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A 12 Week Online Program - How to Navigate Parenting Through Divorce & After

Carrie Farris / Erin Caldwell Season 1 Episode 40

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Meet Erin Caldwell, Social Worker/ Therapist, LCSW.  Struggling to navigate life after a high-conflict divorce can feel like wandering through a labyrinth with no exit in sight – but it doesn't have to be that way. Erin Caldwell joins us to share her transformative journey and how it inspired her to create a community program for women, particularly single moms, looking for a beacon of hope. Her approach weaves together self-paced online learning with live, weekly sessions, providing a sanctuary where participants can connect and foster growth amidst the chaos of everyday life.

As a busy mom, finding time for personal development while keeping up with the whirlwind of daily responsibilities can seem daunting. Erin’s program is tailored to fit the complex schedules of women who are managing it all. She crafts a flexible learning experience that allows for deep engagement with the material on your own terms, while also emphasizing the importance of connecting live with the community to support and uplift each other. Post-programs ensure that the path to growth doesn't end after the initial 14 weeks, but continues to evolve as a journey of lifelong learning.

Erin says, "If there's one thing I've learned from my own tale of resilience, it's that the aftermath of a tumultuous divorce can either define you or be the foundation upon which you build a stronger, more stable self. In sharing my story, I hope to illuminate the power of positivity and the necessity of self-care, especially when your children are looking to you as their guide."  Erin's program offers  a roadmap to healing that is easy accessible online.  Reach out to her today and set up a FREE 45 minute consultation and see if this is the right fit for you.   Join us for this heartfelt narrative, and let it accompany you on your path to self-reflection, healing, and crafting more resilient relationships.

Erin Caldwell,  Clinical Social Worker/ Therapist, LCSW
https://www.newchaptercoaching.online/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/New.Chapter.Coach

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Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, about how the program is kind of designed and I'm excited about it. Um, so it's, it's a Combination, right, it's an online. There's eight chapters, many, many, many lessons that cover lots of topics for women to do on their own, and Then there's a weekly live community I call it the champion community where we gather together and we address problems, we address struggles, we talk about successes and just really create a community of connection and understanding.

Speaker 2:

So welcome Aaron Caldwell. Therapists, guru, friend, mom, wife, all the lists, taxi driver, everything Amazing. And how I know you is well, you helped my son several years ago and God sent for our family. I mean, really, it changed his life and he's doing so good by the way he's graduating college in May. We're flying up to New Hampshire. Yes, girl friends for over a year now and they are just doing amazing, so happy.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful, I figured. When I have not heard from him that things are, I my hope is things are good, right, right.

Speaker 2:

So, with that said, you know I remember discussions with you years ago about your journey and where you're going and you know we had you on the podcast several years ago talking about your story and your loss of an 18 month old baby and your journey through that and healing and all of it. It's getting chills just talking about it. It's such a great story and so inspiring and you've helped a lot of women and you've been through divorce yourself.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and that's a whole nother story. But you tell me about what you've created. What's going on?

Speaker 1:

So just have a pat. I have a passion for helping moms. I have a passion for helping Women who want to move in a different direction in their lives and feel stuck, and I see that so often not that it doesn't happen in multiple areas of life, right. But I Connect so deeply with single moms who were really struggling to find their way forward, especially when having left an unhealthy marriage, high conflict, divorce, narcissism in the picture like just a lot of complexities. I Know I had to work really hard to find my way forward and I wish I had had a little more direction back then.

Speaker 1:

You know, because I could have used a support system and a camaraderie, a people around me that understood what I was going through and really what I. What I got was a great support system but not an understanding. Yeah, how hard and difficult it really deeply is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and there's so many people out there, you know, and then when you go through something like this, and then you're like, what am I supposed to do, you know, and just finding a therapist just you know, in my own journey trying to find it for my son and finding the right one, and it's a lot of money, and then a journey and it's like no, I just need help right now.

