In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Robyn Gaillard, a mind-body connection wellness educator and clinician, to talk about what it really means to survive divorce when it’s not just a legal process, but a full-body, full-spirit earthquake. Together, they unpack the legal challenges of going back to court, the heartbreak of being misunderstood by the system, and the quiet terror of wondering if you’ll ever feel truly safe and steady again.

Drawing on her own history of illness, divorce, and profound healing, Robyn shares how she learned to become her own lighthouse in the storm—how her body literally started to break down under chronic stress, and how understanding the mind-body connection, circadian biology, and emotional baselines helped her heal without traditional medical interventions. She explains how our nervous system, sleep patterns, and everyday choices are constantly communicating with us, showing us where our emotional “thermostat” is set, and how that affects our emotional health, energy, and resilience during divorce. Through powerful metaphors, client stories, and her own lived experience, Robyn offers a radically compassionate framework for seeing divorce not as a personal failure, but as a season of life where your inner light is tested, not extinguished.

Listeners will walk away with concrete, doable practices for divorce recovery—from tiny daily actions that support the nervous system, to mindfulness tools that help you reset your emotional baseline, to questions you can ask yourself when the legal process feels dehumanizing and overwhelming. Robyn and Olivia talk openly about the financial and legal challenges of finding the right representation, the importance of strategic support from professionals, and how to keep advocating for yourself even when the system feels rigged. Most of all, this episode offers hope: a reminder that your inner light is still there, even if it’s dim, and that you can rebuild a life grounded in healing, wellness, support, personal growth, and resilience on the other side of divorce.

Learn more about My Way Om: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/mywayom-inc

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What if the most radical divorce advice you ever receive is this: stay angry—at least for a while? In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Fresh Starts Expert and certified ADR pre-mediation coach Lyerly Spongberg, founder of Step Up with Lyerly, to talk about the relationship between anger, healing, emotions, and personal growth in divorce. Drawing on her training as a divorce coach and co-parenting specialist—and her own experience ending a marriage—Lyerly gently reframes anger from something to suppress into something to listen to, a secondary emotion that shows up as a warning light when boundaries are crossed, needs are ignored, or shame has taken root.

Through vivid examples from her work with clients, Lyerly Spongberg walks us through the everyday moments where anger quietly builds: the partner who belittles you in front of the kids, the “roommate” marriage where a fight about socks on the floor is really about a life that no longer fits, the divorced mom wondering, How did I let this happen to me? Together, Olivia and Lyerly explore how anger, shame, emotional abuse, people-pleasing, and guilt become intertwined in the divorce process—and how naming those patterns can change everything. Anger, they suggest, can be the bridge between your pain and your purpose, the spark that finally moves you from confusion to clarity in your divorce recovery.

Listeners will leave with both validation and direction: permission to feel furious, and practical divorce advice for what to do with that anger. Lyerly Spongberg shares accessible tools like journaling prompts, talking to anger as if it were a messenger, and working with a divorce coach to turn that energy into value-aligned decisions about mediation, co-parenting, and starting over after divorce. If you’ve ever been told to “just calm down,” this conversation offers a different path—one where your anger becomes a catalyst for self-discovery, healing, and life-changing personal growth after divorce.

Learn more about Lyerly Spongberg: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/step-up-with-lyerly

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When you’re in the thick of it, divorce can feel like being dropped into a maze with no map—just a stack of forms, a pounding heart, and the vague instruction to “call a lawyer.” In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia sits down with Meghan O’Malley, a lawyer, mediator, and divorce coach who has spent years inside the legal system…and then intentionally stepped outside of it to help people do divorce differently. Drawing from her background in law and her work as a divorce coach for women, Meghan explains why divorce isn’t just a legal transaction—it’s a massive life transition that touches your home, your children, your finances, your nervous system, and your future self.

