the children. It is your job to rescue and protect your children, and you will need mental health to help you do that.

Slide Through To See What Some Of Our Reunited Parents Have To Say:

*due to the nature of these cases we protect our parents and families by refraining from any disclosing information.

Due to the nature of the cases we handle, and the fact that we are often working with minors, we do not publish most of the families' information on the website. For those families seriously considering the High Road to Reunification as an option for their family and if there is a strong likelihood it will be ordered by the Court, we will provide additional information for you to contact the reunited parents to discuss their experience and success with the High Road program.

Reunited parents are extremely generous and kind when they share their experiences to qualified families. We do not want to bombard them with lots of phone calls. We will provide the additional information after the intake process, the initial intake consultation, and if it is determined that your family qualifies and is interested in progressing to the next step.

"High Road to Reunification was nothing short of a miracle..." "For the past four years I had been in the twilight zone. I was falsely accused of abuse, the courts took my child. I lost my child, my home, my job, and wealth fighting for my child. I was at wits end until a came across an article written by Dr. Childress that led me to the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute. This one act of desperation and determination, CHANGED MY LIFE AND LED ME TO A FULL REUNIFICATION WITH MY CHILD!" The High Road to Reunification 4 day workshop accomplished what was never possible with the reunification therapy we participated in for almost four years. We were able to get the court to see what had happened, to order the proper protective separation, our family has gotten back on track, and I was able to get my child back. We are doing great! The work we did in the workshop was powerful and effective. It was not therapy and more like school. We learned conflict resolution skills, healthy communication skills, how to function in a healthy family environment, and much more. I recommend this process to any parent who is the target of parental alienation. Dorcy gets it, she is great with the kids and we love her and what she has done for our family. We went from a bogus retraining order, failed supervised visits, failed reunification therapy, to full reunification in 60 days. The 60 days was from when I contacted Conscious Co-Parenting Institute, to when we were able to go to court and get the orders needed for the proper protective separation and High Road to Reunification. I could not have done this without the help of Dorcy Pruter and Dr. Childress and their amazing ability to cut through the chaos and help the courts understand what was really going on and do what was in my child's best interest. Do yourself and your children a favor and contact the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute today. I really appreciate the education components of the workshop and how they were shared to all participants at the same time. This allowed for all of us to get to the same place of understanding and then move on. I also enjoyed the fact that we did not have to get bogged down in being re-triggered from events of the past. High Road is a refreshing solution focused approach to a complicated family situation.

- M.R. (Mom)

"Dorcy has a no nonsense approach that will inspire you to take action and reunite with your alienated children..." “Dorcy has a no nonsense approach that will inspire you to take action and reunite with your alienated children..." "I was alienated from my children after my divorce and was blindsided when my daughter decided to stop coming with me and had shut me out.” I started coaching with Dorcy in 2008 and I was already fully alienated from my daughter and my son was on the way out the door as well. I was not sure what to do. I was part of a support group, however the group did not really provide solutions to the problem. Dorcy was able to help me see where I was getting stuck and making things worse. I have coached with Dorcy in several of her programs including a program called Higher Purpose Mastery. In that coaching program, I learned about myself and how to become the best person I could be in relationships. In fact High Purpose Mastery allowed me to open up my mindset to a different way of approaching my children. A key take away in reunification work I did with Dorcy, was to shift how I was showing up. Specifically, I shifted out of feeling like a victim and into feeling like an empowered parent. When my daughter and I first started to reconnect I felt the natural pull of wanting to educate her, and find out why from her, however, Dorcy taught me that the why I was looking for was not to come from my child, and that the best thing for me to do was make it easy for her to be in relationship with me. As Dorcy would put it, don't tickle the guilt button. I am happy to report my children and I are doing well. My daughter and I are able to speak freely about things and have a very open and loving relationship. I let her express herself without feeling the need to correct her or judge her. It is from this place of acceptance and unconditional love that we have found peace and the discovery that our bond has always been there. Our reunification has been a wonderful experience for us both. My daughter is able to express her opinion and her experience and I have been able to listen without taking it personally. This has allowed us to take HUGE steps forward. We are like best friends. She is now an adult and she seeks my advice as a father and a friend and there is not more I could ask for in the end. We can only work on ourselves and inspire others. And as a parent, our job is to model for our children the best we can. The principles Dorcy teaches in the High Road protocol work, even for adult children. They are authentic and allow for family members to transform their lives and heal their hearts.

- J.M. (Dad)

"The discussions after each section of the program were powerful and valuable..." "I Participated in the workshop with my child and grandchild, I am a therapist and I did not feel like the program was anything like therapy." I am thrilled at the results the workshop produced for my family. Dorcy was kind and when I wanted to do what I do, which is therapy, Dorcy was understanding, she took me aside and I was able to express how I felt. Dorcy was able to explain, why therapy was not an options and I was able to move back into the participant mode. I would recommend the High Road to Reunification to any families struggling with parental alienation. I would also recommend that the process would be helpful to the alienating parent. When the whole family learns the same skills it helps the child learn how to love both parents and not get caught up in their parents conflict.