Speaker 2:

I don't Want to work for two and three months of trying and then you just want to give up. I mean, I have friends that I've referred to you because I'm just, you know, if anything, just go once and just feel the support that she can give you. It's just so perfect what you're doing right now. And so with this module, you've created this, which I think is so beautiful in itself because Me, as a busy mom and a wife, if I'm sitting down trying to do something, you know, and maybe out of desperation, it would be a lot easier for me to sit down at my computer at night, when the kids are asleep, trying to help me navigate, instead of I gotta make appointment and do this, which is all good and you should.

Speaker 1:

But Tell me about that, tell me about the module and yeah, yeah, about how the program is kind of designed and I'm excited about it. So it's it's a Combination, right, it's an online. There's eight chapters, many, many, many lessons that cover lots of topics for women to do on their own. And Then there's a weekly live community I call it the champion community where we gather together and we addressed problems, we address struggles, we talk about successes and just really create a community of connection and understanding. That's my goal.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so wait. So you start the module and this program and then you have a date that you set up every week, with the women. Mm-hmm, I'm just like tune in.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah. Yeah, it's just a live, you know zoom meeting where we're all connecting, and then we have a daily. We have a private Facebook community where we can interact and Ask questions. Connect, you know, share burdens on a daily basis. Mm-hmm. And then I love that I've still included I'm gonna have three individual sessions with each client, so I still get that personal connection.

Speaker 2:

Oh good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I want to get to know. I want to know your story, I want to know your struggles and I want to make sure that what we're doing on this journey is applying to what you need. So it's a Session with me beginning kind of middle and end of program. So in general it's it's a 12 week program that somebody is agreeing to be a part of, actually extended it to 14 weeks just so we all have extra time and leniency in there.

Speaker 2:

Okay so is this like a certain start date, or can someone just start any day?

Speaker 1:

Any day. I'm just gonna do a rolling group Okay yeah, I'm gonna keep the numbers so that it still feels intimate enough Mm-hmm, and then one side. You know, if I exceed that number, I'll just add on another day that we meet live. So I just really want everybody to feel connected.

Speaker 2:

Well, that sounds awesome. I mean, not just the program itself, but think about how you're connecting all these women. I mean, you're gonna probably create some BFS in this group, you know, oh.

Speaker 1:

I can think and dream of all kinds of places this could go. So, oh yeah, just from the connection you know.

Speaker 2:

So when you send me the link the other day and I clicked it open, the first thing that I saw was how to co-parent with a narcissistic partner. Is that what it said? Something like.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, with a narcissistic ex.

Speaker 2:

I thought you know what I mean. I've been married for 28 years, I'm not getting divorced and I love him beyond. And it's great. It's great, but I have a lot of friends that have gone through stuff like this, like I said earlier and referred them, even friends that are remarried right now and they're still trying to co-parent with that ex-partner, and I just think, at any time, this is something that you could definitely use.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I think that when we're caught in a high conflict and I kind of use high conflict, divorce and high conflict, personality and narcissism a little interchangeably, and the reason I do that is because I do not assume that there is an actual diagnosis of every woman, ex-husband who's gonna be joining me, right? Yeah, I feel very presumptive and I am cautious never to overuse the word narcissism, really careful about that, cause I feel like it dilutes the impact of what it really is. I'm just overusing it Right here.

Speaker 1:

we say it in different ways, but God, I totally forgot the question now.

Speaker 2:

Can you define narcissism for me, Just because I know what it is? And maybe there are those they've heard it and maybe they think, oh, isn't that the guy that's staring at himself and flexing at the gym all the time? A little bit, a little bit.

Speaker 1:

I think there's a little bit more to that, though right, yeah, yeah, well, I mean I think in general, we need to think of narcissism as a fluid scale. Right, we all have narcissistic traits and that's healthy. We should have some narcissistic traits. We do need to be aware of our needs, our wants, our desires, right. But when you get to the unhealthy, toxic level of narcissism, you're talking about somebody who's unable to empathize or understand their partner, their children's, their colleagues' experience what they're struggling with. They don't understand their impact on them.