Together, Olivia and Meghan unpack what Meghan calls “the old way of divorce”: filing first, hoping for the best, handing your power to an overwhelmed court system, and reacting to every crisis as it lands in your inbox. Meghan offers a different model—one where filing papers isn’t the first step, and where you build a support team (divorce coach, mediator, CDFA, therapist, lawyer when needed) around your goals and values. She and Olivia talk about the rise of divorce coaching, the realities of mediation vs. litigation, and the dozens of ways to structure a divorce outside the stereotype of battling it out in court. Along the way, Olivia shares her own stomach-ache season of divorce and the moment a mediator asked her, “But what do you actually want?”—a question nobody prepares you to answer.

This conversation is a gentle but powerful reframe of divorce recovery, co-parenting, and starting over after divorce. Listeners will walk away with a new mindset: you are allowed to lead your divorce instead of just surviving it. Meghan shares practical divorce tips you can act on right now—like pausing before you hire a lawyer, getting curious about your goals, and creating a simple roadmap that keeps your kids’ well-being at the center. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting advice, terrified of the court system, or unsure where to start, this episode offers both clarity and hope, plus a reminder that you are far more capable and resourced than the system wants you to believe.

Learn more about Meghan O’Malley: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/divorce-brave

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The moment you begin preparing for divorce often feels like standing in front of a mountain you never asked to climb—papers everywhere, decisions waiting for you, and a nervous system that can barely keep up. In this episode of Divorce Happens, we sit down with Rhonda Noordyk, a certified divorce financial analyst, financial divorce advocate, and longtime Fresh Starts Expert who has helped thousands of women navigate the financial side of separation with clarity, compassion, and strategy. From the very first minutes, Rhonda brings a grounding presence to a topic that often feels overwhelming, reminding listeners that divorce preparation begins with one simple, radical act: breathe.

Throughout the conversation, Rhonda unpacks her signature approach to divorce financial planning, offering deeply practical—and deeply human—guidance for anyone facing uncertainty. She explains why reviewing your financials in small, manageable time blocks can reduce emotional overwhelm, why organizing bank statements becomes a form of empowerment, and how her CIA method—Communication, Integrity, Advocacy—can help you choose the right divorce team. She also shares candid client stories: the woman who finally understood her spouse was dodging disclosure, the client who discovered hidden income only after slowing down and asking better questions, the women who found their confidence by learning how to negotiate from a place of truth rather than fear.

By the end of the episode, listeners walk away not only with tangible divorce preparation strategies—document organization tips, negotiation insights, and financial clarity tools—but with something even more important: a sense of steadiness. Rhonda emphasizes that you get one chance to get your divorce agreement right, and that knowledge becomes a powerful invitation to slow down, stay curious, and build a solid foundation. If you’re navigating divorce, co-parenting transitions, or financial overwhelm, this conversation offers hope, direction, and the reminder that you deserve support every step of the way.

Learn more about Rhonda Noordyk: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/financial-divorce-advocate

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📬 Magazine: https://divorceguidemagazine.com/

The first step of divorce is rarely a legal one—it’s a heartbeat, a whisper, a quiet “I think I need help.” In this episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell sits down with divorce and life transition coach Lisa Lisser to unpack the overwhelm of the divorce process and why having a guide matters. Lisa shares how divorce coaching offers clarity, emotional support, and a practical map when you’re standing at the edge of a life you’re not sure how to leave. This is an honest, judgment-free conversation for anyone struggling to take that first step.

Grounded in both professional expertise and personal experience, Lisa explains how a divorce coach helps you prioritize your values, prepare for meetings with attorneys, and collaborate with financial advisors (CDFAs) to plan the life that comes next. She names the shame, the fear, and the late-night spirals—and then gently reframes them as data for strategy. Listeners hear real client moments where a clear plan shortened timelines, reduced legal fees, and transformed chaos into divorce strategies that moved cases forward.