- D.N. (Grandma & Therapist)

"I have reviewed the High Road Protocol and it is my professional opinion it contains the proper catalytic interventions in the proper sequence to effectively and efficiently resolve the issues surrounding negative parental influence on a child as a result of a cross generational coalition of the child with one parent against the other." The structure of the High Road protocol uses a variety of activities and structured interventions to activate and restore the child's normal-range and healthy emotional and psychological functioning. The protocol calls for a protective separation from the pathogenic parent so the child feels free to recover and learn the skills needed to reintegrate with both parents. I created the Single Case ABAB design model for Attachment Based Parental Alienation for mental health to make a recommendation to the courts as either an assessment or remedy for "Parental Alienation". This allows the court and treating mental health professional to act in the best interest of the child when "Parental Alienation" is either proven or suspected. Emotional child abuse belongs in the same category as ALL child abuse, if it is suspected or confirmed it is a CHILD PROTECTION issue not a child custody issue. We as professional are required to protect children. Children are a protected class fro a reason. With the Single Case ABAB Design Model for Attachment Based Parental Alienation, using the High Road Protocol we are able to recover children, protect them from emotional abuse, and restore their loving bonds with authentic parents. The protocol does not seek to re-expose and resolve past grievances that trigger guilt, blame and defensiveness in the child. Nor does it blame either parent for the family conflict, thereby removing the child from having to take sides in the spousal conflict. This approach allows the child to love both parents without creating loyalty conflicts in the child. Dr. Childress has no business or financial interest in or association with either the High Road to Family Reunification protocol or the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute of Ms. Pruter

- Craig Childress Psy. D. (Clinical Child Psychologist)

"The High Road to Reunification ended the alienation something that was never possible with the 5 different therapist involved with my family." I have three teenage children. After their father and I split he decided to use the children to try to harm me. He started accusing me of drinking and doing drugs. My kids turned on me and he used them to spy on me and give him information. They would report that I was using drugs, when I was taking anti anxiety medication because of the divorce. We were in and out of therapy with no end or solution in sight. Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. My ex always told me I was crazy and so the kids started to do the same thing. They were never having to be responsible at his house and so they wanted and loved the freedom to come and go and eventually one by one they all went to live with their father. I was heartbroken and fell further into depression, anxiety and stress. I had all but given up. I was afraid to take any of the medication I needed to take because my ex kept taking me back to court and saying I was a drug addict. He had my youngest who was only 12 at the time, testify in court that he saw me "popping pills". This was the bottom for me. I was put into a supervised visitation with my children, that I had to pay for and yet I had not done anything wrong. I went out to a Facebook group feeling sorry for myself and posted a desperate plea for help. I asked for someone to help me, I had been a stay at home mom, my ex was a very wealthy business man, and he had taken everything and now even my children. All I wanted was to be able to see my children again. Someone in the group sent me some free videos the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute had posted about custody resolution. I watched the videos and contacted them right away. I can hardly believe my good fortune. Dorcy personally coached me through what was the darkest days of my life. She brought a fresh perspective to the situation. She understood what was happening and she explained how my children were experiencing the divorce and even more the alienation. She helped me understand that my children did not hate me. This was hard at first, since they told me they hated me all the time. She told me to believe that this was not true. She knew, she was alienated once herself, and she had told her dad the same thing many times. The moment I shifted the way I was approaching the divorce, was the moment everything changed. Dorcy taught me how to prove the allegations made against me were lies. When I went to court the final time, I was totally different. I approached the court from a place of being empowered, versus a place of feeling defeated. Everything changed. Since I was being accused of doing drugs, Dorcy advised me to take random drug testing and to lead with that in court, instead of waiting for the opposing side to fling the lies in court and me shying away from the conflict, I led with the truth and showed the judge that I was not using drug and not even alcohol. I explained that in the past, I had taken anti anxiety medication during the initial time of my divorce etc. The point I am making is that Dorcy was masterful at figuring out what was happening, my exes patterns of behavior, that he was using to destabilize me and hold me stuck. As soon as I could see it, I was able to move through the process and get the protective separation needed to reunite with my children. They were 13, 15 and 17. We are all reunited and my eldest child is now in college and my middle child is off to college soon. They have a relationship with both of us now. Nothing has really changed with their father except he has remarried and does not seem as interested since he thinks he has lost. He has rejected the children and they are able to balance the relationships with both of us. The skills we learned in the High Road have helped us with all of our relationships. If you get the chance to work with Dorcy and go through the High Road program I would do it. I never thought reunifying with my children would have ever been possible, but it works.

- K.S. (Mom)

- S.R. (Dad)