The Good Divorce® Show

Karen McNenny, The Good Divorce® Show
  • 3.3 (6)
  • Relationships
  • Updated Weekly

Are you thinking about divorce? If you are, you’re probably thinking about it all wrong. The Good Divorce® Show is here to debunk the myths about divorce, give you guidance on how to navigate it without conflict and debt, and equip you to not just get divorced but to also be divorced, happily ever after. Join host and divorce coach Karen McNenny as she shares her wealth of knowledge, gets advice from other relationship experts, and profiles couples who learned how to have a Good Divorce, so you can too!

  1. 6d ago

    Summer Encore: Childhood Sweethearts, Co-Parents — Kelly and Kyle on Choosing Love

    Kelly and Kyle met in preschool in Lake Forest, Illinois, lost touch for 25 years, reconnected in Missoula — and then found themselves unexpectedly expecting. They never married, but they built something most married couples would envy: a genuinely loving, cooperative co-parenting family centered on their daughter Charlotte. In this encore, both join Karen to talk honestly about the early friction, the blended family that grew up around Charlotte, and the biannual family vacations they now take together. Kyle even held the ceremonial hoop at Kelly's wedding. A story about choosing love over logistics — and what it looks like when it actually works. Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com

    Summer Encore: Childhood Sweethearts, Co-Parents — Kelly and Kyle on Choosing Love

  2. Jul 30 ·  Video

    Future You Deserves Better: Kathryn Grady on Intentional Divorce and Financial Literacy

    Adult child of divorce Kathryn Grady joins host Karen McNenny for a candid, deeply human conversation about what divorce looks like through the eyes of a child — not just in the moment, but decades later. Kathryn reflects on being raised in the 1970s by a single mother who stepped into independence during the early era of no‑fault divorce. As Karen notes, “your mom really was this warrior woman coming out like a phoenix out of the ashes." Kathryn shares how her mother’s courage, stability, and intentionality shaped her sense of self, her adulthood, and her understanding of healthy partnership. Together, Karen and Kathryn explore the emotional ecosystem of divorce: the stigma of the 80s, the latchkey‑kid generation, the importance of protecting children from adult conflict, and the long‑term impact of how parents speak about one another. Kathryn describes the slow realization of her father’s mental‑health challenges and the quiet ways her mother shielded her from instability. In the second half of the episode, Kathryn brings her professional lens as a financial advisor, offering practical guidance for newly divorced or soon‑to‑be‑solo households. She and Karen walk listeners through the first steps of financial clarity — gathering assets, understanding accounts, and building confidence through education. As Kathryn says, “a conversation is not a commitment — it’s just a conversation." Their shared message: divorce is survivable, navigable, and even transformative when approached with intention, stability, and informed decision‑making. Karen McNenny: https://www.karenmcnenny.com/ Kathryn Grady (Financial Advisor): https://www.northwesternmutual.com/financial/advisor/kathryn-grady/

    Future You Deserves Better: Kathryn Grady on Intentional Divorce and Financial Literacy

  3. Jul 16 ·  Video

    Summer Encore: What Happens When the Marriage Ends and the Band Breaks Up?

    Jake and Jenny met in their early twenties, made music together across two decades, and then had to figure out how to dissolve a marriage without destroying everything they'd built. In this encore conversation, the Bozeman-based musicians share how Jake's family history — a sprawling, amicable blended family that gathered together every Christmas — gave them both a blueprint for what was possible. They talk about navigating a divorce with no children but deep community roots, honoring a successful marriage as complete rather than a failure, and finding new ways to love each other from a distance. Genuine, funny, and quietly profound. Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com

    Summer Encore: What Happens When the Marriage Ends and the Band Breaks Up?

  4. Jul 2 ·  Video

    Kate Liles on Growing Up Across Two Homes When Nothing Was Shared

    What does divorce look like through the eyes of a child — and decades later, through the eyes of an adult? This week, Karen welcomes Kate Liles, who grew up navigating life across two households after her parents divorced when she was just a year old. Kate shares her story with honesty and grace, offering a rare, firsthand look at the lasting impact of the decisions parents make during and after divorce. Kate and Karen explore the do's and don'ts that shaped Kate's childhood: the split holidays and double birthday parties, the toys that weren't allowed to cross between homes, the emotional labor of playing referee between parents — and the extended family members and step-parents who complicated things further. Kate also reflects on the long shadow of parental conflict, the challenge of building her own marriage as a child of divorce, and the moment at her college graduation when she witnessed something she'd waited more than three decades to see. A cautionary tale and a story of resilience, this episode is a reminder that children aren't just caught in the middle of divorce — they carry it with them long after it's over. And as Kate says: your kids will be okay. But the choices you make now matter more than you know. The Good Divorce is hosted by Karen McNenny, author, mediator, and divorce consultant. For more, visit karenmcnenny.com, and pick up Karen's new book, The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family.

