Divorce Coaches Academy

“You have to love your children more than you hate your ex.” It’s a familiar phrase, but what does it offer a parent who believes the fight with their co-parent is for their child?
In this solo episode, Tracy Callahan explores how blame can become a lens through which every missed message, changed plan, or difficult exchange seems to confirm the worst about the other parent. For divorce coaches and ADR professionals, the challenge is to interrupt that cycle without dismissing a client’s history, minimizing a genuine concern, or asking them to give up an appropriate legal remedy.
Through practical examples, Tracy discusses how to help clients separate facts from assumptions, identify the decision in front of them, and respond with their child’s needs in view. The goal is not forgiveness or forced cooperation. It is helping a parent make the next decision with more than anger in the room.
To learn more about the work of divorce coaching and how Divorce Coaches Academy® prepares professionals to support clients through conflict, visit divorcecoachesacademy.com

Should parents stay together for the kids, or are we asking the wrong question?
In this episode, Tracy Callahan explores what children need when a marriage is struggling. Drawing on comments from Real Housewives of New York City star Sai de Silva and a Census Bureau working paper examining children’s long-term outcomes after divorce, Tracy considers the financial, emotional, and practical consequences of family change—and why population averages cannot determine what one family should do.
The conversation examines how financial strain, relocation, parental distance, and ongoing conflict can shape children’s experiences. It also explores how divorce coaches can help parents anticipate challenges, prepare for difficult decisions, and protect children from becoming caught in adult conflict.
Whether parents remain married or separate, the central question is: What will they do to create a safer, steadier, and more supportive environment for their children?

Interested in learning more about the professional practice of divorce coaching and helping clients navigate these complex questions? Explore Divorce Coaches Academy® and discover how our training can help you support clients through conflict, decision-making, and family change.

In this episode, Tracy Callahan explores the growing use of AI in divorce and co-parenting communication and asks an important question: Are we simply improving the communication, or are we developing the communicator? AI can help clients draft better responses, reduce escalation and think through difficult interactions, but it can also become a substitute for developing the skills needed to navigate conflict independently. Tracy examines what this means for divorce coaches and how AI can be used to support—not replace—the development of conflict competency, decision-making and client capacity.

Takeaways
AI as a communication tool
Developing conflict competency

Chapters
00:00 The Role of AI in Communication
03:23 Bandage vs. Treatment
10:45 Communication and Conflict Management
19:37 The Value of Divorce Coaching
25:06 AI as a Tool for Conflict Competency
31:51 Developing Capacity for Conflict Navigation

Learn more about Divorce Coaches Academy®, explore professional training programs, and discover resources for advancing your divorce coaching practice at https://divorcecoachesacademy.com.

In this episode, Tracy Callahan explores the growing use of AI in divorce and co-parenting communication and asks an important question: Are we simply improving the communication, or are we developing the communicator? AI can help clients draft better responses, reduce escalation and think through difficult interactions, but it can also become a substitute for developing the skills needed to navigate conflict independently. Tracy examines what this means for divorce coaches and how AI can be used to support—not replace—the development of conflict competency, decision-making and client capacity.

Takeaways
AI as a communication tool
Developing conflict competency

Chapters
00:00 The Role of AI in Communication
03:23 Bandage vs. Treatment
10:45 Communication and Conflict Management
19:37 The Value of Divorce Coaching
25:06 AI as a Tool for Conflict Competency
31:51 Developing Capacity for Conflict Navigation

Knowing what you want before divorce mediation may sound like good preparation. But when a client enters mediation committed to one specific outcome, with no ability to explore alternatives, that certainty can make negotiation more difficult.

In this episode of the Divorce Coaches Academy® Podcast, Tracy Callahan explores “the proposal problem” and why being ready to attend mediation is not the same as being ready to negotiate. Effective mediation preparation requires more than identifying and defending a preferred outcome. Clients must also understand why that outcome matters, what problem they are trying to solve, where flexibility may exist, what information is missing, and whether other possibilities could address the same priorities.

Tracy explains how divorce, uncertainty, financial concerns, parenting decisions, and prolonged conflict can narrow a person’s thinking. A house, parenting schedule, support amount, or retirement asset can become the individual “tree” that prevents someone from seeing the larger landscape. By exploring the proposal behind the proposal, clients can better understand the needs, fears, values, and interests influencing their decisions.
This episode also examines the specialized role of a pre-mediation divorce coach. Divorce coaches do not provide legal advice, evaluate settlement offers, recommend what clients should propose, or tell them what to accept. Instead, they help clients build conflict competency, ask better questions, recognize reactions, clarify priorities, consider possibilities, and identify when guidance is needed from an attorney, mediator, CPA, CDFA, or other professional.

You will learn:
• Why knowing what you want is not enough for effective divorce mediation
• The difference between positions, interests, proposals, and possibilities
• How to identify the problem behind a preferred outcome
• Why understanding the other person’s interests does not mean agreeing with them
• How pre-mediation divorce coaching supports informed decision making
• Why scope of practice and professional role clarity matter
• How better preparation can improve the work of attorneys, mediators, and financial professionals

The next Pre-Mediation Divorce Coach Training at Divorce Coaches Academy® begins September 16. This six-week specialized program is open to certified divorce coaches and mediators who want to help clients prepare more effectively for negotiation, decision making, and participation in mediation.

Learn more about the Pre-Mediation Divorce Coach Training with Divorce Coaches Academy® at: https://divorce-coaches-academy1.thinkific.com/courses/dca-pre-mediation-divorce-coach-training-intensive-sept-2026
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