Penny Ruth Willis

Penny is a Psychologist, Counsellor, Systemic & Accredited NVR Practitioner, Trainer & Supervisor.

An Integrative Family Therapist, Penny is a psychology graduate with postgraduate qualifications in counselling psychology and systemic practice, and a master's degree in couple and family therapies. Following many years as an NHS psychotherapist and Relate couple and family therapist, and 15 years in independent practice, Penny now specialises in the Nonviolent Resistance approach (NVR) to child-raising problems.

She is the founder and Director of NVRnorthampton, offering parent coaching, group work, professional courses, and supervision in the approach.

Penny has integrated her professional expertise with her personal and clinical experience of dysfunctional family systems (enmeshment, estrangement, coercive control, and betrayal), along with insights gained from 20 years of personal therapy, into a unique intervention for cases of perceived parental alienation and post-separation abuse.

With the support and guidance of PA experts, Penny and her colleagues deliver this unique NVR-based, systemic intervention to families in (or approaching) family court proceedings, as an 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' service. This pragmatic, solution-oriented, child-focused and parent-centred programme can help both those facing child-parent contact problems and those who find themselves suspected of engaging in alienating behaviours.

Conference Workshop

Resisting Distance: An NVR-based Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for 'Parental Alienation Cases in Family Court Proceedings (with Donna Barry)

Drawing from our own research, clinical and lived experiences of dysfunctional family systems (enmeshment, estrangement, and coercive control), the NVRnorthampton team have spent much of the past three years adapting NVR to address parent-child contact problems. We have two family-court confirmed parental alienation case pilots of this approach to share with you.