The relationship experts at OnePlusOne are developing a new app to support separating parents and help them secure the best possible outcomes for their children.
Separating better will enable parents to self-manage their separation, providing emotional and practical support in a single authoritative app. It will equip parents with the emotional skills and practical information they need to put parenting arrangements in place that work in the best interests of their children.
OnePlusOne has been awarded funding from the DWP’s Reducing Parental Conflict Challenge Fund 2 to create the app, building on its research into emotional readiness and the successful Getting it right for children course. It will offer an accessible and sustainable solution to support parents to learn how to communicate better, resolve disagreements, and work through the practical steps of separation towards co-parenting.
Research shows that a person’s emotional readiness has a significant impact on their ability to reduce conflict and make effective co-parenting arrangements. Understanding this is important to ensure that the right support is offered at the right time.
OnePlusOne has developed a tool called the Emotional Adaptation to Relationship Dissolution Assessment (EARDA) which has been shown to reliably measure emotional readiness. This measure will help identify what level of support is most helpful to parents at different stages of their journey.
Alongside practical tools to help parents manage many aspects of separation such as budgeting, legal arrangements, and creating a parenting plan, OnePlusOne will be using its expertise in Digital Behaviour Change Interventions to create specially crafted video lessons. Using an evidence-based system proven to reduce stress and improve communication, the videos will equip parents with the conflict resolution and coping skills they need to help them make decisions in the best interests of their children.
The advice and support offered in the app will aim to help parents to cope with the emotional and practical challenges of separation and help to reduce the pressure on the family court system. Additional expert support comes from National Family Mediation who will be available via a live digital chat service within the app. To further support the project’s research aims, a small sample of parents will be offered mediation outside of the app.
Verity Glasgow, CEO of OnePlusOne, said: “The process of separation is challenging for parents and children. As well as dealing with the emotions that come with the breakdown of a relationship, there are also many practical arrangements that need to be worked out. With our Separating Better app, we aim to support and guide parents to help them to navigate the journey of co-parenting successfully.
“I am delighted that we have secured funding for a project that builds on years of OnePlusOne’s research and combines our expertise in behaviour change and creating digital learning resources to offer a user-friendly, sustainable support service for separating parents.”
OnePlusOne will be co-creating the app with parents who have been through a separation to ensure it contains the information they need in a relatable and accessible way. There will then be a pilot phase followed by an evaluation process.
For further information about this project, or other areas of OnePlusOne’s work, including existing interventions to support parents, contact the team at info@oneplusone.org.uk
The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) media release about this new Challenge Fund can be found here.
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Notes to Editors
Separating better is a working title for the development of the app. As part of the research and development phases of this project, we will consult parents over the name of the app and as such it may change by the time of the official launch.
About OnePlusOne
OnePlusOne is a leading relationship research and innovation charity with over 50 years’ experience in relationship science. We aim to strengthen relationships for couples, families, communities, and workplaces using evidence-based digital resources and training. By helping people to improve their relational capability skills, we aim to create better outcomes for families, whether they are together or separated.
More information about our work can be found on our website at www.oneplusone.org.uk. There is also a dedicated online relationship platform, Click, offering free access to expert articles and advice covering a wide range of relationship issues, together with a community area for people to share their own experiences.
For further information, or to request an interview about relationship issues, please contact:
Tabitha Frangoullides, OnePlusOne communications manager
07720 710490
About National Family Mediation
National Family Mediation was established in 1982 and is the largest provider of family mediation in England and Wales. It is one of the founding members of the Family Mediation Council, the body which regulates the standards of practice in family mediation.
It helps families resolve all the practical, legal, emotional and financial issues that arise from separation or divorce, helping families make long-lasting arrangements that benefit everyone in the family, especially their children.
It has a network of affiliated members, each of which is a not-for-profit family mediation provider. Collectively we deliver family mediation in over 500 locations across England and Wales, delivering some 16,000 mediations per year.
You can find more information via their website: www.nfm.org.uk or if you would like to speak to a member of the team, please contact them on 0300 4000 636 or alternatively you can email mediation@nfm.org.uk
