Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health,

personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions

of ourselves.

I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia.

For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at therapyforblackgirls.com.

While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute

for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional.

Hey y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session 114 of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Audrey Townsell joined us to talk about co-parenting, and we got lots of

follow up questions about being a step-parent or dating someone with children. So in today's episode,

we'll be diving into all of this. For this conversation, I was joined by Shelley Weir.

Shelley is a licensed, marriage and family therapist, as well as a step-family coach with a

private practice in the state of California. Shelley sees clients both in person and online.

She specializes in working with step-parents, as well as millennial and Jinx women of color,

experiencing stress in their relationships or careers. Shelley has 10 years of experience

working with families and has training in parent-child interactive therapy. She's also a contributing

rider to StepMom Magazine, an online magazine dedicated to helping StepMom's both married and

cohabitating navigate the challenges of step parenting and re-coupling. Shelley and I chatted about

some of the common challenges that may come up when dating someone with children, some common

misconceptions about step-families, how to engage with the kids, and she shared her favorite

resources about step-families. If you hear anything while listening that really resonates with you,

please be sure to share it with us on social media using the hashtag,

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