Training & Presentations

Dr. Polak is available to deliver keynote addresses, conference presentations, and tailored professional training. She also provides private training and consultation to psychological and mental health practices, legal professionals, Children’s Aid Societies, and School Boards.

Dr. Polak has been consulted to speak on the following topics:

• The intersection of high-conflict family dynamics, intimate partner violence (IPV), and child protection services
• Parenting Coordination: roles, scope, and best practices
• Development of age-appropriate and developmentally informed parenting plans
• Conducting parenting plan evaluations
• Preparing and conducting Voice of the Child Reports
• Understanding and integrating the voice of the child within family law and legal proceedings
• Parent-Child Contact Problems (PCCP) and the clinical and systemic practice of reintegration therapy

“Thank you Dr. Shely Polak and Dr. Michael Saini for providing the Foundations for Conducting Parenting Plan Evaluations training. The training was extremely well designed allowing me to access the modules at my own pace while still being able to participate in group discussions and live feed. I appreciated the depth of information provided, which I have been able to incorporate in other aspects of my work with high conflict families. Truly grateful to learn from your expertise, insights and wisdom.”

“Dr. Polak and Dr. Saini, I wanted to thank you for offering the Foundations for Conducting Parenting Plan Evaluations course. This course taught me in more detail than expected, the theories, practicalities and related laws in this particular area of work. Although new to this area, I found the course lectures and materials detailed and systematically organized, which assisted my learnings greatly considering the over-whelming breadth of knowledge and research related to PPEs. I greatly appreciated that I could understand and take this course being a beginner in this specific area of social work. The course model was ideal , as it allowed flexibility to work on modules and practice mock cases while working full-time.”