How A Divorce Coach Guides Their Client Through The Emotional Overwhelm Of Divorce

Divorce has a well-deserved reputation for causing clients to enter a crazy time – when logic, rational thought and common sense are sacrificed at the altar of staying in the “story” – the bitterness and resentment of what happened in the past. This divorce story weaves its emotional threads through every interaction between attorney and client.

Clients want what they want, and they often want it so fiercely that trying to move them away from their position is like trying to pry a barnacle off a rock. The more you wrestle with their opinion, the tighter they cling to it! That means convincing, cajoling, and coercing them won’t work. So, what does? What can get them to open up and consider different ideas, options, and approaches to their divorce dilemmas? Coaching.

No amount of logic, rationality, cajoling or coercion can move a client from the “story” to the “business” end of the divorce spectrum, particularly when the client feels overwhelmed by both the reality of divorce and the frustrating process of it. Before the client moves so far into the story such that therapy, medication and/or intervention become options, a family attorney might consider referring the client to a professional divorce coach – an emerging new professional in the divorce arena.

Divorce Coaching helps your clients get what they want, even when they’re not sure at first exactly what it is! It’s the key to lowering their resistance and being open to go with you down the path to self-discovery.

Here are 5 signs that a client could be well-served by a trained CDC Certified Divorce Coach^®:

• They are locked into one option and refuse to consider other possible solutions.
• They refuse to examine any other perspective but their own.
• They are either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic about how things will turn out for them after divorce and such beliefs determine their approach to a settlement.
• They seek relief from their highly emotional state and are willing to pay any price for that relief – by either throwing in the towel or extracting several pounds of flesh from their spouse.
• They lose sight of what is best for the children, using them as pawns in the game instead of being a parent most concerned about their children’s welfare.

Divorce coaching helps the client self-discover the impact of how they filter the information used in decision making and helps them explore other options or shift their perspective to consider other possible solutions. The American Bar Association defines divorce coaching as “a flexible, goal-oriented process designed to support, motivate, and guide people going through divorce to help them make the best possible decisions for their future, based on their particular interests, needs, and concerns.”

CDC^® Certified Divorce Coaches are trained to work with clients in even the most trying of circumstances, supporting them in their journey to be the best version of themselves possible, championing their strengths, and putting them back in touch with those values which support them in making the best decisions for their particular interests, needs and concerns.

Divorce Coaching helps you create that magic moment when your clients discover for themselves what you’ve been trying to convince them of for weeks!