Coaching and Divorce Mediation
Your children and their mental health come first.
Putting our children first during divorce and co-parenting gives them the opportunity to have a happy and healthy childhood.
What is co-parenting coaching?
"Co-parenting" is short for cooperative parenting. It's the ideal way to parent together, but it's tough to achieve 100% of the time. A co-parenting coach can enhance your parenting and communication skills so that you, the other parent, and your children live with significantly less conflict. Co-parenting coaching is similar to couples counseling except it is centered around how to effectively parent your children together. The term co-parent is typically used for parents who are not residing together or who are no longer in a relationship. In actuality, anyone who shares a child with another person is a co-parent.
Opposites often attract, but once those opposites are parenting a child together, it can constantly disrupt the inner peace of the family unit and commonly results in the dissolution of the parental relationship. Once these families are residing in two homes, parenting together seems almost impossible, but it doesn't have to be that way.
A co-parenting coach works with parents who are either still together and want to avoid separating, or those who have already made the decision to separate and want to avoid constant conflicts which commonly result in costly court battles. The coach uses mediation and coaching techniques to find a new normal with less conflict, better communication, and more peaceful moments. Our children only get one childhood. It is up to us to make it as calm and happy as possible.
Two Home Families
Individual Parents
Two Home Families
BECAUSE ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR OUR KIDS, WE DO IT.
Why use a Co-Parenting Coach? Co-Parenting is a difficult task even when families reside in one household. Once you add a second residence with a back-and-forth schedule and different philosophies on parenting, raising a child together can feel nearly impossible. A co-parenting coach can help parents work together to find common ground in parenting. Your child’s life being divided between two homes does not have to be a traumatizing experience for your family. It can be a happy, healthy upbringing full of love and peace. A co-parenting coach will be there to assist you.
Your coach can work with both parents to improve communication, assist you in resolving large and small disputes, and give you the tools to move forward as a united front in parenting. Your children mean everything to you. It is natural to have trouble sharing them and to struggle with not always having them under your watchful eye. The person who understands this struggle and who loves your children as much as you do, is your co-parent. Your coach will help you and your parenting partner develop and implement your new routine. Together you can lift your children up and raise them into happy, healthy adults.
What does the client-coach relationship look like? Your coach is not there to tell you what to do or to give you legal advice. Your coach will help you with the small and large struggles of co-parenting so you and your parenting partner can raise your child in a mentally healthy environment. Your coach will assist you in trying to create a co-parenting style that is productive and child centered. You are separating from your old life and creating a new normal for you and your children. Your coach will be a sounding board and cheerleader for all the choices that put your children first. Your coach will be there to share tools to help you in times of conflict and to develop communication strategies to work together with your co-parent.
How does this process work? Communication with your coach can be via video conferencing or over the phone for up to an hour conversation. The frequency of conversations can increase or decrease depending upon your needs. Communication can take place via email for those clients who may need support in the middle of a busy workday. The process continues for as long as you need, and the frequency of communication can change when necessary.
When should I reach out? You can reach out as soon as you feel the need, even before you share your intention to separate or divorce with your partner. You can work together to create a parenting plan before you become a two-household family. You can begin working with your coach when you are in the middle of a court battle or in the middle of a conflict. You can also meet with your coach in times of peace to work on the skills needed when conflict occurs. There are no limits to what you, your co-parent, and your coach can tackle together.
Why not use a counselor? If you are in the water and drowning, a counselor helps you keep your head above water. A coach assists you as you swim to shore, climb to the beach, and get exactly where you want to be in life.
One Home Families
Individual Parents
Two Home Families
CO-PARENTING COACHING CAN HELP KEEP YOUR FAMILY TOGETHER
Do you have to be separated or divorced to use a co-parenting coach? Co-parenting coaching grew out of the need for separated and divorced parents to work together for their children's sake and to decrease court involvement. But today many parents who reside together use the services of a co-parenting coach. Unfortunately, many couples separate over different parenting styles and co-parenting conflicts. The skills learned from a co-parenting coach can strengthen the relationship between parents, break the cycle of conflict, and bring increased harmony to the daily tasks of raising children.
If you are not on the same page with the other parent, everyone suffers. Working with a coach can help you and the other parent define and understand the co-parenting issues and develop a plan (with skills) to better navigate your parenting conflicts. Not addressing these issues will not make them go away, it will just make you and the other parent grow further apart. Working with a co-parenting coach can be a short-term investment for a long-term benefit. Choose a path that is better for those you love most. Choose to work with the other parent and create a new norm of happy, healthy co-parenting.
What does the client-coach relationship look like? Your coach is not there to tell you what to do or to give you legal advice. Your coach will help you with the small and large struggles of co-parenting so you and your parenting partner can raise your child in a mentally healthy environment. Your coach will assist you in trying to create a co-parenting style that is productive and child centered. Your coach will be a sounding board and cheerleader for all the choices that put your children first. Your coach will be there to share tools to help you in times of conflict and to develop communication strategies to work together with your co-parent.
