The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

Wendy Sloane joins me to discuss the importance of slowing down the divorce process. Yes, once we've decided to leave and let our decision be known, it's easy to fall into the "let's hurry up and get this done" phase.  In this conversation, Wendy and I discuss why taking your time, researching, and finding the right lawyer is the best first step forward. This episode is slightly different than mos...

Michelle Mays, author of The Betrayal Bind: How to Heal When the Person You Love the Most Has Hurt You the Worst, joins me for an in-depth conversation about healing from betrayal. Michelle is a Licensed Professional Counselor and expert in treating sexual betrayal and trauma. She is also the founder of the Center for Relational Recovery in Northern Virginia, outside of DC. "Divorce is common, and...

Dr. Amelia Kelley is back! You may remember her from the popular episode about being a highly sensitive person (HSP), strategies for self-care, and how being an HSP can affect relationships. This time, we are talking about healing from gaslighting. In fact, Dr. Kelley has a new book/workbook called, "Gaslighting Recovery for Women."  She shares some of the book's insights in this episode.   We tal...

Vanessa Bennett returns to the show this week! A highly regarded licensed holistic psychotherapist, clinical entrepreneur, mental health content creator, and the author of the best-selling relationship book, "It's Not Me, It's You," Vanessa brings a wealth of expertise. Her unique perspective on fostering healthy relationships and navigating codependency provides valuable insights.  In this episod...

This week, I am doing something on the podcast I don't normally do—featuring a story of someone within my community.  My guest, L, joins me for a conversation about how her ex-husband contested their custody agreement after he learned of L's postings of adult content online. The case and the subsequent judgment ended up being a huge step for women and women's sexual liberation in divorce.  Along w...

Your relationship with money is important to know and understand. Yet, most of us were not taught how to be in relationship with money. Throw in divorce, financial trauma, or abuse, and how do you begin again? My guest, Bari Tessler, teaches how to have a healthy, safe, savvy, and creative relationship with money.  In this episode she offers her unique perspective on restarting your financial jour...

I am incredibly honored to be joined by Dr. Emma Katz this week on the podcast. Dr. Katz is a world-leading expert on coercive control. She is the author of Coercive Control in Children's and Mothers' Lives . She is an award-winning expert in domestic abuse and coercive control whose work has influenced policy and professional practice in the UK and globally. During our conversation, we discuss ho...

In today's episode, I'm thrilled to introduce Grant Wyeth, a talented writer based in Melbourne and occasionally Sweden. He joined me to discuss the intricacies of family court and share his knowledge about parental alienation. Grant wears many hats – he's a columnist for the prestigious Asia Pacific Affairs publication, The Diplomat , an editor at Asia Pacific Development, Diplomacy, and Defense...

I have yet to see an online divorce platform that is as in-depth as the award-winning platform Hello Divorce. Founder, attorney, and CEO, Erin Levine, joins me in a conversation about revolutionizing the broken divorce system and how Hello Divorce helps couples divorce in a way that feels fair, reduces conflict, and facilitates peace.   Erin's mission is to help separating couples empower a better...

Every so often, I meet someone in my field with whom I hit it off amazingly. This week's guest, Tony Overbay, is an example of when that happens. Tony joins me to discuss emotional immaturity, narcissism, and raising your emotional baseline.  Tony is a licensed marriage and family therapist, certified mindful habit coach, writer, speaker, husband, father of 4, and Host of the award-winning podcast...

The divorce experience isn't a cookie-cutter one for everyone. Sure, the process might look the same, but economics, culture, and race can impact how different people experience divorce. Kimberly Cook's Grown Girl Divorce platform seeks to educate and empower Black women through divorce, as their divorce experience can be very specific and different from that of white women. I am pleased to welcom...

My good friend and colleague, Michelle Dempsey-Multack, returns for a conversation about the challenges with divorce litigation and the best interest of children, co-parenting do's and don'ts, and raising a healthy child post-divorce. Michelle's unique perspective on divorce and co-parenting has helped thousands of women find the permission to move on confidently after divorce and move towards a m...

