Divorce Therapy, Parenting Classes, Family Counseling and Divorce Coaching – What are They and Why Are They Helpful

Few things are as emotionally difficult in someone’s life as a divorce. Building your life with someone for years only to realize that the relationship is disintegrating can be truly earth shattering, even when you know that separating is the right decision for you. Fortunately, as the years have progressed, there have been more and more tools available to help those going through a divorce or custody issue to address the emotional trauma that results from dividing a family.

 One way that modern parties to a divorce find help is through divorce therapy. Divorce therapy, also called divorce counseling, is a type of therapy specifically designed to address the specific emotional issues stemming from a divorce. If you are exhibiting particular symptoms such as increased anger or aggression, trouble sleeping, increased substance abuse, an inability to think of anything other than the divorce, or you feel overwhelmed by the process of the divorce or starting a new life, you may want to consider divorce therapy. Divorce therapy is designed to help you process the difficult emotions associated with divorcing and help you move forward into the next phase of your life.

Parenting classes are another step that you may need to take during or after your divorce. Parenting classes in this context are not intended to teach you how to parent. Instead, they are designed to help you learn how to co-parent with your former spouse. There are many nuances of learning to be flexible and cooperative with a former partner or spouse. Clearly the emotions involved in the divorce can leak over into parenting issues. Parenting classes are specifically designed to help you recognize and move past those types of issues in order that you and your former partner can focus on what is best for your children.

Family therapy can be helpful for you and your family even during or after a divorce. Family therapy is not marriage counseling and is not necessarily designed to help you and your former spouse reconcile. Family therapy is designed to target the specific communication issues that may exist between you and your spouse and your children and help you all process the emotions associated with separation and litigation. Family therapy is typically the most appropriate where parties share children and the children are having some degree of difficulty processing the divorce.

Finally, a growing field in the divorce arena is divorce coaching.  A divorce coach is not a therapist or counselor.  A coach can help you focus on where you want to be after the divorce and assist you in making life decisions that are not necessarily legal in nature, such as redefining your identity as a single person again and “uncoupling” as a partner in a marriage.  These are challenges that people encounter as they transition from a marriage to a new life after divorce.  A divorce coach is a neutral person who can help you with those unique challenges.  Christina Previte, Esq. is a divorce coach who offers this service. 

many clients with deciding what type of assistance or help they may need from other types of professionals during and after their family law cases. Call us today at (732) 529-6937 to let us help you with your divorce or custody case.  Please also check out our for other FAQs about divorce topics like this one.