Surviving High-Conflict Divorce: Legal Abuse, Smear Campaigns, and Finding Hope
High-conflict divorce is not just a difficult breakup—it’s an entirely different experience that can drain finances, erode mental health, and deeply affect children. In a recent episode of Bent Not Broken, I spoke with Lisa Johnson, co-founder of Been There, Got Out, to unpack what truly makes a divorce “high conflict” and how people can survive it with clarity and strength.
Reclaiming Your Voice After a Toxic Relationship: Why It’s Never Too Late
One of the most painful realizations that can surface after a long-term toxic relationship is this: you didn’t just lose the relationship—you lost your voice.
From Financial Fog to Financial Confidence After Divorce
Divorce doesn’t just change your relationship status—it often disrupts your sense of security, confidence, and identity. For many women, finances become one of the most overwhelming and avoided parts of life after divorce. Not because they don’t care, but because money is tangled with fear, grief, and survival mode.
When Your Gut Knows Before You Do: A Veteran’s Story of Divorce and Authentic Living
In a powerful episode of Bent Not Broken, I sat down with Chris Cushing, a US Air Force veteran and founder of VA Victory, to talk about something many people quietly experience but rarely admit: knowing something isn’t right—and moving forward anyway.
From Betrayal to Baby Steps: How Reinvention Happens After Divorce
Reinvention after divorce rarely looks dramatic. It doesn’t arrive with instant clarity, confidence, or certainty. More often, it begins quietly—in survival mode—when life as you knew it suddenly falls apart.
In a recent episode of Bent Not Broken: Life After Divorce, I sat down with Gail Showalter, whose story is a powerful reminder that rebuilding a life after betrayal doesn’t happen all at once. It happens one baby step at a time.
Self-Love, Sovereignty, and Starting Over: What We Learned from Jonathan Aslay
When most people think about self-love, they picture self-care routines, soothing rituals, or inspirational quotes. But in my recent conversation with Jonathan Aslay, one of America’s leading midlife self-love coaches, he reminded us that true self-love is something much deeper—and much harder. It is the courageous act of taking responsibility for your emotional life, examining your patterns, and reconnecting with the parts of yourself that have been buried by trauma, heartbreak, and identity loss.
When Love Erases You: Reclaiming Your Voice After Emotional Manipulation
Emotional abuse doesn’t always show up as bruises or yelling. Sometimes it arrives dressed as poetry, rose petals, and the promise of devotion. In my conversation with author, filmmaker, and survivor Nikki Allen, she shared a truth many women know intimately: the most damaging relationships are often the ones that feel like love at first… until they don’t.
Rebuilding After Divorce: How MaLinda Perry Turned Red Flags Into Renewal
Divorce is rarely just a legal ending—it’s an emotional unraveling, a loss of identity, and for many women, a journey back to themselves. In my conversation with MaLinda Perry, award-winning industry leader, Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, bestselling author, and founder of Happy Girls Don’t Do That, she opened up about her own deeply personal divorce story—one filled with ignored red flags, manipulation, and the slow erosion of self-worth.
Rebuilding Life After Divorce: How Strategy, Clarity, and CBT Help You Heal
Divorce doesn’t just end a relationship—it rewires your sense of self, your confidence, and your belief in what’s possible. In my recent conversation with Dr. Robin Buckley, executive coach, clinical psychologist, and author of Marriage Incorporated, we explored what it truly takes to rebuild your life after separation or emotional abuse. What she shared was powerful, practical, and deeply healing.
Gray Divorce After 50: Hidden Losses, Healing, and Reinvention
Gray divorce—divorce occurring after age 50—is one of the fastest-growing relationship trends of our time. In fact, as my guest Una Metz, LICSW, shared on the podcast, the rates of gray divorce have doubled for couples over 50 and tripled for those over 65. And she sees it firsthand: in just two days, two women in their seventies reached out for support.
