While attending the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts conference in Toronto last week, I had the opportunity to see the movie Split. Directed by Ellen Bruno, Split is a 30-minute documentary that features real kids between the ages of 6 and 12 talking about they experienced their parents’ divorce.The voice and perspective of kids [...]
In my practice, I see couples for therapy and Collaborative Divorce coaching. Often, there is not much difference in the level of unhappiness. On average, most couples wait six years after the onset of problems before they seek counseling. Waiting this long allows goodwill to erode and bad feelings to grow.In a perfect world, I [...]
After the pain of divorce, most people want to heal and find new, healthier relationships. However, while many people are successful in achieving this objective, others find themselves falling into the same type of unhealthy relationship they left—just with a different partner. Here’s how you can avoid that trap:Recognize your role in the breakdown of [...]
Self-care is always important, but it’s especially critical during times of stress. Between the length of the process and the emotional and financial impact, divorce is definitely a time of stress.During a divorce, you will be asked to make choices that will affect you and your kids for the rest of your life. To make [...]
While most of the concerns regarding the impact of divorce on children are focused on younger children living at home, divorce also impacts older children. College aged children often have a strong reaction to divorce that parents are unprepared to handle.This issue is gaining increased relevance as more older couples are undergoing divorce, leading to [...]
Along with the most of the world, I learned the phase “conscious uncoupling” after supercouple Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin used it to describe their separation. While the term has been mocked as prototypical celebrity PR doublespeak, it can offer real value to couples that are seeking to end their marriage and are able to [...]
Based on statistics, families with special needs children tend to divorce at a higher rate than other families. Given the added complexity that can accompany special needs situations, divorcing parents need to take particular care when determining the best course of action for their family. The breadth of conditions that can fall under special needs means [...]
Your marriage may be ending but your love for your children is a forever love. Your children will take their cues from you as to how to approach the divorce and their new life going forward. You can make it easier on them by working with a mediator to create a detailed joint parenting plan [...]
Raising teenagers has always been complicated and often emotionally trying. The unique aspects of the teen years make divorce even more difficult for kids to process. Teenagers are at a state where they are working to separate themselves from their parents and develop their own identity. In order to keep this process on track during [...]
Unlike their younger siblings, preteens have a much greater understanding of the concept of divorce and they are more likely to have peers with divorced parents. However, just because they understand it better, doesn’t mean they accept it. Children in this age group have rigid moral views (as you know if you have ever played a [...]
