Preface—

This is an active site originally developed to help individuals who are looking to get the most from their participation in divorce support groups.

By extension, it is presented as a resource for those who are interested in launching, improving, or expanding their care programs.

I first began posting content in 2001 as a means of supplementing “divorce recovery workshop” presentations on which I was working as a breakout group discussion facilitator. Then as now, I saw that a key contributor to positive post-end-of-marriage outcomes was peer-to-peer processing. When the fixed-period offering ended, I launched my own weekly, walk-in offering to address the ongoing needs of some and newfound needs of others.

In its eleven-year run that followed, we only canceled three sessions due to scheduling conflicts.

Divorce Balance launched with its own identity in October of 2004.

The initial idea was go provide a landing page of sorts for individuals at any point in the divorce struggle — to let them know that they’re not alone, their struggles are not out of line, and that there are better paths to a good life after divorce.

As an adjunct to any divorce recovery workshop that was interested, the growing series of articles offered something of a peak behind the curtain, sort of a try it before you sign-up look at topics and process, and, sometimes, denouement. For walk-in support group participants, it frequently primed the pump for discussion (and, yes, even giving voice to healthy disagreement).

And not just for programs that I was running or helping to support. The Internet being what it is, other organizations plugged into it. Some let me know they’d done so, and even provided feedback. Fantastic!

You’re literally free to take from this content what you will: As a piece, or à la carte.

I recommend the former, as you might imagine. That includes a pitch that you get actively in a carefully structured peer support group. That will likely be offered under the aegis of a church, but it doesn’t have to be. Two-thirds of my work as a facilitator has been conducted independently — but only after having been subject to the experience and accountability of the former.

Beyond that, and if you’re open to it, I will offer the following as a closing note.

John 5:2-6 tells of an encounter between Jesus and an afflicted man on the periphery of pool said to have had powers of healing. Consequentially, He asked the man, “Do you wish to get well?”

Think about that.

— Dell Deaton
August 24, 2024

First time here?

Start with the “Introduction” Page, linked in the banner above, on the far right side opposite Divorce Balance site identification. (On mobile devices, this may appear as lines stacked within a box; when tapped, drop-down, linked content will appear.)