From Numb to Alive: How Reclaiming Your Inner Voice Can Change Everything
Depression doesn’t always look like sadness. Sometimes it looks like numbness—moving through life without joy, without emotion, and without purpose. That’s how empowerment teacher David Allen Brown described his experience on the Bent Not Broken podcast, and his story offers a powerful roadmap for anyone navigating divorce recovery, emotional burnout, or identity loss.
Healing After Emotional Abuse: Why Small Decisions Feel So Hard (and How to Reclaim Yourself)
Leaving an emotionally abusive or toxic relationship is often described as the hardest step — but what many people don’t talk about is what happens after you leave.
Psychological Abuse Doesn’t Happen All at Once: Healing After Divorce and Gaslighting
Psychological abuse rarely announces itself.
There is no single explosive moment. No clear line where you suddenly realize, This is abuse. Instead, it happens quietly—chip by chip, moment by moment—until your sense of self slowly disappears.
In a recent Bent Not Broken bonus coaching episode, I reflected on my powerful and raw conversation with Kristen Crabtree, a certified divorce coach and creator of the Paramore Paradox. Kristen spent 22 years in a psychologically abusive marriage, and what she shared resonated deeply with so many listeners navigating divorce, emotional abuse, and gaslighting.
Listening to the Voice Within After Divorce and Trauma
Starting over after divorce—or after emotional abuse, heartbreak, or trauma—can leave you feeling disconnected from yourself. Many women describe this season as survival mode: making decisions out of necessity rather than clarity, doubting themselves, and questioning every step forward.
Your Diagnosis Is Not Your Destiny: How Trauma, Functional Seizures, and RTT Can Help You Rebuild Your Life After Divorce or Heartbreak
Most people talk about “starting over after divorce” as if it’s a neat, simple reset. But anyone who has lived through divorce, emotional abuse, gaslighting, or trauma knows the truth: starting over is messy, emotional, and deeply personal.
When “Fair” Means Losing Everything: Finding Strength After Divorce
One of the most painful truths about divorce is that words can suddenly change meaning.
Fair becomes punishment.
Love becomes leverage.
Connection becomes control.
This isn’t just about property. It’s about power — and the deep wound that forms when someone you once trusted chooses harm over humanity.
Acquired, Not Courted: Surviving a Covert Narcissist — A Conversation with Mia J. Hanks
In this week’s powerful episode of Bent Not Broken, I sat down with award-winning author Mia J. Hanks, whose memoir Bridemaid exposes the hidden and devastating reality of surviving nearly 30 years with a covert narcissist.
One sentence from her book has already struck a deep chord with so many listeners:
“I hadn’t been courted—I had been acquired.”
This wasn’t just a line on a page.
It was the truth she had been living for decades.
Help Me Understand What It’s Like to Be You: The Question Every Parent Should Ask
Middle school can be a confusing and often painful time for children. Friendships shift, self-esteem fluctuates, and emotions can run high. As parents and caregivers, our instinct is to help — but sometimes, in our desire to fix things, we forget the most powerful tool we have: listening.
💔 When Everything Changed: Reclaiming Your Voice After Divorce and Emotional Abuse
In this powerful episode of Bent Not Broken, I had the privilege of sitting down with Wendy Babcock, award-winning songwriter, speaker, and founder of When Stories — a platform dedicated to helping women transform their pain into purpose.
Wendy’s journey is one of unimaginable courage. At just sixteen, she entered a relationship with a man thirteen years her senior. Over time, the red flags turned into patterns of control, isolation, and emotional abuse. By the time she was a young mother, Wendy’s every move was monitored — every phone call, every outing, every moment of independence questioned.
But there came a day — standing alone in an empty trailer with her two children — when she knew something had to change. That day became her when moment: the turning point where fear met freedom.
From Toxic Love to True Connection: How to Rebuild Confidence and Find Real Love
Have you ever found yourself repeating the same relationship patterns, wondering why you attract people who drain your energy or diminish your worth? You’re not alone. In a recent episode of the Bent Not Broken podcast, I sat down with Kerry Brett — master photographer, dating strategist, and author of Shot at Love — to discuss how women can break free from toxic love and rediscover their confidence.