Speaker 1:

Depending on the kind of narcissism you're talking about, somebody could be more of what we think of, like the Napoleon overt narcissist, but there are other subtypes of narcissism that are much more subtle and harder to see, harder to grasp what is going on. So it's not always the person who's boasting about themselves publicly and their successes and their great talents, although that's certainly a part of it. It's a need for excessive admiration, a sense of entitlement, a feeling of being superior to others. I mean the result is this person's needs and experience matters and everybody else's is denied. That's kind of the end result.

Speaker 2:

Kind of a funny story real quick. A person a long time ago went to therapy. Therapists told them here's a book on narcissism. I want you to read it because there's someone that I believe in your small circle that is.

Speaker 2:

So they went home and they started to read it and they texted the therapist back and they were like, did you give me this book because I am? And the therapist said just the fact that you asked me that you're not. But I thought that was pretty eye-opening. I mean, that small little comment, that little question kind of cleared things up a little bit. I mean, you need to be self-reflective and check your own self, right, but if you're never checking it, is it kind of the one that's always right, no matter what. I mean yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

Definitely their experience is what's real and everybody else's experience is unimportant or not valid, denied. Oh, I see you get very lost within a narcissist world and again, I'm not saying everybody's a narcissist, but I'm using that as a spectrum Right, but you do. You lose your sense of self because there's just so much gaslighting, there's so much projection that you lose track of who you are within this relationship and who you are with, how you interact with the world. Yeah, it's really a denial of self in the end.

Speaker 2:

Wow. So if someone hears this and they're like that sounds like me, you know, maybe something I want to do then and they're thinking, hmm, 12, 13, 14 weeks, I wonder how time consuming this could be with the kids and I'm a divorce and this and that. So if they sit down to this program like what is the program, look like the steps, can you just go to it when it's available? You know it's easy for them, sure.

Speaker 1:

Sure, yes. All the lesson videos I wouldn't say all, the majority are very, very short, so it's something where you could listen to it on a car ride, you could listen to it on a break at work Okay, you're going to walk and listen to it. So I wanted the material, the learning time, to be in small broken up parts that busy moms have time for. Oh good, that's great. I think it can be as in depth as you want it to be. If you want to put a lot of heart and soul into it, you can. If it's a chapter or a section that you're like, I don't think I need to give this quite as much. I think you can do that too. You can. You know there's a way to run through the lessons and the worksheets and maybe not give it as much time.

Speaker 1:

So I think there's some flexibility. I would encourage everyone to allow attending at least one of the live meetings a week. So that's an hour, I would say. If you gave another three to four hours a week total, you're doing a really great in depth job. Okay, you would have to do more than that.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, that kind of does a good thing.

Speaker 1:

That's broken up over time right, right, and there's no pace that you have to keep up. If you only get through part of it and we're at 14 weeks, well then let's look at what you need from there. It's really self-paced and that when you have more time, you can give it, and when you don't, you don't.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I hate asking this part, but because so many of my friends that I'm like you got to go see Aaron, you know, if they tell me or I'm looking, or they ask I'm, you know, got to go see, you know, aaron. And the second question they ask how much? So is this something that if someone I mean I have no idea how much this is is there a scholarship program for someone? Is there, like, how does that work exactly? Like, once you're done with the 13, 14 weeks, then what?

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that my hope is that when we get to the end of the 14 weeks, if you're still in a place where there's a lot of conflict, you're having a lot of turmoil, and you will still want that support. I would like to transition that to the next tier of support. It's not about the learning modules, it's just about the connection in the community and having a for those who have already gone through the program, right. So it's a graduation group and my thoughts, masterclass.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I'm involved in some groups within my industry and we meet just like what you said, you know, and when we need to just vent, right, or ask a question, it's such a great place to go because then you've met and you've connected with these people that you can get the answers and they get you and guess what they want to talk about it, right, right, it's hard.

