The Connection Advantage™ · The Family Compass for Separated Families
Two homes.
One child who needs to feel seen in both.
A private 90 day advisory for separated parents raising children across two homes,
with simple, powerful strategies that fit the week and the arrangements you already have.
Built on 25 years alongside children, families and schools across Australia and New Zealand.
By application only. Limited places each year. Online, Australia wide.
Apply for a place →
The Connection Advantage™ · The Family Compass for Separated Families
The arrangements are in place. Your child is still finding their feet between two homes.
The car goes quiet after a changeover.
Bedtime takes longer on the first night back.
Two homes, two sets of routines, and a child quietly working out where they belong in each.
None of this means a parent is failing. Separation changes the week, and children notice the change before they have the words for it. What helps most is the same thing in both homes: an adult who reads the moment well, and small, consistent ways of staying connected that do not depend on the other parent getting it right.
That is the work we do together. It is not counselling, mediation or a court process. It is practical, strategic support for one parent, or both, focused entirely on how your child experiences each home.
Conflict, not the address, is what children feel
A 2018 evidence review found that ongoing conflict between parents affects children's emotional, social and school outcomes, whether parents live together or apart.
Calm handovers are protection.
Harold and Sellers, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2018
Children read the adult before the words
At changeover a child picks up a parent's tone, face and pace long before they hear what is said. Small, predictable moments of connection tell them both homes are theirs.
The handover is a moment that matters.
The Connection Advantage™ Method
One parent can change the pattern
Families we work with find these strategies hold in one home even when the other home runs differently. Nothing here depends on the other parent agreeing to it.
You lead from your home.
Journey Together™ family work, Australia wide
How we work together
How it begins. You apply. Jess reads every application personally and, where it looks like a strong fit, invites you to a private 30 minute introduction call. If we agree to work together, your place is confirmed and your Discover session is booked.
Three phases, one clear plan. Delivered online, Australia wide, with one in person half day in your home. We can work with one parent, or with both parents in separate sessions, whichever suits your family and your arrangements.
Discover
Weeks 1 to 2
A private 90 minute strategy session after a short questionnaire. We look at how your child's fortnight actually runs across both homes: the changeovers, the routines, the hard evenings and the moments that already work, and agree what success looks like at day 90.
Blueprint
Week 3
Your written Family Connection Blueprint. Three to five micro moment strategies placed inside the rhythm you already have, language for handovers and the harder conversations, simple ways to stay connected on the days your child is at the other home, and consistent routines your child can rely on.
Embed
Weeks 4 to 12
Fortnightly 60 minute strategy sessions by video, WhatsApp voice or text messages between sessions, with a considered reply within 48 hours on business days, adjustments as real life happens, and a 90 day review against the measures we set together.
Included throughout: full access to The Connection Advantage™ Parent Edition: Parent Code online course.
The Family Compass is strategic, practical support for parents. It is not counselling, mediation, a family report or an assessment, and we do not provide reports or evidence for court proceedings.
What we work towards together
A clear plan for the moments you already have in your home, built with you and held with you until it sticks.
- Calmer changeovers, with simple routines that help your child settle back in
- Predictable, protected time with your child that fits your days with them
- Language for the harder questions children ask about two homes
- Ways to stay connected on the days your child is with their other parent
- A child who feels seen, heard and valued, and knows they belong in both homes
Why it works
Children read our state before they hear our words.
The small, everyday moments teach a child how they see themselves. The drive to changeover, the first ten minutes back through the door, the phone call on a night away. When those moments are designed rather than left to chance, children feel the difference, and so do you.
We start with what already works in your home and build from there. No blame, no taking sides, no scripts, and nothing that adds more to a week that is already full.
"How a child feels in our presence
becomes part of how
they see themselves."
A trusted presence for families, schools and national media
When the conversation is about children and the people raising them, Jess is the one asked to speak.
- Expert on the Today Show, Channel 9, and in The Daily Telegraph
- Interviewed on stage at the Sydney Opera House
- TEDx speaker
- 25 years alongside children, families and schools
25+ years
Alongside children, families and schools
Australia and New Zealand
5,000+ children supported
And thousands of parents, educators and leaders
Primary, secondary and early childhood
Homes, classrooms and workplaces
Families, schools and organisations
Now working privately with a small number of families each year
Trusted across:
Families · Organisations · Schools
Australia · New Zealand · International
Journey Together is led by Jess Robertson, a Child and Family Connection Strategist. For more than 25 years, we've worked alongside children, families, schools and organisations across Australia and New Zealand, supporting more than 5,000 children and thousands of adults.
Jess is Masters trained in relational psychology, with an educator background and training in family systems, neurodiversity, trauma informed practice and relational approaches. She is also a parent, and knows how full a family week can be.
We work comfortably alongside the professionals already supporting your family, and we stay focused on one thing: how your child experiences each home, day to day. We work with a small number of families each year, discretion is part of how we work, and every plan is built around the family in front of us.
Apply for a place
Places are limited each year, so every family is chosen with care. Tell us a little about yours, and Jess will personally reply within two business days. If your family lawyer or another professional suggested this page, you are welcome to mention them.
Investment
From AUD 7,500 including GST for the 90 day Family Compass, including the Parent Code course and an in person half day in your home. Travel costs apply outside Jess's home region. Where both parents take part, sessions can be held separately.
As seen on the Today Show, Channel 9 · Interviewed on stage at the Sydney Opera House · TEDx
Private Application
Your details are held with care and never shared. Jess replies personally to every application.
Questions before you apply?
Every family is different. If you would like to ask something first, email Jess directly and we will find a time that suits your time zone.
Prefer to start on your own?
The Parent Code is our self paced online course: twelve video modules of simple, powerful strategies you can use in your home from this week, at your own pace. AUD 497 including GST, with twelve months access. It is also included in The Family Compass.
Called on by national media and education leaders
When real insight into children and connection is needed, Jess is the voice that media, schools and organisations turn to.
When the adults in a child's world are empowered, the child experiences themselves as empowered too.