If you’re craving steadiness and clarity in an uncertain season, this conversation delivers it with compassion. You’ll learn why “call a coach first” can save money, how to articulate your needs without re-traumatizing yourself, and what it means to become the expert of your own life again. Expect one mindset shift: divorce coaching isn’t about looking back—it’s about building forward. Expect one actionable takeaway: start a simple blueprint (values, priorities, budget) before you hire anyone, and watch your entire divorce support team work more effectively.

Learn more about Divorce Coach Lisa Lisser: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/lzl-coaching

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You don’t plan for the moment you realize the marriage is over—you arrive there, breath held, heart loud, and somehow still responsible for packing lunches and paying bills. In this intimate conversation, actress, creator, and OG blogger Eva Amurri—now a remarried mom of three and the force behind The Westport Project—joins Olivia to talk about divorce recovery as a living practice: calling it before it gets ugly, learning to communicate in therapy, and reinventing when the ground keeps moving. What follows is a story about emotional turmoil that becomes usable wisdom.

Drawing on her public divorce and collaborative co-parenting, Eva shares the choices that protected her kids and her sanity: mediate when you can, center the children in every decision, and build financial independence—even if it starts as $5 a day from a tiny side hustle. She talks candidly about losing friends during separation, the sting of holidays, and the discipline of keeping your words clean in front of the kids. It’s practical and tender: co-parenting tips, boundaries, and the mindset shifts that turn survival mode into resilience.

Listeners will leave with hope and clear next steps: explore therapy or a co-parenting coach early, treat mediation as a way to design your family’s future, and start any income stream that puts agency back in your hands. This episode is rich with divorce support, co-parenting strategies, and starting-over stories for single mom life. Keywords naturally woven throughout: divorce recovery, co-parenting tips, mediation, financial independence after divorce, emotional resilience, starting over after divorce.

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When you’re facing divorce, the numbers can feel scarier than the heartbreak. In this powerful episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell sits down with Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and financial advisor Donna S. Cates, a woman on a mission to make sure no one signs on the dotted line without truly understanding what they’re agreeing to. With decades of experience helping women in transition, Donna blends practical financial insight with deep compassion—because she knows firsthand that financial fear can keep women stuck in unhappy marriages. Together, they explore how money myths, misplaced trust, and emotional overwhelm shape so many divorce stories—and how knowledge can become your most empowering form of self-care.

Donna shares her signature framework for preparing financially before divorce, including the comprehensive checklist she gives her clients to uncover what they know, what they don’t, and what they need to find out. Through honest examples from her practice, she explains why hiring a CDFA before an attorney can actually save thousands of dollars—and how even in moments of chaos, small steps toward financial clarity can help women feel grounded again. The conversation moves beyond spreadsheets and settlement numbers into emotional healing, with Donna reminding listeners that understanding your finances isn’t about money—it’s about reclaiming your agency, your voice, and your future.

Listeners will walk away with a renewed sense of possibility and tangible next steps: how to begin gathering documents, when to call in experts, and how to build confidence in conversations about money. As Donna says, “You aren’t your marriage, your mistakes, or your money story—you’re the author of your next chapter.” Whether you’re considering divorce or already rebuilding, this episode offers the clarity, compassion, and courage you need to start fresh.

Learn more about Donna Cates, CDFA here: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/money-matters-wealth-solutions

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Transitions between two homes can feel like fault lines for children of divorce—every Sunday night drop-off or Friday afternoon pickup carrying the weight of change. In this episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell sits down with child development expert Dr. Joanna Hulton to explore how parents can ease the turbulence of co-parenting transitions and help children feel secure in both homes. What begins as a listener’s heartfelt question about her six- and eight-year-old’s struggles with back-and-forth routines opens into a compassionate and deeply practical conversation about children’s developmental needs in divorce.

