Hand drawn illustration of two flowers and a butterfly

Finding your way through Separation and Divorce

Support through the emotional and practical realities of separation and divorce, whether you are grieving what has ended, finding your feet in a changed family life, or working out how to parent well across two homes.

When a relationship ends, the sense of loss can extend far beyond the relationship itself. And when children are involved, you’re trying to navigate all of this while helping them feel safe and secure too.

One to One Separation Support

Your home, routines, identity, family relationships and sense of the future may all be changing at once.

Even when separation is necessary or you know it is the right decision, you may still be grieving the life you had and the future you imagined. And when children are involved, you’re trying to navigate all of this while helping them feel safe and secure too.

Support can be offered individually or, where appropriate, with both parents involved

In my experience, many parents prefer to attend separately, particularly when communication is difficult or emotions are still raw. This gives us space to focus on what you need now, what you would like to be happening that is not happening, and what may help you begin moving towards that.

Separation Support Services

  • Therapy During Separation or Divorce

    Parents are often told to “put the children first.” But that phrase can overlook just how much is being asked of you.

    At the very time your children may need your steadiness and reassurance most, your own emotional resources may be running close to empty. You may be trying to manage hurt, loss, uncertainty or conflict while also being expected to remain calm, thoughtful and emotionally available to them.

    That is a lot to hold. This is where support for you matters too. When you have somewhere to make sense of what you are feeling, understand what is being stirred up for you, and find a steadier way through, it becomes easier to offer your child the safety and reassurance they need.

    Supporting the child often begins with supporting the parent, and you do not have to work all of that out on your own.

    What We Can Work Through Together

    You

    • Where you are now, where you would like to be, and what might help you begin moving towards that

    • Having space to explore what this separation has been like for you, without pressure to have it all worked out

    • Understanding why certain situations affect you so strongly and what may be getting stirred up for you

    • The loss of the relationship, the family life you knew, and the future you thought would unfold

    • Finding a steadier way through when your own emotional resources feel stretched or depleted

    Parenting Separately

    • Understanding that while the couple relationship has ended, a new relationship now has to be built as parents who are parenting separately

    • Learning how to stop the old couple relationship — and the hurt, conflict or patterns within it — from continuing to shape the new parenting relationship

    • Developing new boundaries, expectations and ways of communicating that fit this different relationship

    • Understanding what happens when trust has broken down and communication becomes difficult or highly charged

    • Finding ways to reduce conflict and keep the focus on what your child needs

    Your Child and Your Changing Family

    • Helping your child feel safer without asking them to choose sides or carry adult difficulties

    • Understanding what your child may be experiencing as family life changes

    • Finding a new way to be a family — not the one you once imagined, but one in which everyone can begin to find their place again

  • Parenting After Separation & Divorce

    A six-week, one-to-one programme to help you parent through family change.

    The programme offers practical guidance alongside space to reflect on the parent you want to be during separation.

    Across six weekly one-hour sessions, we explore:

    • What children need when family life changes

    • Helping children feel safe without asking them to take sides

    • Reducing their exposure to adult conflict

    • Managing your own triggers and reactions

    • Communicating with the other parent more safely

    • Boundaries, co-regulation and repair

    • Responding when your child moves between two homes

    • Creating a practical, child-centred parenting plan

    You may not be able to change what has happened, but you can help shape what your child carries forward from it. Creating a clear, boundary-based communication system can protect both parents from hurtful exchanges, reduce conflict, and keep the focus on what your child needs.

    The programme may also be suitable where parenting education or support has been recommended during Irish family law proceedings.

  • Parenting Plans

    Not every separated family can co-parent closely. Sometimes a more structured arrangement, with clear boundaries and less direct contact, creates greater calm for everyone.

    I can help you develop a parenting plan suited to your family, whether you are working towards cooperative co-parenting or a parallel-parenting approach.

    A plan may include:

    • When children spend time with each parent

    • Arrangements for school days, holidays and special occasions

    • How decisions about education and healthcare will be approached

    • Clear, boundaried methods of communication

    • Managing handovers and changes to arrangements

    • Reducing opportunities for misunderstanding and conflict

    This support may also be helpful if you have been asked to prepare a parenting plan as part of family law proceedings. It is therapeutic and educational support and does not replace independent legal advice.

    You do not have to repair the relationship between you to make family life feel safer for your child.

  • Support for Teens After Divorce

    When parents separate, teenagers can find themselves caught up in changes they did not choose, struggling with divided loyalties, or carrying worries that were never meant to be theirs.

    This is a safe space just for you, somewhere you can talk openly about what is happening and how it feels for you, without having to worry about upsetting either parent, protecting them, or taking care of how they feel.

    What We Can Make Sense of Together

    • Feeling caught between your parents, or unsure where your loyalties lie

    • Wanting to talk honestly about one parent without feeling disloyal to the other

    • Being asked to carry messages, information or worries that do not belong to you

    • Adjusting to two homes and to the changes in what “home” now means

    • Wanting to feel heard and to have a say in the things that directly affect your life

    • Finding words for the hurt, disappointment or sense of being let down that you may be carrying

    • Making sense of feelings that may be difficult to explain or say out loud

    • Finding your place when a parent begins a new relationship or family life changes again

    You do not have to make sense of all of this on your own.