Single Mother Survival Guide

In this episode, I talk about habits and how we can develop healthy habits that will support us in achieving our goals. Understanding how to build new habits is essential for making progress. And the first step is to start with your 'why.' Why do you want to reach your goal? As you set your goals for this new year, make a solid plan so they become a reality. You can then start creating new habits that align with your goals and that will help support you in reaching your goals.

I hope this episode helps you think of the new year as a fresh start. A new year is a unique opportunity. In this episode, I share a list of things to help you create new habits to achieve your goals this year. What you focus on becomes your reality. May you all live your life with intentions that will help you get closer to your goals.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this week's episode, I have my new husband Greg joining me! Get ready for laughter and cringe moments as Greg and I recall our highs and lows of 2022. And lastly, we want to share our wedding story with you!

What a whirlwind of a year it has been. We are happy to end 2022 on a high note, and we look forward to more memories and experiences for next year. Thank you for being part of my journey and for allowing me to be a part of yours.

From our family to yours, have a wonderful season of celebrations!

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This week on the show, I have the legendary Bill Eddy joining me.

Bill Eddy is a lawyer, therapist, mediator, and co-founder of the High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and is the world's leading expert on methods for managing disputes involving people with high-conflict personalities. He provides training on this subject to lawyers, judges, mediators, managers, human resource professionals, businesspersons, healthcare administrators, college administrators, homeowners' association managers, ombudspersons, law enforcement, therapists, and others. He has worked as the senior family mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center, a certified family law specialist representing clients in family court, and a licensed clinical social worker therapist. In 2021, he received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Academy of Professional Mediators.

Bill serves on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law, and is a conjoint associate professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia. He has delivered talks and training to lawyers, judges, and mediators in over 30 U.S. states and 13 countries, and has authored or co-authored 20 books. His popular blog on the Psychology Today website has more than 5 million views. He regularly consults on issues of alienation, family violence, and false allegations in family court cases.

In addition, Bill is the developer of the New Ways for Families® method of managing potentially high-conflict families in and out of family court.

In this episode we talk about:

• What a high-conflict person is.
• The four characteristics of a high-conflict person.
• Why trying to change a high-conflict person doesn't work and what to do instead.
• The difference between high-conflict people and personality disorders.
• The characteristics of people with a personality disorder.
• What NOT to do when engaging with high-conflict people.
• Narcissistic personality disorders as one of the most common types of high-conflict personality.
• Some of the books he wrote relevant to single mums, in particular, are –
  • 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life
  • SPLITTING: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (co-author Randi Kreger)
  • BIFF for CoParent Communication: Your Guide to Difficult Texts, Emails, and Social Media Posts
  • BIFF: Quick Responses to High Conflict People, Their Personal Attacks, Hostile Email, and Social Media Meltdowns
  • Don't Alienate the Kids!: Raising Resilient Children While Avoiding High-Conflict Divorce
• Bill's New Ways for Families method to help manage high-conflict families in and out of family court.

Links mentioned in the episode:

You can connect with Bill on his Website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or his YouTube channel.

You can also check out his Podcast, It's All Your Fault HERE.

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Today I give the single mums out there a bit of a pep talk. The holiday season can bring so much stress and overwhelm to many single mums. Being a single mum during the holidays can be lonely, but it doesn't mean you cannot be happy. There are still so many things to be grateful for.

I hope this episode helps you make your single-parent holiday season an awesome, incredible time with your kids. Holidays are some of the hardest times for a single parent, but with positivity and creativity, you can make it fun and develop new holiday traditions with your kids. You can do this!

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Today I talk about developing new traditions when it comes to dealing with holiday seasons as a single parent. I hope the ideas I share with you create meaningful and new memorable Christmas traditions. Every major life event, whether joyful or sad, brings on a period of transition as we adjust to the "new normal," and it turns out that celebrating Christmas as a single parent can be just as good, or often (and especially over time), even better!

I hope this episode is insightful for you and provides you with hope. Give yourself a pat on the back, there is no better gift you can give to yourself knowing that you are thriving after dealing with adversity.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this ep, I chat about five different parent-child contact problems one might face. For example, in a recent podcast, I discussed a polarizing topic about parental alienation. Some believe in it and some don't. Here, I spend a bit of time discussing this more to bring greater awareness and understanding of this topic.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Parental alienation
• Estrangement
• Child empowerment
• Gatekeeping
• Parentification

These five parent-child contact problems are things to be mindful of, so you are able to maintain positive parent-child relationships.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This week on the show, I have Susan Shofer joining me.

Susan Shofer is a two-decade agency-licensed private investigator with over 1,100 testifying hours. Ten years ago, while working as a private investigator, Susan became a certified divorce coach. Her area of expertise is high-conflict divorce with a specialty in parental alienation. Susan is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group, comprised of the most prominent mental health clinicians and legal professionals in the parental alienation space. She is also the Director of the Baltimore /Annapolis/ DC/ Northern Virginia NADP (National Association of Divorce Professionals).

