===Legal (and therapeutic) responses===

It can be important to get professional help to figure out what's going on as soon as a child begins to demonstrate the more serious behaviours identified above, in the "Knowing when there's a problem" part of this section. These should be red flags that problems are developing, or already, exist, in the child's relationship with a parent. Involving mental health professionals right off the bat can help stop the problem from getting worse and maybe even suggest ways of fixing the problem. The potential roles mental health professionals can play at this early stage are about diagnosis, figuring out what the problem is, and providing ongoing therapeutic help.

I think the idea of case management is a great idea for all families who are in court and in higher levels of conflict. However, the courts of British Columbia just don't have the resources to take this kind of an approach as a general rule. Sometimes, a judge may agree or volunteer to "seize" themselves of a case, which means that the judge will deal with all of the family's court appearances except for the trial until the judge "unseizes" themself of the case. Seizing themselves of a case can be very challenging for judges, never mind court administrators, as it adds to the judge's workload and creates huge scheduling problems, usually with the result that appearances are handled before the start of the usual court day or after the end of the court day.

Section 224(1)(b) of the ''Family Law Act'' can also be used to get orders that parents and children get special kinds of counselling specifically to address the problem in the relationship between a child and the parent they don't want to spend time with. This sort of counselling is provided by mental health professionals, usually psychologists and clinical counsellors, who specialize in family breakdown, family relationships and attachment disruptions. In fact, a number of mental health professionals in the province have created programs aimed at helping children restore their relationships with parents they resist spending time with.