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The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

Episode 129: High-Conflict Divorce and Family Court Advocacy with Tina Swithin

The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

Kate Anthony

Relationships, Self-improvement, Education, Society & Culture

4.4574 Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest, Tina Swithin, survived a "Category Five Divorce Hurricane," while acting as her own attorney in a high-conflict custody battle that turned her family's life upside down for over a decade. Tina is the author of Divorcing a Narcissist and the founder of One Mom's Battle. She continues to champion children's rights through her family court advocacy and works to raise awareness of the issues in the family court system and to educate the general public on post-separation abuse and narcissistic abuse. 

Show Highlights

  • Tina shares her journey of becoming an "accidental" author and family court advocate - and how she came to grips with the fact that she couldn't fix her ex's narcissism, and would either need to accept this was her life or move on. 
  • "It took me almost six years to really see who my ex-husband was. I can't go into family court and expect that the judge is just going to see that this person is a problem...It's a marathon to get to the point where they do recognize who the problem person [is in the relationship]. "
  • Family court is simply not equipped to deal with high-conflict divorce proceedings, plus some of the aspects that are broken.
  • The aftermath of divorcing a narcissist: post-separation abuse.

Learn More About Tina:

Tina Swithin survived a "Category Five Divorce Hurricane" while acting as her own attorney in a high-conflict custody battle that turned her family's life upside down for over a decade. While divorces are never easy, Tina quickly learned that a divorce involving a narcissist takes the term, "high-conflict" to a level that few can comprehend. To articulate what was happening, she took shelter from the storm by chronicling her journey in her (now) internationally recognized blog, "One Mom's Battle." Tina's plight grew from just one mom to a village of tens of thousands who all share the same story. There were different variations and nuances, but the common denominator is toxic, high conflict individuals, and post-separation abuse.  

With all odds against her, Tina's battle came to an end on August 30, 2019, when she successfully terminated her ex-husband's parental rights. Tina has chosen to assume the title of survivor versus victim and has become an advocate for change in the Family Court System after seeing the flaws first-hand. Tina believes that the courts have lost sight of their primary focus, which should be the best interest of the child and instead, are too focused on parental rights. Tina believes that children are suffering unnecessarily due to the lack of education on the front lines—and behind the judicial bench.    

Tina Swithin is the author of Divorcing a Narcissist (series) and founder of the High Conflict Divorce Coach Certification Program. Tina Swithin has been awarded honors such as the "Top 20 Professionals Under 40" and the "Top 40 Professionals Under 40" in several regional California newspapers. Tina resides in San Luis Obispo, California with her husband and her two daughters.

Resources & Links:
Show notes and links can be also be found at: https://kateanthony.com/podcast/high-conflict-divorce-and-family-court-advocacy-with-tina-swithin/

Tina's website
Tina on Facebook 
Tina on Instagram
Donate to the Thrive Fund
Should I Stay or Should I Go (Kate's Program)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the Divorce Survival Guide podcast, where we have open and honest conversations about co-parenting, separation, divorce, and the hardest question of all, should you stay or should you go.

0:17.7

I'm Kate Anthony, your divorce survival guide, and I'm here to help you navigate

0:22.8

some of the roughest waters you've ever swum in and answer some of your toughest questions.

0:28.5

I've been to hell and back, and now it's my mission in life to help you get to the other side

0:34.2

of this process with your sanity and your heart intact.

0:44.6

Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Divorce Survival Guide podcast.

0:51.4

So today is a big one. It's a big one for me and it's probably a big one for you. You all know

1:00.1

Tina Swithin as the author of divorcing a narcissist and the founder of one mom's battle. She has also

1:10.4

recently started a high conflict divorce coach

1:12.9

certification program. So for those of you who are interested in getting into this work, I highly

1:20.3

recommend checking out Tina's certification program. Tina Swithin continues to champion children's rights through her family

1:29.4

court advocacy. Tina is working to raise awareness of the issues in the family court system and to

1:36.3

educate the general public on post-separation abuse and narcissistic abuse. And on the

1:43.5

flip side, Tina's remarried and happily remarried. And she resides in

1:48.6

San Luis Obispo, California with her husband and her two daughters. And this is a really great

1:54.9

conversation, you guys. So many of Tina's story of her, of surviving her, which she terms her category five divorce hurricane,

2:03.1

and while acting as her own attorney in a high conflict custody battle that turned her

2:08.5

family's life upside down for over a decade. If you don't know her story, I highly recommend

2:13.8

that you read her book, now a series, Divorcing a Narcissist, check out One

2:20.1

Mom's Battle. She's got a great newsletter, and she is always updating people. She did it in

2:26.0

real time while it was going on, and aspects of it have continued to go on. So, anyway, it's simply

2:31.9

an honor and a joy for me to have finally gotten the opportunity

...

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