The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

This week I am continuing my podcast mini-series on abuse (which isn't so mini , after all). Joining me to discuss faith-based toxic relationships is Sarah McDugal. Sarah is a speaker, trainer, and abuse recovery coach who works exclusively with women wounded by toxic relationships in the faith community. There are various forms of abuse that can take place within a faith community. One scenario i...

This week we are discussing how to communicate with a high-conflict co-parent. Joining me is my guest Bill Eddy. Bill is an attorney, therapist, mediator, author, and the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the  High Conflict Institute . He pioneered the  High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP)  and is a leading expert on managing disputes involving people with high conflict personalities. B...

Financial abuse is the exertion of power, control, and manipulation to the detriment of a person.  This form of abuse negatively impacts a person in a number of ways. Here's the thing, many women become financially disempowered after marriage and experience financial abuse in silence. So, this week, during the Divorce Survival Guide series on abuse, we are exploring the topic of financial abuse. ...

This week we continue the abuse mini-series on the Divorce Survival Guide podcast. In this episode, Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of The Naked Truth , returns to the show to join me in a discussion about domestic violence. She is a New York Times best-selling author, a columnist for The Washington Post , a speaker on work/family balance, a successful corporate executive – and domestic violence sur...

This month, I am kicking off a mini-series on abuse on the Divorce Survival Guide podcast. In this episode, Beverly Engel joins me to talk about emotional abuse. She is the author of Escaping Emotional Abuse: Healing from the Shame You Don't Deserve.   Emotional abuse is a deep and insidious attack on the soul. It causes the victim to question the truth about themselves, to doubt their worthiness...

My friend Susan Guthrie, host of Divorce and Beyond Podcast, joins me to talk about why you might want to seek spousal and child support in your divorce. I am especially excited about this episode because it's a crossover event that we created for you! This episode is Part 1 of the crossover event and you can hear Part 2 on Susan's show . Alimony is the scariest and complicated topic that comes up...

Part of my work is to dig through the roots of patriarchal oppression, expose it for what it is, and bring light to ways in which we can smash it into oblivion. So, when I hear about stories of girls who are given to their abusers to be married at the age of 13 because they are pregnant - I am outraged ( and enraged ). Dawn Tyree is a fierce survivor of child marriage and turned her experience int...

The topic of trauma bonds is one of the biggest conversations that circulate within my Facebook group and also with clients. In fact, it is one of the biggest obstacles women tackle as they extricate themselves from a toxic relationship. So this week, I am bringing back my friend Gwynn Raimondi to talk all about trauma bonds. Gwynn is a writer, Trauma Support Practitioner, Relational Systems Explo...

Divorce comes with many harsh realizations. Once the dust starts to settle, lost friendships or friendships that no longer feel supportive can be the most painful realizations. What the hell happened to your friends? And how do you make new ones? My guest, Daniel Herrold, is the Co-Creator of DivorcedOver40, an online community that provides resources and real-life testimonials to divorcees over 4...

Sunday, January 3rd, was the start of peak dating season. To talk about how to harness the power of dating,  my dear friend Bela Gandhi returns to the show. Bela is my go-to for all things dating advice and coaching. In fact, she gets the Divorce Survival Guide seal approval! There is no better time in your life to start thinking about dating than now. Bela breaks down some of the do's, don'ts, an...

This week I have another listener favorite episode for you on when to give up the authentic fight: I asked a friend who is going through a divorce what I should talk about in this week's episode. He said I should talk about cravings.  And he offered what he meant by saying this, "Given the shit happening in the world, we turn to safety, fantasy, and imagination to numb our true selves and we give...

I am back after a month-long hiatus from the podcast. So where have I been? Well, I had COVID-19. Yup, it seems like I was 2020's personal punching bag. In this episode, I tell you about my experience, how I caught it, and what happened to me. I also go into why letting your guard down, even just a little bit, is like gambling with your life. COVID is no joke.  If my story can save anyone else fro...