Speaker 2:

From my experience with my friends and what they tell me, you know, they are hurting bad, yeah, and then they're talking about it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because I would. It is just like what I went through with my son, of course, and of course I want to talk to people who are going through it because I need help, you know, yeah, and so in these groups that I'm in, we've evolved that way and now it's called a masterclass and then you have friends forever, you know. So there'll be times that'll come up. You know this parenting thing, omg, can you tell me this, erin, it's hard, it is so hard, it is hard stuff, yeah, yeah. And then so, whatever comes up next time, like, oh, my God, I didn't answer that question on the module, you know right, at least you got friends or you to go back.

Speaker 1:

I just really want it to be so integrated. That's my goal, is not? And listen, I love my therapy clients and I love to come and have a really powerful session and know that they're going to take that home and apply it. But this is something that you can integrate as much as you want into every day of your life. It's not just once a week when you see me in the office. It's something where you have access to me and others regularly.

Speaker 2:

I'm so excited you're doing this because I remember sitting in those that room right there. You rearranged it. It's over there, yeah, I like it Looks good. But I remember it was like we were just hanging out as friends. I'd go up there and we'd just talk sometimes and you're just like I just know I'm birthing something. I need to get all these women together. I just don't know how, and I've watched this thing develop and I am just over the moon for you because this is finally like, instead of just sitting with one person each session, which is great and you're seeing all these women and you're like gosh, if I could just get them together and talk and help each other it would be such a great support system.

Speaker 2:

Which also reminds me some of the conversations that we had then. Which I'm real curious about is that your heart was like meditations and yoga and other things. Are there things like that in this module, or maybe there'll be something that grows from it?

Speaker 1:

Yes, well. So yes, there, let me just tell you some of the topics we cover, because it's really very inclusive. I mean, I've tried to be very thoughtful about what is going to help somebody at this stage, what insight, what introspection, what learning is going to help them move forward. That's my whole goal. How do we help you move forward and not feel so stuck in the conflict and the chaos?

Speaker 2:

So we go through.

Speaker 1:

I kind of do a past, present, future approach. That's my therapy approach also, but, right, that's my approach in life. We look at what's happened in the past, digest it, understand it, heal from it. What's in the present, that's in our life, and then where do we want it to be? So it'll be things like reflecting on your marriage, your part, your role in the marriage. What did you feel good about? What did you struggle with? Who were you when you came into the marriage? Who are you as you're leaving the marriage?

Speaker 1:

You know a healing of understanding grief and divorce and how it affects you and your children, kind of the layered understanding, the nuances and the layers to what's going on, and not just being Experientially stuck in it, if that makes sense. So, and then we go on to. You know the importance and I know this sounds crazy but silly, but it is important the importance of gratitude in our life, the importance of connecting to what's positive in life, because this is so negative, it's so consuming. The glimmers of hope and positive can get lost in it. Yeah, and so how to bring that into ourselves? How is our distorted thinking Impacting or making it worse?

Speaker 1:

We're gonna learn a lot about narcissism, how to? How to interact with a narcissist or a high-conflict person. Again, it's a spectrum how to Interact them as a parent, how to support your children and their relationship with them, how to bring the focus away from this person who's bringing so much stress into your home and Instead refocusing on your relationship with your kids. What do you want it to be? How did what parent, what kind of parent do you want to be? So a lot of parents and family is included in this, and Then, through all that, we also spend a little time reflecting on how did I end up with this?

Speaker 1:

person and who do I want to end up with? What do I want the future to be like? So it kind of brings in all those things. I mean that includes some attachment work, that includes reconnecting with your internal voice, finding your confidence and trusting yourself again, so it kind of it's really encompassing of a lot. I'm trying to think children about values, because all these things are, if you understand it, in the importance of this person who you're trying to co-parent with or Partner parent with Is not giving the lessons that you agree with. Right there they're teaching I'm important but you're not important. Your ones and things are second to my ones and needs. Your success is a reflection of me. So the values are so important for children and for us and reconnecting with. Well, how should I be treated? What do I think is important? What do I want in my relationships? Because by itself it gives a contrast to what they're experiencing.