How does this process work? Communication with your coach can be via video conferencing or over the phone for up to an hour conversation. The frequency of conversations can increase or decrease depending upon your needs. Communication can take place via email for those clients who may need support in the middle of a busy workday. The process continues for as long as you need, and the frequency of communication can change when necessary.
Why not use a counselor? A dear friend of mine who is a relationship coach once told me, if you are in the water and drowning, a counselor lifts you up so you can breathe. They get you where you need to be, above the water. A coach assists you as you swim to shore, climb to the beach and get exactly where you want to be in life.
Individual Parents
Individual Parents
Individual Parents
BE THE CALM WITHIN THE STORM
Can just one parent work with the coach? It is much more effective when working with both parents but your coach can also help one parent navigate the dynamics of a healthy co-parenting relationship. Very often it just takes one parent to take the needed steps toward change. One parent can alter the dynamics of conflict to stop the spiral and control their role in the conflict. That parent can be the calm within the storm.
Do you have to be separated or divorced to use a co-parenting coach? Co-parenting coaching grew out of the need for separated and divorced parents to work together for their children's sake and to decrease court involvement. But today many parents who reside together use the services of a co-parenting coach. Unfortunately, many couples separate over different parenting styles and co-parenting conflicts. The skills learned from a co-parenting coach can strengthen the relationship between parents, break the cycle of conflict, and bring increased harmony to the daily tasks of raising children.
If you are not on the same page with the other parent, everyone suffers. Working with a coach can help you and the other parent define and understand the co-parenting issues and develop a plan (with skills) to better navigate your parenting conflicts. Not addressing these issues will not make them go away, it will just make you and the other parent grow further apart. Working with a co-parenting coach can be a short-term investment for a long-term benefit. Choose a path that is better for those you love most. Choose to work with the other parent and create a new norm of happy, healthy co-parenting.
What does the client-coach relationship look like? Your coach is not there to tell you what to do or to give you legal advice. Your coach will help you with the small and large struggles of co-parenting so you and your parenting partner can raise your child in a mentally healthy environment. Your coach will assist you in trying to create a co-parenting style that is productive and child centered. Your coach will be a sounding board and cheerleader for all the choices that put your children first. Your coach will be there to share tools to help you in times of conflict and to develop communication strategies to work together with your co-parent.
How does this process work? Communication with your coach can be via video conferencing or over the phone for up to an hour conversation. The frequency of conversations can increase or decrease depending upon your needs. Communication can take place via email for those clients who may need support in the middle of a busy workday. The process continues for as long as you need, and the frequency of communication can change when necessary.
Why not use a counselor? A dear friend of mine who is a relationship coach once told me, if you are in the water and drowning, a counselor lifts you up so you can breathe. They get you where you need to be, above the water. A coach assists you as you swim to shore, climb to the beach and get exactly where you want to be in life.
Better self, Better co-parent, better parent
Better Self
Getting yourself to a better place mentally is one of the variables that you can control during a stressful co-parenting relationship. Do yoga, go out into nature, read a book, find a hobby, get yourself to a better place for your child(ren). Once that happens, you will be better able to handle stressful co-parenting situations. If you can control your behavior and practice healthy co-parenting, in time the other parent will follow suit.
Better Co-parent
Teach yourself and get informed. There are blogs, books (see above) and endless resources including classes or YouTube channels on how to better co-parent. Steer clear of books that label the other parent or take those books with a grain of salt. We all have narcissistic behaviors. We all have items we can be controlling about. Working with your co-parent and meeting them where they are will serve in your child's best interest. That is what this is all about, the kids involved and getting along with the person who is their other half. Find books that help you become a united front, not books that pit you against one another. Getting along with your co-parent is the best thing you can do for your child. See the video below about the impact conflict can have on children including increased cancer rates.
Better Parent
A parent who is constantly fighting with the other parent either in or out of the courts is not doing what is best for their child(ren). The emotional, physical and financial toll that a toxic co-parenting relationship causes on the parents does trickle down onto your children and take away from their childhood. Be a better parent. Work on yourself and work on your co-parenting relationship. Counseling and therapy can work wonders on getting you to a better place so you can be the better parent you want to be.
Be a Cycle Breaker
We all have some sort of mental health issue and all relationships have conflict. Understanding your own triggers and your conflict cycle with your co-parent in order to break out of your conflict cycle is the best thing you will ever do for your child(ren). Not letting the other person trigger you, being able to think up healthy mantras when things get bad and not allowing your child to feel the stress of the co-parenting relationship are all steps you need to take to get your co-parenting relationship to a better place. Be the cycle breaker and actually do what is best for your child(ren).