Metro does 2 page spread on Travel Guide for Divorce (in a box)
February 7, 2012 by Suzy
You can read the article in the Metro here: http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/889358-divorce-in-a-box-a-ribbon-wrapped-gift-that-tells-you-how-to-break-up
Divorcing ‘out of the box’
January 27, 2012 by Suzy
If the Big Society is to work, then we need to start with ‘the family’. Squashing what we consider a healthy family into a single box with “mummy, daddy + kids” has to stop, if we are to evolve into a co-operative nation where the word ‘support’ becomes associated with our community as a whole, instead of just government institutions like the NHS or the Courts.
I live alone with 3 children – but my family isn’t a ‘broken home’. It’s an extended family.
In the Scottish Widows report Centre for the Modern Family, Dr Rake says of the research “… married couples, lone parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles – can all create the strong caring relationships that are the hallmark of a good family life.” But what about families who are not related by blood? Like extended families including ex-partners?
As an illustration of that, my kids and I – along with their dad, bonus mum and bonus brother, appeared on Friday 23 December on BBC Breakfast TV. Sadly, people think it’s ‘weird’ to be a healthy functioning blended family comprised of ex’s and new partners. The Scottish Widows study showed that 22% of families said their family type was not valued by society, and 18% feel actively judged by society for the family model in which they live.
Stop sniping at ‘broken families’ and start praising ‘extended families’
Helping people to ‘break up right – please don’t fight’ and to allow their families to take on new forms in ways that keep them out of court and save them money, requires a collaborative and co-operative approach. Which is why more people need to give mediation and collaborative law serious attention when facing divorce. At the very least, actually talk to a real live mediator and collaborative lawyer and find out how they can – with the co-operation of financial and wellbeing professionals if desired by the couple – help a family go through a massive life change in a way that will usually save them money, keep them out of court and protect their children from becoming used as weapons in a litigious approach to breakup.
Come on Mr Cameron: Stand up for all families in their ever growing complexity, and welcome the fact that in order to achieve a healthy extended family, it requires learning new skills in collaboration. These are the very skills we need to change The Big Society from a rallying cry, into a reality.
Travel Guide for Divorce in an attractive box which includes over £500 of complementary access to skilled professional advice. Ribbon is optional. Available for £40 including vat and UK postage at www.sosdivorceinabox.com.
Using Divorce in a Box to revolutionise the break-up process
January 3, 2012 by Suzy
Sam shares her experience of a potential divorce and family break up and how she is using SOS Divorce in a Box to provide information and inspiration.
My blended family on BBC TV
December 22, 2011 by Suzy
On the morning of Friday 23 December, a prerecorded sequence of my blended family eating together will be show on BBC Breakfast TV, and Dr Katherine Rake will be the ‘expert’ interviewed about the ‘modern family’.
In the Scottish Widows report Centre for the Modern Family, Dr Rake says of the research “..people seem quite liberal around form. In other words they recognise that different arrangements – married couples, lone parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles – can all create the strong caring relationships that are the hallmark of a good family life.”
What won’t appear in the footage that gets used for the Friday morning piece is the SOS Divorce in a Box (ribbon is optional) – yet the Divorce in a Box is, as my daughter pointed out to me the other day, is a symbol of how our family managed to make a fractured family into a blended family (their dad, bonus mum and bonus brother are all over my place for Xmas breakfast) – since it is the WAY you break up that allows for a ‘modern blended family’ to be as healthy as a ‘traditional family’.
Just as legal and wellbeing professionals are learning to co-operate and take a multi disciplinary approach to the family breakup process, so families themselves are learning to adapt to a more co-operative way of living when the conventional family form becomes unachievable, or undesirable. Yet society seems to be lagging behind in accepting these changes: 22% of families in the study said their family type was not valued by society. 18% feel actively judged by society for te family model in which they live.
But the statistics take on a deeper significance when you include the 43% of people over 60 who live alone, and the 25% of this group living alone with no family nearby. Why is there so much social pressure to have a traditional family form, when surely the emphasis should be on encouraging families of all forms, to collaborate and work towards long term healthy relationships?
When divorcing couples focus on mediation and collaborative law as ways of saving money and stress short term, they are missing the real significance of taking a non-adversarial route. What they need to recognize are the enormous long term benefits: sustainable agreements without the desire to go to court to continue an ongoing sense of grievance; being able to both come along to the wedding of children now grown and maybe even sit on the top table with respective new partners; share in the joy of bonus babies irrespective of blood lineage…..
I believe that it is what is in the Divorce in a Box that will allow people to find the vision, tools and non-adversarial influences (like life coaching, mediation and collaborative law) to make the coming post-Christmas “divorce season” one that will ultimately lead to healthier – but not always ‘traditional’ – family models.
