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Support System: How to Tell Your Loved Ones that You Are Getting a Divorce
When it comes to strong, personal emotions, how we feel inside and other people’s expectations for how we should feel inside don’t usually match up. The relationship you experience and the one that friends and family see at gatherings and other events can often lead...

Mother’s Day Reflections: 7 Lessons I Learned from My Daughter
By Terry Gaspard, MSW, LICSW Mother’s Day is a perfect time to reflect on how my divorce changed my relationship with my daughter. When I was a young teenager, I used to make lists of the things that I would teach a daughter – if I was lucky enough to have one. Since...

5 Things You Don’t Understand About Divorce Until You’ve Lived Through It
By Lisa Arends I thought I knew about divorce. When I was in elementary school, I weathered my own parents’ divorce, observing their reactions from the sidelines. I felt the loss, the change in family structure. I experienced the strange vacancies of a split – the...

How Do I Know If Collaborative Divorce Is a Good Option?
Have you been considering divorce and afraid how it can affect your children and finances? You may have been considering a more customized and respectful alternative to traditional adversarial divorce - which is collaborative divorce. Well, there is no denying that...

How are Your Boundaries in the Pandemic?
Maintaining boundaries is challenging for most of us. But the pandemic has made it even more difficult. People have been quarantined with a partner, housemate, or family for nearly a year. Normally, we could at least create physical boundaries by going to work, the...

Divorce and Estrangement: An Interview with Joshua Coleman, PhD
By Terry Gaspard, MSW, LICSW An interview of Joshua Coleman Ph.D., by Terry Gaspard, MSW, LICSW on February 5, 2015 Joshua Coleman, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized expert in parenting, couples, families, and relationships. His advice has been featured in the...

Unpacking Emotional Intimacy
By Terry Gaspard, MSW, LICSW One of the keys to long-term happiness in any relationship is emotional intimacy. After the “honeymoon phase” for a new couple wears off, the emotional bonds that hold partners together become a sustaining force beyond their physical...

7 Signs Your Relationship is Healthy
By Terry Gaspard, MSW, LICSW I have often heard it said that the best partner will compliment you and bring out your finer qualities. When you are with him or her, you will begin to see untapped possibilities within yourself and in the world. However, in any...

Why It’s Hard to Receive Love and How to Overcome Shame
Often many people, in particular codependents, find it hard to receive. Codependents are more comfortable giving or even self-sacrificing than receiving. Yet they wonder why they’re in relationships with “selfish” or narcissistic partners. They might fantasize...

3 Ways to Destress When Going Through a Divorce
Divorce is, perhaps, one of the most difficult things you can go through in life. It's a harbinger of enormous change for you and your family. For many, it’s also fraught with hurt, anger, and sadness. As such, divorce can be an extremely stressful experience. Studies...