Bloomingdale Psychological Services offers psychological, financial, and career counseling for individuals and families undergoing emotional and financial stress due to separation or divorce. We provide programs and resources that encourage personal growth and well-being, and offer services in the following areas:

Psychological

• Diagnostic assessment
• Individual, couple, or family counseling
• Group therapy
• Support Groups
• Workshops

Financial

• Individual, couple, or family counseling
• Cash management
• Debt reduction
• Workshops

Legal

• Education
• Mediation
• Referrals
• Attorney accompaniment
• Workshops

Career

• Assessment
• Goal setting
• Review of resumes
• Interview training
• Workshops

The following guiding principles are central to our treatment of people undergoing separation or divorce:

• If possible, marriages should be maintained, but divorce is sometimes necessary, non-preventable, and inevitable.
• Personal growth and self-awareness are essential to the prevention of further relationship problems and divorces in a person’s life.
• Relationships with friends and family can be strengthened if personal growth results from the divorce experience.
• Marital separation and divorce are painfully disruptive experiences for all involved family members and friends.
• Drug and alcohol abuse are self-defeating reactive behaviors to divorce.
• Supportive assistance is necessary during the process of divorce and life-reestablishment.
• One's spiritual beliefs can be an important source of emotional support and can often be strengthened and fortified during the divorce process.
• New relationships and remarriages should be delayed until personal growth and self-awareness have begun and until one's personal life has been reestablished.
• Legal and psychological knowledge are necessary and beneficial aspects to learning and coping during the divorce process.
• Divorce mediation is a more beneficial legal alternative than an adversarial structure.

Suggestions for how to cope with divorce:

Divorce is a life crisis that requires a period of adjustment. The following are suggestions for how to cope with this adjustment:

• Accept the reality of your divorce as disruptive and painful for everyone involved.
• Accept the gradual nature of recovery. Transition takes time; focus first on the small steps towards the reestablishment of your life.
• Commit to taking charge of your life. You cannot always control the things that happen around you, but you can control how you react to them. The key to emerging from your divorce healthier emotionally is your attitude and state of mind.
• Minimize the energy you spend on negative thoughts and feelings and redirect that energy toward positive and realistic goals, and not unrealistic expectations.
• Accept the responsibility for the adjustment of your children. Concentrate on helping your children listen, share, and participate.
• Obtain information about the legal process. Learn what your rights are and how the system works. Seek an attorney who prefers to negotiate rather than litigate.
• Accept that you may need help in many facets of the divorce process.
• Become active with your old friends while at the same time develop new ones. Don't avoid friends who were marital couples as new readjusted relationships may be established.
• Try new activities and stay involved old ones that bring you comfort and satisfaction. Start a daily journal and chart your progress.
• Gather resource information. Read self-help books and attend seminars and workshops.
• Develop solitary activities that give you pleasure and focus, such as hobbies, crafts, reading, music, or films.