Dr. Hulton, a parenting psychologist, author, and long-time child advocate, brings decades of expertise to the conversation, weaving together research, clinical insights, and the lived realities of families navigating divorce. She highlights why consistency, transitional objects, and small rituals of acknowledgment can dramatically shift how children experience their “two houses.” Through anecdotes from both her professional practice and Olivia’s personal reflections, Dr. Hulton reveals how even small acts—like validating feelings instead of fixing them, or reframing “mom’s house” and “dad’s house” as your house with mom and your house with dad—can profoundly change how kids process separation.

At the heart of the episode is a reminder that co-parenting is not about erasing conflict overnight, but about creating space for children’s growth amid uncertainty. Listeners will walk away with both hope and actionable strategies: the power of shared language, the importance of seeing each home as “theirs,” and the courage to set aside adult hurt for the sake of children’s sense of safety. Divorce may redraw family maps, but as Dr. Hulton makes clear, parents can still chart paths that help their children thrive.

Learn more about Dr. Joanna Hulton: https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/joanna-hulton-phd

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The first thing Samantha Boss tells us is that she did everything “wrong” the first time. It’s disarming and honest, the kind of confession that lets your shoulders drop. In this conversation, the Alabama-based divorce strategist—once a teacher, briefly a mediator, and now a high-conflict divorce coach with a fierce TikTok community—walks us through the moment her own life cracked open. She planned the conversation (“When do I say the word divorce?”) for six weeks, but not the life after. What followed—years of court dates, a four-page parenting plan that failed in real life, and the slow work of rebuilding—became the education she couldn’t find anywhere else.

Sam’s expertise is forged in the fire and refined by study: a decade of coaching high-conflict clients, writing airtight parenting plans, and helping parents adopt “radical acceptance” of the co-parent they actually have. She shares the hard-won mindset shift of not letting divorce define you, and the equally brave admission that she once tried to “perform” cordial co-parenting to her children’s confusion. Her kids—now 21 and 19—eventually named what they sensed all along: when a parent is dysregulated, the whole house knows. That truth redirected her work. Today Sam builds parenting plans that anticipate real life—jobs changing, new partners, sick days—and teaches clients to keep the case in one corner of the room so it doesn’t burn down the rest of their lives.

There’s hope threaded through every story. Sam calls it “diapers to diploma” planning: customized, practical, and designed to keep families out of court so parents can spend their time on connection, not conflict. Actionably, she urges listeners to front-load education, accept the co-parent in front of you, and calendar your legal tasks so you can be fully present with your kids. If you’re navigating a high-conflict divorce, wrestling with co-parenting, or rethinking your parenting plan, this episode offers clarity, compassion, and a map forward—proof that you are not your divorce, and that healing is a practice you can learn.

Learn more about Sam here!

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The end of a marriage is never just paperwork—it’s an unraveling of identity, home, and history. In this deeply candid episode, we sit down with Kate Anthony, renowned divorce coach and host of The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast, to talk about what it really means to move through divorce with clarity and courage. Kate has spent over a decade guiding thousands of women through one of life’s most painful transitions, bridging the gap between therapy and legal strategy. Her wisdom comes not only from professional expertise but also from her lived experience of divorce, making her voice both practical and profoundly empathetic.

Kate reminds us that divorce isn’t just about separating finances or signing documents—it’s also about emotional separation. She shares hard-won lessons from her own journey and those of her clients: the importance of boundaries, the pitfalls of trying to “stay best friends” with your ex too soon, and the reality that children need clarity more than they need their parents to pretend everything is fine. Through powerful anecdotes, Kate illustrates how parallel parenting can evolve into healthier co-parenting, but only after each person has taken the time to heal and individuate.

At its core, this conversation is about empowerment. Kate’s insights challenge the fear of being alone, offering listeners a reframing: what if being alone is not something to dread, but a chance to rediscover who you are? She shows us that divorce can be the ultimate boundary-setting act—the moment you decide you deserve more than survival, you deserve joy. Listeners will leave this episode not just with strategies for navigating divorce, but with a sense of hope that healing, growth, and even laughter are possible on the other side.

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