Doing the holidays and divorce — at the best of times — can be super complicated. Co-parenting during the holidays during a pandemic ? What a shitshow, amiright? Well, it doesn't have to be. This week, Michelle Dempsey-Multack joins me to offer tips and advice on how to handle the holidays during this crazy time. Michelle is a writer, coach, Certified Divorce Specialist (CDS®), and host of the Mom...

Maneuvering through a divorce is tough. Co-parenting can be even tougher. Parenting a diagnosed or newly diagnosed child with ADHD or neurodiversity post-divorce, well, things can feel downright suffocating at times. This week on the podcast we're talking about parenting a perfectly imperfect complex child in the midst of a divorce. My guest Elaine Taylor-Klaus is an author, parent educator, and c...

This week I am sounding off about why I get political on my podcast, on social media, and in my work. The short answer: It's because it matters and it's all intertwined. America is extricating itself from a relationship with a toxic abuser. The same thing is being played out in so many marriages that I see. In this episode, I breakdown the intersection between politics and my work in women's empow...

This week I am re-airing a listener favorite episode - Not Your F*cking Job. Want equal partnership? Let's start with not taking on impossible tasks -- and then being blamed for not being able to accomplish them. Listen to this episode for more! A few weeks ago, I posted in my Facebook group that I was going to write a flipbook called, Not Your Fucking Job . And it was going to be a very simple bo...

This week I am re-airing a listener's favorite episode, The Power of Letting Go with Jill Sherer Murray. The episode aired right before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since it feels like an entire year has passed since February, I thought I'd revisit some of my most popular episodes from early 2020. I'll be back with new episodes in November! Wouldn't you just love the superpower of letting go? If s...

This week we are talking about all things step-parenting.  Tracy Poizner, the founder of the Essential Stepmom Podcast, joins me to explore this topic. Tracy and I discuss becoming a step-mom, how to prepare yourself if your ex-husband introduces a stepmother into your child's life, and how to create an environment for your children to feel safe and loved within their newly formed blended family. ...

Jessica Frew is the co-host of the podcast Husband In Law.  Along with her husband and ex-husband, they share their stories of love, marriage, coming out, infidelity, divorce, and co-parenting. Jessica and her ex-husband were married for just over a year when he came to terms with the fact he was gay.  They then remained married for another seven years.  In this episode, Jessica shares her extreme...

When it comes to divorce and alcohol abuse, weaponizing the disease of alcoholism is the worst thing you can do — not only for the individual being accused but also for your children. Today, Chris Beck, VP of Soberlink, joins me for a discussion about how Soberlink is empowering co-parenting relationships and keeping families together — even after divorce. In this conversation, Chris and I take a...

We do ceremonies for many of life's transitions - baby showers, weddings, and more. When one is faced with divorce, creating a ceremony isn't something most consider doing. However, a divorce ceremony can help you emotionally and spiritually, and create an intention of how you want it all to go. And that is the topic of this week's episode.  The Ceremonialist, Georgia Wall, joins me to discuss wha...

My guest this week, Carrie Casden, has a really interesting approach to talking about money. In this episode, we are talking all about our relationship to money in the face of divorce. Carrie Casden is a business manager and financial coach.  She coaches clients toward financial wellness and how to make smart fiscal decisions.  There's often a variety of emotions that come up when talking about or...

A huge realization for many women going through divorce is around the emotional abuse they've suffered in their marriage. In my program, we have an entire module dedicated to uncovering and understanding this, part of which is hosted by my guest today, Rhian Lockard.  Invariably, as women dive more deeply into the work of uncovering emotional abuse, they are struck with the question, "Wait, am I t...

This week on the podcast, we're talking about dating after divorce with Bela Gandhi. Bela has been called The Fairy Godmother of Dating by Steve Harvey, Harry Connick Jr. and The Huffington Post — so basically, she's magic.  Bela is the founder of The Smart Dating Academy in Chicago, and has been helping people find lifelong love for over a decade. When I first got divorced, I could not wait to st...

Getting sober is a vulnerable process, but as this week's guest's book suggests, there is surprising magic in getting sober. Laura McKowen, author of We Are the Luckiest is here to talk about her journey to sobriety, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, and making it through to the other side.   I've been on my own sobriety journey, and I'm still kind of early in the process. In this episod...