    Kate Liles on Growing Up Across Two Homes When Nothing Was Shared

  5. Jun 18

    Summer Encore: For the Dads — Patrick Duganz on Father Engagement After Divorce

    Karen revisits a Father's Day conversation with Patrick Duganz, who has spent over a decade as the father engagement specialist at the Gallatin City-County Health Department in Bozeman, Montana. Patrick talks candidly about why dads often arrive at parenthood underprepared, how a lack of targeted support for fathers shows up in everything from home visiting programs to divorce proceedings, and what it looks like when a dad gets the help he needs just in time. His story about "Bob" — a new single dad on the verge of giving up — is one for the books. A warm, practical, and deeply human conversation about supporting fathers so they can show up fully for their kids. Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com

    Summer Encore: For the Dads — Patrick Duganz on Father Engagement After Divorce

  6. Jun 4

    The Weight of Two Losses: A Child and a Marriage

    Divorce coach Kelly Myers knows what it looks like when the system fails families — because she lived it. When Kelly and her husband divorced in 2011–2012, their three boys were six, eight, and ten years old. What followed was two years of litigation and more than $100,000 in legal costs — a path she didn't fully understand she was choosing when she stepped into it. In this candid and deeply personal conversation, Kelly shares how the "ecosystem of divorce" — mediators, attorneys, friends, and family — can fan the flames of conflict rather than help families restructure. Her mediator told her not to worry about financial inequities; her attorney didn't tell her that pursuing support modifications would reopen custody. The result: years of stress, resentment, and a version of herself she's not proud of — one who was yelling in the car on the way to her son's eighth-grade graduation, too overwhelmed to simply be present.          Kelly reflects on the turning point that came when she stopped focusing on what was fair and started asking what was right for her kids. She and her co-parent Blake eventually built a respectful, collaborative relationship — one that was tested profoundly when their son Jack passed away in June 2024 after years of struggle with mental health and addiction. Rather than letting grief pull them apart, Kelly and Blake came together to plan Jack's service, support their surviving sons, and hold each other through unimaginable loss. That experience crystallized for Kelly why this work matters so much. Now a certified divorce and co-parenting coach, Kelly helps clients understand the realities of the divorce system before they're swept into it — managing emotions outside of decision-making, building comprehensive parenting plans, and thinking about co-parenting not just as a legal arrangement but as a long-term business partnership in raising their children. Key themes in this episode: How the divorce ecosystem — lawyers, mediators, social circles — shapes (and often inflames) outcomesWhy litigation risks are rarely explained to clients up frontThe shift from "what's fair" to "what does my child's divorce story look like?"Viewing co-parenting as a business partnership, not a custody arrangementThe difference between parenting 50% of the time and being a parent 100% of the timeRepairing the relationship with your kids — and yourself — even after difficult chaptersThe gift of a co-parenting relationship strong enough to hold a family together through lossResources & Websites Mentioned: First Steps Divorce — Kelly Myers' coaching practice: firststepsdivorce.comThe Good Divorce Podcast — hosted by Karen McNenny: karenmcnenny.comThe Good Divorce by Karen McNenny — available wherever books are sold

    The Weight of Two Losses: A Child and a Marriage

  7. May 28

    The Book Is in the World — Now the Real Work Begins (Part 3 of 3)

    On April 26th, 2024, an email arrived asking Karen if she'd ever thought about writing a book. Exactly two years later to the day, a box of 300 copies landed on her front porch. In the final episode of this behind-the-scenes mini-series, Karen picks up where the manuscript ends and the movement begins. She talks about her first major book launch — a keynote for 250 HR professionals in her hometown — and why a room full of people who manage workplace breakups turned out to be exactly the right audience. She shares the moment she asked everyone touched by divorce to stand up, and how quickly almost the entire room was on its feet. She also makes the case for why this book belongs in HR offices, therapists' waiting rooms, and the hands of anyone who has ever loved someone going through a divorce — which, it turns out, is most of us. Karen also reads from the final chapter — The New — a quiet scene at a middle school choir concert where an offhand compliment from her ex-husband reminds her why they did all of this in the first place. Pick up your copy of The Good Divorce at karenmcnenny.com/the-good-divorce.

    The Book Is in the World — Now the Real Work Begins (Part 3 of 3)

  8. May 21

    Tearing It Apart and Sewing It Back Together: Writing The Good Divorce (Part 2 of 3)

    She had a book deal. Now she had to write the book. In Part 2 of this behind-the-scenes series, Karen walks through what it actually took to get The Good Divorce from outline to print — nine months of writing squeezed around a graduating son, a daughter heading to Europe, divorce clients, speaking gigs, and a single-income household with no one to walk the dog. She bought a van, hired back her ghostwriting team with money she didn't have, and spent the better part of three months writing from campgrounds across the Pacific Northwest. Then came the restructuring. Two days over Thanksgiving, alone with her golden retriever Moab, Karen spread the entire manuscript across her kitchen counter and dining room table — color-coded, categorized, and cut apart — before putting it back together into something that finally made sense. Thirty percent didn't make the cut. What followed was twelve days of around-the-clock rewriting alongside her developmental editor in South Africa, a copy editor who found corrections on every page, a design team, and a managing editor in India keeping all the plates spinning toward a May 19th release date. At the end of the show, Karen reads from Chapter Seven — The Community — on leaning into her people when the grief felt too big to carry alone, and the friend who gave her permission to stop pretending everything was bubbles and rainbows. Part 3 is next: the book is written. Now she has to sell it. 🔖 Pick up your copy of The Good Divorce at karenmcnenny.com/the-good-divorce.

    Tearing It Apart and Sewing It Back Together: Writing The Good Divorce (Part 2 of 3)
See All (108)

Trailers

Ratings & Reviews

3.3
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Are you thinking about divorce? If you are, you’re probably thinking about it all wrong. The Good Divorce® Show is here to debunk the myths about divorce, give you guidance on how to navigate it without conflict and debt, and equip you to not just get divorced but to also be divorced, happily ever after. Join host and divorce coach Karen McNenny as she shares her wealth of knowledge, gets advice from other relationship experts, and profiles couples who learned how to have a Good Divorce, so you can too!

Information

  • Creator
    Karen McNenny, The Good Divorce® Show
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    108
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Karen McNenny, The Good Divorce® Show
  • Show Website
    The Good Divorce® Show

You Might Also Like