Dr. Deena Stacer, Ph.D.

 

Practice Area

Mediation & High Conflict Intervention

Education

  • S.D. State University, San Diego, CA,
  • 1976 B.S. in Child Development and Social Sciences
  • 1977 Standard Elementary Teaching Credential
  • 1991 Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership
  • Pacific Western University, Honolulu, HI,
  • 2001 Ph.D. in Philosophy, with a Major in Philosophy & Psychology

Contact

Phone: Tel: (800) 980-0434
Email: doc@deenastacer.com

Dr. Deena Stacer is the Director and facilitator of the High Conflict Intervention and Coparenting Program, which was established with her former partner, Fred Stemen in 1997. Since that time, she has helped over 3500 conflictual child custody cases and have mediated over 800 divorce cases. She works with parents, children, extended family members and all types of professionals who are involved in resolving conflictual custody cases.

Dr. Deena Stacer works as a parent educator and consultant with families and professionals who are involved in litigious and conflictual child custody cases. She has been a parent educator for over 27 years and has worked with families in conflict for over 20 years. Dr. Stacer is the Co-Founder and Director of the High Conflict Intervention and Coparenting Program since 1997.

She has worked with over 4000 conflictual child custody cases by teaching parents, working with the children or strategizing with family law specialists and mental health professionals to help protect the children and end the conflict. She has mediated over 850 divorce cases in San Diego. She has traveled both nationally and internationally, speaking and training professionals involved with these cases to strategies to manages these cases more effectively. Go to coparentingsecrets.com to learn more about what Dr. Stacer teaches.

Accomplishments

Dr. Stacer and Fred Stemen developed the material for the program based on proven strategies that are unconventional and help parents to think completely differently once they begin working with Dr. Stacer. She and Fred developed approaches using the concepts that parents involved in conflictual cases have high levels of anxiety that need to be calmed down, using techniques that immediately help them to think clearer and more focused. She helps parents to redirect their anger at the other parent toward focusing instead on strategies to get closer to the children and to help them become empowered. She works with parents who are often frightened by the other parent, (who may be a high conflict personality) and she refocuses these parents on ways to let go of the conflict and focus on creating a new life away from the fight.

She teaches skills, strategies and scripts to help both parents and children get out of the middle of the conflict. Stacer uses stories and proven exercises to help parents calm down, eliminate their child sharing fears, redirect their anger from the fight, to getting out of the court system. She teaches parents successful strategies to create powerful connections with their children so they remain closer to them and are not damaged by the conflict. She offers insight and helpful techniques to coparent more effectively with a difficult or high conflict parent.

Education

  • Dr. Deena has a doctorate in psychology, (specializing in high conflict intervention strategies);
  • A master’s degree in counseling/leadership;
  • Teaching credentials ranging from pre-kindergarten through college;
  • A Bachelor of Science Degree in child development and social sciences.
  • 1991 Community College Credential, Special Focus – Child Growth and Development, Early Childhood Education.
  • 1993-1994 Chapman College Counseling Program, acquired 15 additional units in family systems theory, family and child counseling.

Professional Organizations

  • Big Ask Business Strategies Meetup-Organizer and Facilitator
  • BNI (Business Network Organization)
  • EAPA-Employee Assistance Professionals Association

Speaking, Training and Published Material

Dr. Stacer has been published in the Family Law Journal, in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The chapters in the Family Law Journal are stories written about clients involved in litigated high conflict custody cases. The chapters are written for family law attorneys to help illustrate the tools and techniques attorneys can implement to resolve these difficult cases with high conflict personalities.

Dr. Stacer has presented on panels of certified family law attorneys and judges both locally and internationally, sharing strategies on reducing these cases. Dr. Stacer has presented various programs both nationwide and internationally. For example, Dr Stacer has presented numerous training programs for family law specialists, judges and mediators, covering topics such as recognizing high conflict personalities, strategies to end cases quickly, helping parents disengage from the fight and getting parents to focus on the children.

She has presented at the New Orleans, Family Bar Convention on recognizing and ending high conflict custody cases.
In Kingston Ontario, Canada she presented at the Conference of the International Society of Family Lawyers on the concept of “high conflict triangles” and how to reduce the impact of these cases in the court system.

In Hong Kong, she trained social workers, mediators, child protective workers, certified family law specialists, family law judges and high court judges for four days. Topics included recognizing and managing high conflict cases, developing strategies to help parents end their conflict quickly, teaching parents to protect their children, controlling the high conflict parent, and helping parents get out of the court system as quickly as possible.

Dr. Stacer presented in Canada at the Conference of the International Society of Family Lawyers Conference.
In Omaha, Nebraska, she presented a six-hour training for family mediators as part of the Superiour Court Family Law division.
She presented in Orange County, CA, at the Conference For The Society and Study of Social Problems in Orange County, CA on high conflict cases complicated by a new stepparent.

Parents in San Diego, in Hong Kong, and throughout the United States are participating in the online conflictual and coparenting courses and are giving the courses top ratings for quality of information and help in reducing their conflict.

Visit her website to learn more and sign up for her online course here coparentingsecrets.com