Off the Fence with Karen Covy: Mastering Decision Making, Divorce & More

Are anger issues hijacking your relationships? If you find that you (or your spouse!) constantly get angry over the smallest things, chances are that anger is an unwanted partner in your marriage. 

While most therapists talk about helping you “manage” your anger, Dr. Mort Orman has developed a system that helps you eliminate your anger completely: No “management” required.

In this podcast episode Dr. Orman explains how our brain’s unconscious filters distort our perception of reality. That distorted perception often leads to feelings of anger, guilt, and other negative emotions.

By dissecting real-life s...

Understanding and navigating the financial end of divorce is one of the biggest challenges many divorcing people face. That’s especially true for those who DIDN’T handle the family finances during their marriage.  Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan know firsthand the financial chaos divorce can cause. That’s why they created “My Divorce Solution,” a program designed to help people going through a divorce by providing them with a comprehensive analysis of their income, expenses, assets, and debts.

My Divorce Solution creates a customized financial portrait of each client’s financial situation. That financial portrait lays out different...

Karen Knab is not your average executive coach - she's a master at transforming conflict into constructive dialogue. Whether navigating the choppy waters of family drama or the boardroom's fierce currents, Karen's expertise helps you take back control and resolve your arguments with your ex, your kids, or your boss, more amicably.

Karen has cracked the code on managing the emotions that sabotage clear communication. Through her riveting stories and step-by-step strategies, you'll discover how to hit the pause button when you’re mired in a heated discussion so you can steer the conversation toward common ground.

Divorce doesn't have to be a battleground. Attorney Andrea Vacca has cracked the code on keeping families out of court and preserving their well-being throughout the divorce process. As a trailblazer in Collaborative Divorce and other alternative dispute resolution processes, Andrea’s approach is redefining what's possible when a marriage ends.

The traditional divorce litigation path is adversarial by nature, pitting spouses against each other in a zero-sum game. But Andrea has pioneered a paradigm shift - one where she and her team are committed to keeping their clients out of court.

This po...

Erik Feig is an attorney, a mediator, and the father of three neurodivergent children.  Navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic with his own complex family inspired him to leave the practice of law and create a mediation practice focused on helping other families with neurodiverse children navigate conflict more effectively.

In this podcast episode, Erik explains – both from personal experience as well as professional expertise - the tremendous amount of extra coordination and energy that families with neurodivergent kids require.  It’s not unusual for parents in such families to experience conflict in how to best manage the extra...

Lesa Koski - a lawyer turned mediator - has a passion for helping couples divorce differently and suffer less. In her work as a mediator, Lesa has identified 7 common dilemmas divorcing women face.

Those dilemmas range from finances to housing and from parenting to loneliness.  To deal with all of these dilemmas, Lesa encourages her clients to educate themselves about their options and about how the divorce process works.  She explains how mediation can be superior to litigation, and how it can be the first step in empowering someone to live a happier, healthier, and more empowered li...

Amy Lin was married for 20 months. Her divorce took 3 years. Most of that time was spent wrangling through the arcane, time-consuming, and inefficient "discovery process" in the legal system.

After her divorce was over, Amy decided to create a software platform to make the financial discovery process more efficient and affordable so that no one had to suffer through what she suffered through in her divorce.  That's why she created Anew.

Anew simplifies and streamlines financial discovery in divorce cases. It provides couples with an overview of their net worth and contains income/expense reports, b...

When divorce looms, people usually focus on the assets and finances first. But to divorce mediator Michael Cohen, the kids should always come first.

Michael's own contentious divorce fueled his metamorphosis from corporate executive to passionate divorce mediator. As a mediator, Michael helps parents create co-parenting agreements centered on their kids' emotional health. 

In this podcast episode, we dig deeply into the way that the adversarial process fundamentally clashes with preserving family bonds. Litigation pits spouses against each other with dueling attorneys battling over assets. Mediation offers a paradigm shift - bringing both p...

In this episode, Lisa Johnson, co-founder of Been There Got Out, shares her story of going through a high-conflict divorce with an emotionally abusive husband who lived a secret double life. Lisa's divorce ultimately cost her over $80,000 in legal fees to resolve - and that was just the beginning of her legal journey.

Lisa then spent 10 years fighting to enforce her divorce judgment after she was divorced. Because she couldn't afford a lawyer, Lisa learned how to navigate the legal system herself, while her ex fought her every step of the way. She coined the term "legal...

Bela Gandhi, Chicago’s most prominent dating and relationship expert, joins the Off the Fence Podcast to share her tips and tools for creating a lasting and fulfilling relationship. In this podcast episode, Bela peels back the curtain on her transition from the corporate world into the arena of love and relationships. She also reveals some of the secrets she imparts to her clients in the Smart Dating Academy … which has a zero-divorce rate among clients who marry the love they found while working with Bela and her team.

Bela describes the process her team uses to help...