Divorce Is a Mental Health Event. Let’s Treat It Like One

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

My divorce nearly wrecked me.  The agony of betrayal, the fear for my family, the uncertainty of my future, the overwhelm of….well….everything.  It’s a time that I often describe as temporary insanity but it was the impetus for my work today as a divorce coach.

As a licensed therapist who felt absolutely crazy during my divorce experience, I feel the need to bring up divorce during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Divorce Is a Mental Health Event. Let’s Treat It Like One.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and divorce deserves to be part of that conversation

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and divorce is one of the most significant mental health events of a person’s life. It is a genuine psychological and emotional transition that can shake your identity, your nervous system, and your sense of what the future holds. It affects every aspect of your life.

 Research ranks divorce as the second most stressful life event a person can experience.  The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory Social Readjustment Scale placed divorce (#2) between death of a spouse (#1) and marital separation from partner (#3) making these the top three major stressful life transitions a person can experience. 

Whether you’re still weighing the decision, deep in the process, or rebuilding on the other side, the emotional weight of this is real.  It takes more than willpower or “white knuckles” to get through it.

Every Stage Has Its Own Weight

If you’re still contemplating divorce and asking yourself whether to stay or go, the mental and emotional load can be enormous.  It might also be invisible to the people around you. Chronic stress, anxiety, disrupted sleep, and a constant low hum of dread are common at this stage. You may not feel “entitled” to struggle yet, because nothing has officially happened. But your mental health is already affected. That deserves attention.

If you’re in the middle of an active divorce, you already know the tsunami of emotions. Life can feel chaotic. Grief. Anxiety. Depression. Identity Disruption. These are recognized psychological responses to major transitions and signs that something significant is happening in your life. You may not be sleeping. You may be sleeping too much. You may have changes in your appetite. Your focus is off. Your nervous system is constantly on high alert. Your mind and body are responding exactly as they’re designed to when life reorganizes this dramatically.

If your divorce papers have been signed and you’re on the other side of your marriage, you may be surprised that it still feels hard. Research consistently shows that the emotional recovery from divorce outlasts the legal process often significantly. Rebuilding your identity, your routines, and your sense of what comes next is its own psychological work. The support you needed during the divorce doesn’t stop just because you are no longer married.

What Getting Support Actually Looks Like

A divorce coach does two things at once:  I help you process what is hard right now (the grief, the anger, the disorientation) and I help you figure out what comes next. When emotions are high and decisions feel impossible, that combination matters. It is the difference between surviving this transition and actually moving through it.  I guide you through the “temporary insanity” so you can create your future with focused intentionality.

You must:

• Go through it.
• To get through.
• To grow through it.
• To Blossom

A divorce coach guides you through.

Wherever You Are, I will meet you there

This May, during Mental Health Awareness Month, I  want you to remember: what you are going through is a mental health experience and it is hard stuff. Divorce is a real, significant event that your mind and heart are working overtime to process. You are allowed to treat it that way and get the support you deserve.

Divorce is not a chapter you just endure. It is a transition you can actually move through with clarity, with support, and with more of yourself intact than you might believe right now.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s find the support that fits where you are and begin together.