Divorce Coaches Academy

For years, Collaborative Practice has recognized the value of a dedicated divorce coaching role on the interdisciplinary team, but eligibility was largely limited to professionals licensed with a mental health background. Professionally trained divorce coaches were trusted by collaborative lawyers and supported families through the process every day, yet they couldn’t formally take a seat at the table.
In this episode, Tracy Callahan welcomes Dori Braddell, The Divorce Mentor and Director of Education and Development for Canada with Divorce Coaches Academy®, who recently became a Registered Collaborative Professional (Divorce Coach) in Edmonton. Dori is the first coach to enter Collaborative Practice through a new eligibility pathway that recognizes specialized divorce coaching education, including training through DCA®.
Dori shares what it was like to be “the unicorn in the room” as one of only four non-lawyers in her training cohorts, how the Edmonton Collaborative Practice board came to revise its eligibility requirements, and why divorce coaching and Collaborative Practice are natural partners.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
What it looked like to support Collaborative Divorce clients from behind the scenes, without formal recognition
Why the divorce coaching role was historically tied to a mental health background, and how divorce coaching differs from therapy
How Edmonton’s year-long process opened a new pathway without lowering standards
What Dori observed as lawyers practiced interest-based negotiation and conflict-reducing communication
The specific value a professionally trained divorce coach brings to an interdisciplinary team
How professionally trained coaches can begin building relationships with collaborative communities in their own area
About Dori Braddell
Dori Braddell is a full-time professional divorce coach, known as The Divorce Mentor, and a Director of Education and Development for Canada with Divorce Coaches Academy®. She holds six professional divorce coaching credentials and educates and mentors divorce coaches across Canada. She is now a Registered Collaborative Professional (Divorce Coach) in Edmonton, Alberta.
Connect with Dori:
https://www.thedivorcementor.ca/about-me
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dori-braddell
Read Dori’s article: The Unicorn in the Room: A New Seat at the Collaborative Divorce Table  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unicorn-room-new-seat-collaborative-divorce-table-dori-braddell-vd5uc/
Ready to build the skills behind this pathway?
The next ADRDC (ADR Divorce Coach) certification cohort with Divorce Coaches Academy® begins January 10, 2027. Learn more at https://www.divorcecoachesacademy.com/divorcecoach
If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague in Collaborative Practice.

Conflict Resolution Week usually spotlights processes: mediation, negotiation, collaborative practice. But every process depends on the people in it. In this episode, Tracy Callahan, MA, ADRDC, founder of Divorce Coaches Academy®, celebrates the professionals who work with the individual inside the dispute: divorce coaches.
In this episode:
Why divorce coaching is conflict resolution work, not “just emotional support”
How coaches help clients recognize, regulate, and engage conflict
Why coaching strengthens the work of attorneys and mediators
Four signals that it’s time to refer a client to a divorce coach, and when coaching isn’t the right fit
Stop, Drop, and Roll: a simple approach for interrupting conflict patterns in divorce and co-parenting
A thank-you to the divorce coaches doing work no court record ever shows
Cases close. The skills stay.
Learn more about the ADR Divorce Coach (ADRDC) certification at Divorce Coaches Academy
Find an ADR trained Divorce Coach for you or your clients

A disagreement about pickup times, schedule changes, or activities can become a position a parent defends for years. What can divorce coaches do earlier to help parents navigate those moments more thoughtfully?
In this episode, Tracy Callahan draws on her work in divorce coaching and parenting coordination to explore how unresolved concerns become entrenched positions—and how coaches can help clients examine what those positions protect, what they cost, and whether they still serve the parent and child.
Through practical examples and coaching questions, Tracy discusses how to help parents distinguish facts from interpretations, evaluate requests, practice clearer communication, and maintain effective boundaries. She also explores how to keep children’s needs visible without making them responsible for adult disagreements.
This is central to the work of ADR divorce coaching: supporting clients in navigating current conflict while preparing them for the difficult conversations and decisions ahead. By helping clients understand their concerns, examine their assumptions, and practice useful skills, coaches support more thoughtful participation in the divorce process and the parenting relationship that continues afterward.
Continue the learning
Our new six-week live course, Coaching Parents Through Conflict: Reducing Escalation, Strengthening Parenting Plans, and Keeping Children at the Center, brings this work into practice through case examples, discussion, and applied exercises. Designed for divorce coaches and related family dispute resolution professionals, the course explores escalation patterns, parenting triggers, entrenched positions, communication, boundaries, and parenting-plan details that can become recurring sources of conflict.
Classes meet live online on Mondays, November 9–December 14, 2026, from 1:00–2:30 p.m. Eastern, for nine instructional hours. This is professional development and does not confer certification or an additional credential.
Register before October 26 and use code GROW to receive $100 off.
Visit DivorceCoachesAcademy.com to learn more about the course and our work preparing divorce coaches to support clients in navigating conflict with greater clarity, skill, and purpose.

Knowing you need to handle conflict differently doesn’t always mean knowing how.
In this episode of the Divorce Coaches Academy® podcast, Tracy Callahan explores how divorce coaches help clients develop practical skills for navigating conflict, from pausing before responding and examining assumptions to making clear requests and evaluating difficult decisions.
Through relatable examples and thoughtful coaching questions, Tracy examines how professionals can help clients apply these skills when emotions run high, decisions need to be made, and participate more deliberately in the divorce process.
At Divorce Coaches Academy® (DCA®), skill development is central to our approach to professional divorce coaching grounded in dispute resolution. This episode brings that approach into practice, with insights for divorce coaches and ADR professionals who want to help clients build capacity they can carry into their next challenging interaction.
Learn more about DCA® and our professional training programs at https://www.divorcecoachesacademy.com

What does it really take to build a divorce coaching practice, before the referrals are consistent, the calendar is full, or the results fully reflect the effort?
In this episode, Tracy Callahan speaks with DCA® Certified ADR Divorce Coach Karen Yurack, founder of White Oak Divorce Coaching. Karen launched her North Carolina-based practice after more than 19 years as a family law paralegal, bringing together decades of professional experience, her personal understanding of divorce and blended-family life, and a commitment to providing the support she often saw missing from the legal process.
Karen shares an honest, behind-the-scenes look at building a practice from the ground up: networking, creating meaningful professional relationships, becoming visible, explaining the value of divorce coaching, moving beyond her comfort zone, and continuing through the quieter periods when effort and results do not yet match.
The conversation was inspired, in part, by Dr. Vivienne Ming’s idea of being a “fanatic”—someone so deeply connected to the purpose of their work that they continue pursuing it because the work itself matters. Tracy was introduced to this idea through Conversations That Contribute, organized by DCA® mentor Carolyn Jacobs in support of Kids in Conflict.
Together, Tracy and Karen explore what sustains a new entrepreneur, how to recognize progress beyond immediate revenue, and why building a successful practice requires persistence, adaptability, professional community, and a strong connection to the reason the work matters.
This episode offers realistic expectations and meaningful encouragement for newly certified divorce coaches, established professionals growing their practices, and anyone considering the leap into entrepreneurship.
Connect with Karen Yurack and White Oak Divorce Coaching:
Website: https://whiteoakdivorcecoaching.com
Email: whiteoakcoaching@gmail.com

Learn more about Divorce Coaches Academy®: www.divorcecoachesacademy.com
Learn more about Conversations that Contribute: https://www.keepslowing.com/events