Our Purpose
We help families discover the benefits of collaborative solutions for marriage dissolution, child custody and co-parenting issues, division of assets and more.
Blaine Atkisson, LPC is a mental health therapist who works with adults and couples on issues primarily revolving around relationship difficulties, life transitions and anxiety. Blaine specializes in helping clients learn to set healthy boundaries through self-advocacy, improve communication and conflict resolution, and increase confidence when dealing with uncertainty. These same outcomes are applied within the Collaborative Divorce model, where Blaine works with a team of legal and financial professionals to collaboratively transition couples through the process of divorce.
Susan J Buniva, MSW, LCSW is a therapist and Collaborative Law Divorce Coach in private practice for over 40 years. She works with individuals, couples, families, and organizations, helping them move through transitions in their lives with greater ease, satisfaction, meaning, and success. She has been working in the collaborative community since 2009 and completed the 2-year Leadership Academy of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. In 2021 she published a book about co-parenting. She enjoys reading, writing poetry, and sharing time with her husband and dog in her time off.
Sanford Cassel works as both a child specialist and a collaborative coach. He is committed to helping children, adolescents and adults clarify, and remove, impediments to realizing their own dreams and desires. Sanford is also committed to the collaborative goal of helping each family member feel heard and respected, regardless of age or status. He feels this is most effectively accomplished through developing each person’s own effective voice, and through advocating for his/her interests, and the interests of his/her family as a whole, within the collaborative team.
Dr. Gasper is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in working with children, adolescents, and families of divorce. She specializes in co-parenting counseling, child therapy, and reunification therapy. She also has special interests in working with children experiencing anxiety and trauma disorders. Dr. Gasper received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She received both her Masters of Science and Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Gasper is also trained in the collaborative divorce model, serving as a Child Specialist and Divorce Coach. She is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), Virginia Collaborative Professionals (VaCP), and her local practice group Collaborative Professionals of Richmond (CPR).
Many of life’s challenges require us to work together with empathy and strength. During these times, I can be your Collaborative Coach or Child Specialist, providing support, learning, and growth, so that you are not alone. I have advocated for children and their families for over 30 years, serving as a catalyst for change. I experience my work as a vocation and a blessing, and would be honored to work with you.
Mrs. Hammond received her Master of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 1990.
Bruce works with clients of all ages specializing in anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorders. Bruce’s work centers around moving beyond emotional pain caused by divorce, death, difficult transitions, and other real life stressors. Her work emphasizes improving school, work, and family relationships at every developmental stage, maximizing each individuals unique strengths and competencies. Bruce provides individual, family, and couple’s therapy as well as parent consultations.
Bruce is trained in the Collaborative Divorce Model, serving as a Divorce Coach and Child Specialist. She is a member of Virginia Collaborative Professionals (VaCP) and Collaborative Professionals of Richmond (CPR).
As well, Bruce works as a consultant to The Steward School, providing emotional assessment, psychoeducation, and support to students, parents, faculty, and administrators.
Bruce incorporates a variety of clinical techniques based on client need, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Strength-Based Therapy, and Existential Theory, working actively and in collaboration with her clients.
Bruce loves spending time with her husband, daughter, extended family, and friends. She also enjoys volunteering in the community in a variety of ways.