Divorce consistently ranks as one of the top stressors one can face in a lifetime. Dealing with divorce is often accompanied by emotional, spiritual, interpersonal, financial, and even physical effects. You may feel worthless, hopeless, or helpless, and you may blame yourself for “failing” at your marriage. You may experience conflicts with your spiritual belief system, and you may even feel real or imagined disapproval from others. You may also find that it’s harder than usual to trust others right now. You may come to the realization that divorce can be a very expensive endeavor, and you may not know from where that money will come. Physically, you may experience illness, pain, or at the very least, exhaustion. If you experience any or all of these effects, you are not alone.
Collaborative Divorce is a client-centered approach to divorce whose guiding principle is respect. Giving and receiving respect during a time when there may otherwise be great conflict serves to effectively reduce stress in all of the aforementioned areas. Similarly, because of the availability of neutral experts to serve on your collaborative team, such as financial professionals, child specialists, and coaches/facilitators, more of your non-legal needs can be attended to than in a traditional divorce. By committing to open communication, mutual respect, and productive problem-solving rather than shaming and blaming, the process is likely to be more efficient and more dignified, and therefore, significantly less stressful. Read more about Collaborative Divorce.
While the stress of divorce is inevitable, there are ways to cope more effectively and reduce suffering. By providing this information, CDN strives to help you identify some strategies to help you during this difficult time of transition.