Children of High Conflict Divorce ages 9-25: Getting a divorce is never easy, and navigating a divorce with kids makes things even harder. No matter the degree of animosity present when you first agreed to separate, divorce very rarely occurs without some indication that it is having an impact on your kids. Sometimes that looks like kids acting out at home or at school, getting into fights or throwing tantrums. Sometimes it looks like lack of concentration, "zoning out," and drop in school grades. Kids can withdraw and isolate, or escape by avoiding going home. Kids can appear to take sides with one parent over the other. To be clear, I am not a co-parenting counselor and I do not do custody evaluations. I specialize in working to support your child through this difficult time, and I work separately and conjointly with parents to help make adjustments and changes to improve your relationship with your child as well as help improve the life of your child.
What I have often found in my work with youth whose parents are going through a difficult divorce is that your kids know more than you think, and they are often acutely sensitive and aware of their parents' emotions. Working with your youth means I will give them a safe space to talk about things that might be hard to say in front of one or both parents. I will help your child learn how to better express their feelings and teach coping skills to help them better regulate their emotions. I will also work with you, the parent(s), individually and with your kids to help you see the world from their perspective - therefore helping you become more successful in building a healthy and meaningful relationship with your child.