If you've ever felt divorce only leaves one way to fight, episode 452 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Divorce coach Karen McNenny reframes divorce as its own kind of grief, sharing tools for splitting with dignity, from a \"divorce announcement\" to protecting kids caught in the middle.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
(01:04) Karen McNenny's divorce story and founding the Good Divorce Academy
(03:23) Emily on staying in an unhappy marriage because she felt she \"had to\"
(04:17) Why society permits changing everything except marital status
(07:52) The \"elegant exit\" and Karen's mayonnaise-jar metaphor for knowing it's over
(10:45) The shame and judgment divorcing families face, and how to support them
(13:23) The \"divorce announcement\" tool for controlling the narrative
(17:30) Why kids should never be the mediator or messenger between parents
(20:54) Comparing the grief of divorce versus losing a spouse to death
(31:10) Karen's wound-to-scar metaphor for how divorce grief heals
Karen McNenny is a mediator, certified divorce coach, and co-parenting specialist, and the founder of The Good Divorce Academy. A Montana native with a BFA from Montana State University and graduate studies in London as a Rotary International Scholar, she spent 25 years as a business consultant before shifting her focus to divorce work during the pandemic. She is the author of The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family and hosts The Good Divorce Show, now in its fourth season, featuring couples and individuals who've navigated separation well.
In this episode, Karen reframes divorce as a form of grief that's too often overlooked and under-supported, drawing on her own divorce 15 years ago to argue that couples default to adversarial, court-driven splits when society offers no \"elegant exit.\" She shares practical tools from her coaching practice — like writing a joint \"divorce announcement\" to head off gossip and isolation — and stresses that children should never be used as messengers or mediators between parents. She also unpacks divorce's layered losses (identity, routine, social circle), offering her signature image of grief as a wound that scars but never fully vanishes, and connects her story to Emily's in exploring where divorce grief and death grief overlap and diverge.
Connect with Karen McNenny:
Podcast: Good Divorce Show
Book: Karen McNenny - The Good Divorce
Let's Connect:
The Grief and Happiness Alliance
Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief
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