Speaker 2:

It's so good, aaron. That's so good Because we don't stop and think about a lot of those things. We just go and we just live and, if anything, it'll make you stop and think about what do I believe? Yeah, what do I really believe? What do I want to teach my kids? How do, even if you believe something different now than you did before? I mean Figure it out and then go forward. You know, I mean Not just for divorce, for anyone.

Speaker 1:

If I it can help you now Figuring those things out, you know yeah, it's definitely about living with intention, right making, communicating with intention and purpose, parenting with intention and purpose, clarity right clarity about all of these things of you know, values are our compass. That's what gives us a direction in life of where we want to go, and oftentimes, when we're struggling, it's because we're not aligned with our values. We think this is important, but we're actually making these choices and then we don't like ourselves.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't. Then we have a bad thought because we don't like ourselves. Then we have another about thought, and then all these feelings are real and they're released in your body and then it's just this cycle that just doesn't stop. I mean, I've gone through my own bouts of major Depression in my life. I mean it's in my family, you know, but people are surprised sometimes to hear that. But it's chemical, you know, and I want to change that, and part of it is Trying to get rid of those thoughts. You know, when you're so used to the same thing or maybe you grew up that way that Someone was negative and it's just kind of ingrained in your brain.

Speaker 2:

It's just start, even if you don't believe it. And I was like whatever. No, really, if you don't believe this statement, I'm happy today, I love my life, or this or whatever. Just say it anyway. And then just say it again. And then just say it again, and then you just keep Going all that. There are millions of things you're grateful for water, you and me alive, I mean. Start there, you can't think of anything. Water, right, it's pretty damn good. And then just go and I thought I mean I was at such a low place, I mean this years ago, and postpartum depression and all the kids you know I.

Speaker 2:

There's no way that these thoughts are ever going to go away, but they do. Some people need medication or whatever, but a lot of times it's your circumstances. You need people that are positive. You need to tell yourself positive things Because right at that moment you're the one that gets to make the decision. Am I going to get help or not? Am I going to sit and waller in my pain? That feels so good to waller in sometimes and feel sorry for ourselves. But after a while, man, that gets real old. Yes, and then you look back and go. I just spent two months doing that. What a waste. You only got so many minutes on this earth.

Speaker 1:

I think that when you're divorced and the other parents is not providing the healthy example. You are the only example for your children, so the impact of you finding your stability so that you can provide that for your kids is so important. It can be so good to meet our kids' needs and have a job and all these increased burdens when we divorce Because there is more on our plate as a single parent.

Speaker 1:

But if we aren't doing our own healing and we aren't centering ourselves, then we aren't actually doing all these things with intention. We're doing it as a reactive form. So I wanted to be just a very intentional process to what each of us needs, and I have to say, in my experience I went through a horrific divorce. I spent about 11 years in the court system and my frustration and it just took me so long to get to a better place. But because my environment was just telling me even my own attorney, who I adore, and her approach was you need to communicate, you need to collaborate. That's not possible. It was not possible, and so what I needed was somebody who understood it wasn't possible and could help me figure out how to protect myself. I insulated myself because the result was I just kept subjecting myself to this conflict, trying to please the courts, trying to please others who wanted this cooperative relationship that I couldn't get.

Speaker 2:

It's so exhausting, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

Totally. I feel like there was a dog chasing my tail, like I can't get there, I can't get there, but I know it's there. It was maddening and I really I tried so hard. It was always with such heartfelt intention to do the right thing, but it's not the right thing to do. In these high conflict situations is not necessarily what others who are not in a high conflict situation are doing. We need to do it differently.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I'm really sorry that you went through all that, because I know some of those stories, you know what. You're turning it around to help people and so thank you?