This week's episode explores intuition and its role in decision-making with guest Dr. Carolyn Kurle. If we always followed our intuition, life would be sooo easy, right? Not exactly, but getting in touch with your intuition, what lights you up, and looking at hard data, can help you make decisions with clarity and peace.  Dr. Carolyn Kurle is a Biology Professor at the University of California, Sa...

This week's episode is especially for the women who have had their heads in the sand about their finances.  That's okay because we've got you covered. Jennifer Lee, the founder of Modern-Wealth, a Sarasota-based financial firm focusing on helping individuals experiencing transition, joins me in this episode. Our conversation focuses on empowering women to take control of their finances, understand...

Do you spend most of the time feeling like you are doing parenting all wrong? Are you often doling out punishments but really wish you had more connection and calm with your kids? Michelle Kenney, a parenting coach, returns for a conversation about how to let go of punishments and find peace in parenting instead.  Parenting without the use of threats, bribes, and consequences is possible. But can...

Zawn Villines returns to the show this week. Together we explore how men use the family court system to continue to abuse women. Zawn shares the harrowing story of Caroline Youseff Kassenoff, who experienced post-separation abuse in its most extreme form and who the family court system failed horribly. We discussed Kayden's Law, double standards around mental health and infidelity, and how to quie...

When it comes to divorce and our children, there are things that, as adults, we are not thinking about. Wouldn't it be great to understand a kid's perspective as we traverse divorce? This week, Grace Casper, a child of divorce, joins me to share insights and practical tools parents can use to guide children before, during, and after divorce.   Grace became a child of divorce at age eight. Since th...

This week we are talking about hoovering. If the term is new to you, hoovering is a tactic an ex-partner might use to suck you back into the relationship. When you try to leave a toxic relationship, it can be scary, unknown, and you may start second-guessing yourself. Dr. Heidi Brocke returns to help us understand what hoovering is and shares the signs so you can avoid being lured back into a toxi...

Annette Oltmans, the founder of The M3ND Project, returns to the show to discuss Double Abuse®. Together, we explore what Double Abuse® is and how it can exacerbate the trauma a victim is already experiencing from their abuser.   Double Abuse® happens when seeking help becomes a harmful encounter, where instead of supporting you, a person belittles your experience or disregards what you are tellin...

Tracy Coenen returns to the show to talk about hidden money, secret spending, and how to win the money you deserve in your divorce. Tracy is a forensic accountant and has been investigating fraud for more than 25 years. She finds money in corporate fraud cases, high-net-worth divorces, and other financial shenanigans. In this episode, she shares information about the ways money can be hidden and h...

Gabrielle Hartley returns to the show to discuss the secret to getting along with others! Gabrielle is co-chair of the American Bar Association Mediation Committee, a divorce attorney, online mediator,  founder of The Private Divorce Solution, and author of "Better Apart: The Radically Positive Way to Separate." Her new book, "The Secret to Getting Along and Why It's Easier Than You Think," is ava...

This week, Dr. Jeannette Lofas joins me to discuss why the step-family unit differs entirely from a traditional family. She explains why the science, rules, and roles of the step-family are uniquely distinct. Dr. Lofas also shares insights and advice about how to make the step-family structure work for your changing family, following divorce and remarriage.  Jeannette Lofas, Ph. D., is a pioneerin...

How will your choices about divorce affect your children now and in the future? The creator of the films Split and Split UP: The TEEN Years , Ellen Bruno, says, "The connection between how parents frame the changing family, separation, and divorce profoundly impacts kids." Split UP: The TEEN Years documents the experiences of teenagers with divorce. Christina McGhee and Ellen Bruno join me in this...

Solo Episode alert!!  After over a decade of working with thousands of women, I've become really good at mapping out the entire divorce process and pinpointing where on that map someone might land. I've become so good at it that I actually created something I'm calling The Divorce Roadmap. In this episode, I share the three stages of the Roadmap: Awareness, Action, and Moving On, and explore the v...

"Mom, did Dad cheat on you?" If and when your child comes to you with questions about why you and your ex are divorcing, do you know how you plan to respond?   This week, Christina McGhee joins me to talk about how to walk the line between not gaslighting your children versus not throwing a co-parent under the bus or telling children truths that might be too hard for them to hear. In this episode,...