Separation, Divorce, & Co-parenting
You will make it through…and can become a better you.
Sometimes you know it’s time to end a relationship (or your partner has made that decision), but you don’t want to hurt anyone further, especially your children.
You may be concerned with how to tell them, what they already know, how they’ll react, and the pain they will feel.
You may wonder how others will react to your separation or divorce - how will your family, church members, friends, or work colleagues respond to you suddenly not being married? Will they think of you differently without a partner? How do you share your friends? How will this change things?
All the transitions inherent to separation and divorce can be extremely stressful and overwhelming. You may ask yourself how you’ll manage it all and what life will look like on the other side - or how you’ll even make it there.
Parents often have no bigger concern than the impact of divorce on their children - so much so that they sometimes stay in marriages long after they should because of their concern for the children.
The decision to separate and divorce is highly personal and no one can tell you when it is time, but I have processes to help guide your choice and the steps that come after, EVEN IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND!
I am here to support you, help you think through each issue as they arise, ask you the questions you need to consider, and be there as a consistent voice for your morals, values, and goals.
Doing this alone makes it exponentially harder, and friends and family have only so much bandwidth for the outpouring of emotions and decision fatigue inherent to separation and divorce.
Finally, coparenting.
Co-parenting! With all the emotions present, you and your ex will try to find ways to work together, but these conversations are usually fraught with emotions from the separation / divorce. Teasing out JUST the children’s new schedule (for example) without feeling “oh here you go trying to control how I parent” - well that’s a tough one.
I have helped couples for more than two decades, individually and in mediated discussions, to manage their own emotions and focus on the best interests of the children. If you have tried this on your own (even before separation / divorce), you know what a feat it can be! Feel the difference. Get help and see the results.
I literally went to graduate school to minimize the long-term effects of divorce on children. This has been the core of my interest and values (as a child of divorce myself) for 23 years. My masters thesis was on this subject, and it has been my heart. I personally know the pain that can easily happen in divorce, even without any bad intentions!
Divorce can EASILY damage children, and they can carry that pain into decision-making and relationships for decades to come. We now know there ARE WAYS to mitigate that impact. And it begins during the separation and divorce processes. Let’s do this together.
Schedule your FREE15-minute consultation today, and let’s get started.