Speaker 1:

I hope so.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you did it, it was for a purpose.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Taking the tools that you've learned now.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, I think it was. Finally, thank God, I got to my own therapist right and the therapist not therapist. Oh yeah. But thank God I got to the right one who eventually really helped me just learn to trust myself again, trust my own voice, trust my experience of the world. It gave me the confidence to kind of forge forward and go into a place to be able to find a healthy relationship right, which, you know, I adore my husband, so I feel like you know it's the same birthday as major.

Speaker 2:

Oh really, I have Michael's birthday on my phone for some reason twice, so I see it every year on major's birthday. I'm going to go to Texaco tell him happy birthday.

Speaker 1:

Right, that's funny.

Speaker 2:

So is there anything you want to leave off with, Like how can they get a hold of you?

Speaker 1:

I'll have everything in the show notes, obviously, but yeah, well, I think it would be great if they could just reach out to me. I have my Facebook site. It connects to my website, so really finding me on Facebook right now is probably the easiest way, and I have information on there. And then there's a way to submit and book an appointment with me.

Speaker 2:

Oh, good, easy.

Speaker 1:

I really want to find the fine. I'm looking for the right right fit of women right. Yeah, and so if somebody, I talk with somebody and it's not that they're a fit for this, then I'm absolutely going to talk with them about what would be a fit.

Speaker 2:

Okay, good, I was wondering about that. So if they reach out to you, do you do like a free 15 minute consultation or something like that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So once they have, you know, kind of a brief video that talks about the program and what they'll learn, and then from there they can book a 45 minute call with me For free.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Saying girl, I'll be calling you every week for 45 minutes, but you know, this isn't just for people that are local. I mean, people can dial in, they can do the module, they can also meet with you on Zoom, right.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely yeah, yeah, yeah. No, this is not really the reason. I, you know, I still will have my therapy practice and I, you know, I specialize in EMDR and I do intensives and not really I do intensives and that's my actual in office therapy clients. But for everyone else, this is a present, forward future and more of a coaching approach. I would call it a coaching program because I'm not going to do a deep dive into what did you experience at five years old that led you to this person?

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, I would like you to do.

Speaker 1:

I mean, there's some opportunity for you to do a little reflection, but that's not my goal. And guiding you, my goal is taking you from where you are and where you want to be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so do they like journal and stuff? Is there like questions and they listen and question. You kind of have your time and yeah.

Speaker 1:

I have assessment tools in there, I have journaling questions, I have meditations, I have I call it music therapy. It's really just my fun playlist that talk about, I don't know, female power and I don't even start talking to me about sound therapy.

Speaker 2:

That's a real deal. I mean, think about it. We're vibration, music's vibration. There's a reason why it makes you feel good or happy, or mad, or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's so. I had a lot of fun creating these places. I bet I want to copy of that my ex playlist and then you know what, if I love again playlist and is it that? One Almost very underwear. It would like smashing out the car.

Speaker 1:

So we have all that. Then I have lots of workbook pages, the video lesson modules. It's really just it's.

Speaker 2:

I can't even show you, I mean it's, it's packed.

Speaker 1:

It's a thick load of material to go through. There's a lot there, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

I'm so happy for you. I'm so glad you got that thing done, man.

Speaker 1:

I am too. It wasn't the actual program itself that I have. Honestly, it was the videos. I had to learn to be okay with being on video Girl. It's really hard for me. I challenge myself.

Speaker 2:

I challenge everyone to go through that to listen to their voice for real like really not just on an answering call, like for a long time. Know yourself, get to know yourself. It will help you in your life beyond and you'll love yourself more. Even all your dumb, quirky things that you do, it will Right, right.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, I'm really thrilled about it and I feel like I've gotten to support my children in how to handle this relationship in their life and I've seen all the work that they've done and I reflect back on okay, what did I do that was helpful and what did I do that was not helpful for them? Yeah, I really just want to. I want to help others, not have to figure all that out on their own.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Thank you. Thank you for doing that, such a great help for people.

Speaker 1:

It's a great time for me, thank you so much I love you.

Speaker 2:

I'll keep you in the loop with what's going on and all of our recordings and everything here. I'll stop it.

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