Demystifying Divorce Series: "Getting Unstuck"

ROBERT TERRIS AND SUSAN REGAN, TWO SEASONED DIVORCE PROFESSIONALS FROM THE BAY AREA, TALK ABOUT

DEMYSTIFYING DIVORCE: GETTING “UNSTUCK”

Divorce and separation can be extremely daunting and involve complex decisions and processes — and it’s easy for couples to get “stuck” and stay in their relationships, even though they’re unhappy, the situation is irreparable, and the damage of staying is palpable. Finances, children and fear can make people feel as though they have no other option other than to remain in the unhealthy relationship. With the right support, working through that fear and finding closure, while exploring other options, can provide considerable relief and a clear path ahead — allowing people to get “unstuck.”

Robert Terris, Founder of Family Counseling & Mediation Center, and Susan Regan MFT, Founder of Solutions Therapy & Mediation (two seasoned, divorce and mediation professionals in the Bay Area) talk about Getting “Unstuck” from your relationship. Together, these two explore the emotional aspects of navigating a divorce or separation, as well as alternative options to litigation.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO

In this informative talk, Robert and Susan will share their experiences, spanning decades, helping clients to navigate these emotionally and legally complex and sensitive processes, and delve into the following topics:

• Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward. How a couple in a long-term relationship can work through their logistical quagmire towards resolution.
• In-House Separations. How to solve problems that arise from this living arrangement.
• Eliminating the Fear Factors. How to address the fear of losing finances, relationships with children, co-parenting, and support, which causes the “stuckness.”
• Finding the Right Framework. How the therapy and mediation processes can work together to best serve the clients.

Robert Terris a licensed attorney and family therapist. He offers unique skills in settling legal issues with emotional undercurrents. He is committed to helping people work through their problems and preserve their relationships.

Susan Regan is a seasoned family therapist and certified mediator. She has the expertise to guide clients through difficult conversations, create a safe space to explore options, and help parents understand why their couple relationship has ended and help to find answers to the big questions that worry them, such as: what will they tell their kids, how will they manage their community and family, and will they ever and have closure?

Watch the entire video, or select the individual items, below, which are of interest to you:

Intro
Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward
In-House Separations
Eliminating the Fear Factors
How to work with us

We welcome your questions and feedback!

Please be sure to sign-up for our newsletters, as well, to receive additional resources around divorce and separation. Click on our website links below to sign-up!

Robert Terris JD, MFT
Family Counseling & Mediation Center
[email protected]

Susan Regan, MFT
Solutions Therapy and Mediation
Relationship Solutions
[email protected]

Disclaimer:
We do not give legal or financial advice. Our focus for these talks, is on the emotional well-being of people going through separation and divorce.


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MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

ROBERT TERRIS JD, MFT

Robert Terris is a Mediator and the Founder of the Family Counseling & Mediation Center in Berkeley, CA. He is dedicated to finding lasting solutions to family problems. Robert has been practicing understanding-based mediation for 15 years in a variety of family and legal settings. As both a licensed attorney and family therapist, he offers unique skills in settling legal issues with emotional undercurrents. He is committed to helping people work through their problems and preserve their relationships. He has an uncanny ability to understand his clients’ points of view and zero in on the concerns underlying their positions. He asks everyone in the room to delve deep, to listen and understand, and to clarify and articulate their needs and interests. This leads to enhanced empathy, more creativity, practical solutions, and long-lasting agreements.

SUSAN REGAN, MFT

Susan Regan is a family therapist and certified mediator who has been in private practice in San Francisco and Berkeley for over 25 years. Her interest in helping families separate and supporting children through the process started when she founded a nonprofit organization called Bay Area Children First. BACF’s mission was to provide counseling to families. Especially to help parents explore patterns from the family they were raised in, to heal themselves and the ways they were parented instead of passing these patterns onto their children. She has counseled hundreds of families, parents, couples, and children of families going through a separation or divorce.

In 2013, Susan founded an organization called Solutions: Therapy and Mediation. From her experience with BACF, she knew the only way to support children is to support the people raising them. Many of the families she works with are in the process of a separation or divorce. Susan’s goal is to help stabilize parents so they can ensure their children’s emotional and physical security while rebuilding a healthier family and heal themselves. Susan believes people can use divorce as a transformational process to recreate their lives and healthier relationships for themselves. Maybe the couple relationship didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean parents can’t be solid and continue having a happier life.

Susan Regan was raised in Boston. Some of her relationship models were conflictual and unhappy. Instead of fostering healthy connections in relationships, Susan observed many of the family and relationships in her community lack communication skills. Unhealthy patterns were passed on through generations. Susan saw and experienced the damage this dilemma had on families, especially children. Children deserve to be happy but if their parent’s relationship is dominated by high stress and conflict, it’s challenging for kids to feel cared for and seen. If separated parents can create a stronger parenting relationship and have less tension in their relationship, their children are more secure. Parents often need time to work on accepting that their couple relationship was not able to survive through all of life’s chapters, but that doesn’t mean failure. This just means the rebuilding of a different structure within the family and a new format of health and happiness.

Susan specializes in co-parenting therapy, mediation, facilitating divorce support groups, and emotionally supporting families going through a divorce.