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Support Group for Divorced Parents

Divorced and single parents are creating new family forms.
The stress of the separation and conflicts with an ex challenge one's sense of identity.
Learning to talk and plan with an ex-partner is confusing, at best,
And then there is the task of finding energy and attention for work and a personal life!
Learn from talking with other parents who are challenged by the same issues.

Children of divorce say these things:

  • "Don't use me as a bullet."
  • "Be honest with me."
  • "Don't give me everything I ask for."
  • "Help me to talk, even though I'm quiet or say I don't want to."
  • "Tell me you love me."

This support group meets monthly in Brookline and is designed for parents with primary/physical custody. Men and women who have children through elementary school years will find help and support as they struggle to learn the new language of divorce and co-parenting. And, they will find new ideas about how to get on with their personal life in a full way.


Groups for Adult Children of Divorce

Divorce forces children to confront a web of complex relationships that kids from intact families do not have to face. Life is not necessarily more troubled but certainly more complex.

The impact of divorce is both positive or negative for children. Children might learn to see divorce as positive if it helped parents go on to a better lives.

Many young adults who are children of divorce have serious/troubling questions as they attempt commitment in relationships. Studies of divorce suggest that children who look good at the time of the divorce may be vulnerable to relationship anxiety as young adults. If children (especially young girls) have not dealt with their own feelings and grief at the time of their parent's divorce, they may have difficulty forming committed relationships as adults. Symptoms often include anxiety and panic. Thoughts and feelings unexplored at the time of their parents' divorce surface as most kids of divorce have not had a chance to talk about what the divorce was like for them.

Coming to terms with parental separation and divorce means thinking and talking about things in new ways. There is often unresolved grief. Often no one has asked the child, "What's this like for you." These short-term groups with other adults who have experienced parental divorce as children or teenagers give an opportunity to talk. Group members usually discuss:

  • getting in touch with and validating one's own feelings about the divorce;
  • regaining a sense of competence about childhood experiences by finding and sharing words for powerful feelings;
  • understanding care-taking roles often assumed by children and teens;
  • finding new ways to understand what to look for in commitment adult relationships;
  • exploring possible connections between divorce, anxiety, depression and eating disorders;
  • developing useful adult behavioral and emotional boundaries with parents and step-parents;
  • possible reconnection with an estranged parent.
 
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