Leveraging Your Divorce Experience To Create Meaningful Work

Divorce, from the 10,000-foot view, is a legal process designed to terminate the marriage contract – to create a division of the accumulated assets and debts so that each party may go their separate ways.

But divorce is much more than assets and dollars – and the 10-foot view of divorce is that the obstacles one faces in divorce all have to do with the “people aspect” of the process. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that dealing with the people going through the emotional roller coaster and their response to change would feature as a central concern in the process of divorce? Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and those touched by the human-ness of divorce see that something is missing in the process – a process that requires two separate parties to keep moving forward and make the myriad choices every day to maintain some stability in their daily lives in addition to undertaking the most significant set of business decisions that most couples will ever make – and to do it in relative isolation!

This is where you are your experience comes in. This is an arena that needs someone with your sensibilities, your willingness to be compassionate and to help clients bring out the best in themselves in order to meet the challenge of moving beyond the trauma of divorce; reinventing their lives as individuals and as co-parents; and building a new future which serves their particular needs and aligns with their unique values. Most importantly, not to be derailed by the impact of all that change on their decision-making – a tall order by any measure!

Most people are inspired to engage in this kind of work – the kind of work a divorce coach does – because of their own personal or professional (any many times both) experience with divorce. For them there is a big missing in the landscape of divorce, and that is a sounding board and thinking partner that can help people like themselves through all of those decisions and help them to maintain their dignity and self-respect; to serve as role models for their children about how to deal with difficult challenges; and to be able to look back and know they did their best given their own particular wants, don’t wants, needs and concerns.

There are three separate and intertwining pathways for coaching people in divorce: working with the internal adaptation to the changes going on; supporting clients in visioning, planning and goal setting; and the business of divorce which means in part navigating the process and decision-making as a credible client.

Professionals come to the CDC Certified Divorce Coach® Program from many different backgrounds: mediation, family law, financial services, therapy, coaching, real estate, or other professions where they have developed significant skills related to decision-making, communication and understanding human behavior. Each person has a unique perspective to share in the classroom so there is as much learning from each other as from the significant amount of content covered during the program.