Susan's passion and mission are to help people navigate through their high-conflict divorce using specific strategies unique to their cases. Her specialty is teaching targeted parents how to approach parental alienation with a true understanding of why it happens, how it must be litigated in court, and ways to effectively communicate with alienated children.

In this episode we talked about:

• What parental alienation is and why it's the worst part of a high-conflict divorce.
• What parental alienation is NOT.
• How a parent may orchestrate parental alienation.
• The impact of parental alienation on the targeted parent and the children.
• How alienating parents are linked to often having personality disorders.
• Why the alienator alienates their child from their other parent.
• How parental alienation as a form of child abuse and domestic violence.
• How parental alienation can affect children.
• Susan's TedX talk experience and how it came about.
• How parental alienation can happen pre, during, and post-divorce or separation.
• How to move past parental alienation.
• How parents who are alienated are often seen as the ones who may have done something wrong, rather than being victims.
• And so much more!

This is a topic that is close to my heart. it is so important and so tragic. I hope it helps you if you are suffering from going through this.

Links mentioned in the episode:

If you want to get in touch with Susan, you may email her at [email protected].

Check out Susan's website HERE.

You can connect with Susan on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, or her YouTube channel.

You can watch Susan's TedX talk HERE.

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This week on the show, I have Kurt Chacon joining me.

Kurt Chacon is a collaborative lawyer and certified divorce coach based in Dallas, Texas.

As both a child of divorce and a parent of divorce, Kurt has seen divorce from every possible angle. This perspective is why his goal is always to mitigate the effects of divorce on children. He is a member of both the Collaborative Law and Family Law Sections of the State Bar of Texas. He is also a member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas (CLI-TX), Collaborative Divorce Denton County, and Collaborative Divorce Texas

In this episode we talked about:

• Growing up as an only child with divorced parents.
• How he got involved with collaborative divorce, as someone who went through it firsthand.
• Going through his own divorce and having the need to be supported by a collaborative lawyer.
• The effects of divorce on children.
• What a collaborative divorce is and what the collaborative process looks like.
• Children's perspective on divorce.
• Situations where collaborative divorce is not recommended.
• The difference between the collaborative process and cooperative law.
• The general timeline in a collaborative divorce process.

Personally, I believe a collaborative divorce is a fantastic option if it's possible in your situation, and I hope this episode helps you learn more about what it is, and if it's a good fit for you.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Contact Kurt by emailing him at [email protected]

You can also connect with him on Facebook.

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In today's episode, I share the seven mindset skills that are really important for kids under 10 to learn. While teaching children how to spell or solve math problems is essential, it is just as important to teach them life skills.

Many kids these days are not equipped with knowing how to handle things like dealing with conflict and managing their emotions. Little life events can also cause life trauma.

Having a positive mindset is developed through the experiences that happen in our kids' lives and how they interpret them. As parents, it starts with us being role models to our children. Let's teach them these mindset skills to give them a great foundation for life.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This week on the show, I have Mary Ann Hughes joining me.

Mary Ann Hughes is the proud mom of two boys on the autism spectrum who successfully advocated for her sons' needs during her complex divorce, and then became a Special Needs Divorce Coach founding Special Family Transitions to help families navigate the overwhelm and complexities of special needs divorce.

Combining her experience and certifications as a Certified Divorce Coach, Certified Divorce Transition and Recovery Coach, Certified Divorce Specialist, Certified Life Coach, member of The National Association of Divorce Professionals, MBA, and years of special needs training and advocacy, Mary Ann is committed to helping guide families with loved ones with disabilities through divorce challenges and transitions.

In this episode we talked about:

• Mary Ann's divorce story and how it led her to become a divorce coach for mums with special needs kids.
• How she started her company Special Family Transitions.
• Life before her divorce and her first concerns navigating becoming a single mum caring for two kids with special needs.
• How to advocate for and support kids with special needs during and after divorce.
• Co-Parenting and communication with her ex-partner.
• Additional considerations to think about when divorcing as a mum with special needs children (such as prolonged child support, government benefits, planning for life insurance and wills, etc).
• Daily routines caring for children with special needs.
• How to survive a special needs divorce, and thrive afterward.
• The RISE framework she uses in her online course that helps mums who have special needs kids through divorce.
• And so much more!

I loved having Mary Ann on the show and sharing all she does. I hope you enjoy this and find this episode a useful resource.

Contact Mary Ann by emailing her at [email protected].

Find out more about Mary Ann and what she does at https://www.specialfamilytransitions.com/.

Use the discount code JULIA to get 25% off her online course for Keys to Success in Divorce for Moms of Children with Special Needs. Sign up here.

You can also connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist HERE.

Download the E-book – Thirteen single mothers share their struggles, top tips, and their favourite things about being a single mother – HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide. And join the email list there too.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.