Suzy is selling the boxes online: £36 for the online version, and £40 for the physical version including vat and UK postage. For more information visit www.sosdivorceinabox.com
Create your own Starting Over Show
November 23, 2011 by Suzy
Don’t worry – I’ll do all the work!
If you believe that a quarterly Starting Over Show event, local to you, will benefit all those people starting over from divorce, redundancy, bereavement and life’s other tough stuff, then register by clicking the link most local to you. You will of course receive free tickets and be the first to know once the event is confirmed.
I want a Starting Over Show (& free tickets please) in RH Uncovered (RH6, RH7, RH10, RH18, RH19)
I want a Starting Over Show (& free tickets please) in CHELTENHAM, GLOS
I want a Starting Over Show (& free tickets please) in GUILDFORD, SURREY
Want an SOS event somewhere else? Pop your name and email in the box below & I’ll keep you up to date with where they are being held:
What is a Starting Over Show?
What’s inside SOS Divorce in a Box?
November 17, 2011 by Suzy
Includes over £500 of vouchers for complementary 1-1 expert advice and resources
Your Starting Over Divorce in a Box contains the following:
Over £500 of vouchers for complementary 1-1 expert advice and resources including:
30 minute consultation with TV Celebrity & relationship expert Francine Kaye (worth £50)
30 minute consultation with Parenting Expert Sue Atkins (worth £47.50)
1 hour’s consultation and information pack with Jackie Rose of DivorceLIPservice: managing your own divorce as a Litigant in Person (worth £50)
1 hour consultation with financial planner Steven Hennessy
50 mins consultation with psychologist, relationship expert & author Tommaso Palumbo (worth £60)
Finding the Source of your Divorce download programme created by Naked Divorce Coach Adele Theron (worth £165)
20% discount on a Managed Services DIY divorce through Divorce Online
A photographic session with Scott Collier Photography – positive images of yourself! (worth £250)
45 minute mentoring session with Goddess Star-Monroe on “How to be a Woman” (worth £197)
(boys – you might want to make a present of this voucher!)
Free training & support from Anne Marie to create a successful new business and still have time for kids and other work commitments
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE BOX ?
A media pack containing a DVD containing videos, audio pdfs & links to online resources about:
divorce mediation
collaborative family law
DIY self-representation
life coaching & relationship skills
parenting skills
audio meditations
shared stories
WHAT DOES IT COST?
Buy the physical box here for £40 including UK postage
The online version (quicker, but you can’t keep it handy on a shelf), is £36. Click here…..
Both physical box and also the online version include:
Over £500 of complementary vouchers
Media Pack
3 SOS booklets:
Every journey needs a good map/7 stages of breakup recovery
The Nitty Gritty: Legal & Financial
Starting Over: Parenting & Wellbeing
DIFFERENT COLOURS AVAILABLE:
Currently online shop sells small cream box with ribbon and larger dark blue box (no ribbon)
Other boxes are available by contacting suzy@startingovershow.co.uk
Buy the physical box here
Buy the online version here…..
Psychic Divorce Horoscope November 2011
November 4, 2011 by Suzy
New Moon 26 October – time to make those new moon wishes
Full Moon 10 November – a good time to cut those ties and find closure
Mercury Retrograde 24 November – brings delays and some chaos in travel, contracts, communications, and computers (back up everything and allow extra time for journeys)
New Moon 25 November – 10 new moon wishes
Capricorn 23 December-20 January: Gather in your harvest and don’t overspend. Things may get a little rough financially, before they get better.
Aquarius 21 January-19 February: Get some fresh air, you have been spending too much time indoors. And while you are out strolling, allow some of those ideas of yours to expand.
Pisces 20 February-20 March: Take some time out for yourself, you have been looking after everyone else and deserve a little “me” time. It needn’t cost a fortune, but you need a little something.
Aries 21 March-20 April: You’ve done your best for someone, in fact, beyond the call of duty. You can’t do anymore, and they will have to follow their own destiny now.
Taurus 21 April-21 May: There’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel, Taurus. You need to take control of your finances and your physical health. Can you get a second opinion? I would.
Gemini 22 May-21June: You’re looking a lot better Gemini. In fact, I’d say you were back in the saddle. Well done! Now whats next? Ah yes, sorting the house out. Good luck.
Cancer 22 June-22 July: There’s an air of gentle change around you this month. Don’t over do things, but do enjoy these last days of autumn sunshine. And be kind to yourself.
Leo 23 July-23 August: You need to pace yourself more. You keep accelerating at a mean rate and then burning out fast. Try and find a better daily routine and delegate.
