What’s a Divorce Coach?

Ending your marriage may be one of the most time-consuming, detail-driven, draining, and confusing things you ever do.

Your divorce can touch just about every aspect of your life – everything from your health insurance to your son’s 8th birthday party. Fortunately, getting divorced is something that most of us do only once. The down-side to this one-time reality is that without prior experience divorcing people often fall into upheaval. If you find that you need more support and/or information than your neutral mediator can provide a Divorce Coach may be the right answer.

Your Divorce Coach will help YOU:

• see the big picture and the hidden power dynamics
• put together an interdisciplinary team of experts and advisors
• create an easy-to-follow path through rough terrain
• gather essential information
• decide which divorce process is best for you
• evaluate your day-to-day and long-term options
• move through the process as smoothly as possible
• avoid the mistakes divorcing people commonly make
• use the cold hard facts about the financial and legal realities of divorce to achieve your best results
• do the divorce math, get your finances in shape, and best spend your divorce dollars
• save your sanity
• avoid sabotaging or jeopardizing your future
• protect your children from divorce’s detrimental effects
• avoid becoming a victim of divorce PTSD
• achieve an emotionally and financially successful divorce
• find your best outcomes for every facet (parenting, financial, legal strategy, etc.) of your divorce
• explore your prospects
• define and refine your goals and the strategy you will use to reach them
• organize your paperwork
• access the documents, facts, and figures, you need
• prevent costly mistakes
• plan for rebuilding your life post-divorce, and moving forward to a healthy and happy future.

Your Divorce Coach can provide you with:

• a safe, private, and inexpensive place to vent
• support so that you can keep your friends, family members, children, and new significant other (and their emotional baggage) out of the mix.
• an objective, thinking brain, when your emotions get the best of you
• tools
• compassion
• a vision for your life post-divorce 

Over the last decade there has been some significant buzz about the process of divorce coaching. Here are some recent examples:

• Storey Jones’ post on Arianna Huffington’s ThriveGlobal website entitled “Why Your First Call Should Be to a Divorce Coach: How a new kind of professional can transform the divorce process.” https://thriveglobal.com/stories/why-your-first-call-should-be-to-a-divorce-coach
• Ann Gold Bushcho, PhD’s post on Psychology Today’s website entitled “Why Would Anyone Need a Divorce Coach? Here Are 7 Reasons.” (Subtitle “What is a Divorce Coach? How do I know if I need one?”). https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/better-divorce/202012/why-would-anyone-need-divorce-coach-here-are-7-reasons
• Alix Strauss’s New York Times (Style section) article, March 10, 2022, entitled “It’s a Good Time to Be a Relationship Coach: Whether dating or divorcing, people are turning to coaches for their goal-oriented approach, which can deliver structure and achievements at a time when both may be lacking.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/style/relationship-coaches.html
• Christine Michel Carter’s Forbes.com post from June 2, 2023 entitled “Divorce Coaches: The Wellness Benefit That Can Save Employers Billions.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecarter/2023/06/02/divorce-coaches-the-wellness-benefit-that-can-save-employers-billions/?sh=5a75d4c6420e

Ultimately, Divorce Coaches help their clients (1) evaluate day-to-day options and best outcomes regarding every aspect (parenting, financial, etc.) of their divorces, (2) explore their options for going through the divorce process including retaining attorneys, mediators, and/or other professionals, and (3) plan for rebuilding their lives post-divorce.

When looking for a divorce coach you want to make sure your coach is knowledgeable in all aspects of the divorce process. If you aren’t selective you could wind up with a divorce coach whose only experience is having been divorced. Divorce Coaches at The Divorce Coach Institute have all undergone an extensive Divorce-Education program in addition to Basic Coach Training. They engage in on-going peer coaching and have opportunities to consult with other professionals so that they stay up-to-date on the latest trends and laws. Talk to any of the Divorce Coaches listed on this site and find the right Coach for you. (Click Here To Find A Coach)