Virgo 24 August-23 September: Luck is in the air for you Virgo. Its not like you, but I see you being very spontaneous and taking risks. Go on, you might enjoy it.
Libra 24 September-23 October: There’s big change going on around you Libra. You are feeling the strong pull of the planets. Something new and exciting is about to happen, don’t blow it.
Scorpio 24 October-22 November: You know what you have to do. I don’t envy you that decision, you know your whole life will change forever. But do you really have a choice?
Sagittarius 23 November-22 December: Alls well that ends well. You just haven’t quite arrived yet. Don’t give up.
Jane Orr is a natural clairvoyant and healer, with a formal training in psychotherapy. Jane channels a psychic forecast for each sign – and she is also a regular (and very popular!) exhibitor at the Starting Over Show.
What is a Starting Over Show?
October 15, 2011 by Suzy
Psychic Divorce Horoscope Sept 2011
September 20, 2011 by Suzy
New Moon 29 August – time to make those new moon wishes
Mercury Release 9 September – Mercury finally fully functioning after heavy retro phase in August (affects communications and travel plans)
Full Moon 12 September – a good time to cut those ties and find closure
SOS Roadshow 22 September – Professional TLC, Legal and Financial advice all under one roof!
New Moon 27 September – 10 new moon wishes
Capricorn 23 December-20 January: OK Capricorns, holiday season over, its time to be up and at ‘em!
Aquarius 21 January-19 February: Look out for white feathers, its a sign from your guardian angel. I know you feel as if you are doing everything on your own, but you do have angelic support.
Pisces 20 February-20 March: Wow, Pisces, which vitamins are you on? You are rockin n’rollin right now. Go for it!
Aries 21 March-20 April: Aries, get your paints and paintbrush out. You need to release your creativity. When did you last just play? Have some fun.
Taurus 21 April-21 May: Don’t look at me like that Taurus, you know things will get better, you just have to be patient for a little bit longer. Don’t panic – just breathe and relax!
Gemini 22 May-21June: OK Gemini, STAND AWAY FROM THE CHOCOLATE AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT. Whats really bothering you? If you are really feeling that miserable – talk to someone. (SOS Roadshow at the Holiday Inn Guildford, 22 Sept – a perfect opportunity for professional TLC).
Cancer 22 June-22 July: Cancer, there’s a lovely fuzzy feeling around you this month. Am I sensing some new heart flutterings? How lovely! Let me know if I need to buy a new hat.
Leo 23 July-23 August: Right, Leo, its down to business this month. Get your ducks in a row and you too could be on Dragon’s Den, or at the very least seeing some very positive progress.
Virgo 24 August-23 September: Virgo, hang on a minute, lets just talk this through, I mean, Vegas? The Little Chapel? This is very unlike you, you’re usually so sensible and cautious. Will there be tears before bedtime? I do hope not. Watch this space.
Libra 24 September-23 October: “I’ll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places, that my heart and mind embraces, all day through…” Feeling a bit nostalgic Libra? Unfinished business? Don’t start stalking them on Facebook. Either call them or let them go.
Scorpio 24 October-22 November: Expect the best, accept, release and let go. Good luck.
Sagittarius 23 November-22 December: Keep up the good work from last month and don’t let any new opportunities slip through your fingers. Stay calm, it may not have been quite what you were expecting, but there is a silver lining.
Jane Orr is a natural clairvoyant and healer, with a formal training in psychotherapy. Jane channels a psychic forecast for each sign – and she is also a regular (and very popular!) exhibitor at the Starting Over Show.
4 questions often asked by divorcing parents but rarely said out loud:
September 14, 2011 by Suzy
How will I deal with the guilt when I look at my kids and feel that I’ve let them down?
Time. Focus on the positive outcomes you want to achieve, and let your learning be their learning.
How will I survive financially and what will I do when the kids leave home, my career has been obliterated by the restraints of parenting, and I have no financial resources left?
Be creative. Lot’s of full-time workers have lost half their pensions due to the financial crises of the last few years, so financial security is a myth. Many single parents begin new and successful businesses from home, even with young kids. Make a plan and follow your heart.
Will my kids make the same mistakes and end up getting divorced too?
It’s none of your business what they choose to do with their lives. Just be there for them. Romantic relationships are part of the journey of life, not its destination.
How will I ever feel that we are a happy family again, a whole and complete family?
You’ll find a way. I got photos taken by a professional photographer and saw how happy we looked. I realised that we were as much a ‘family’ with only one adult in the picture, as any other family.
Suzy Miller
Creator & Producer: Starting Over Show
07525 059 634
Starting Over Show
www.startingovershow.co.uk
