I built the method I wish someone had handed me.
Seventeen years of lived experience working with families navigating separation and divorce - distilled into six steps that work even when your co-parent won't.
Where it started
In 2009, my marriage ended and I became a co-parent overnight. There was no roadmap waiting for me. The advice I found was either vague reassurance to stay positive, or instructions to simply grit my teeth and get through it. Neither was good enough for my son, and I knew I had to find something better.
So I spent years studying how people actually communicate under pressure, what genuinely damages children in separated families, and what protects them instead. This was not theory I read in a book. It was lived experience, tested and refined alongside hundreds of families since.
The result is The Co-Parenting Method: six steps that work whether your co-parent is on board or not.
High-conflict communications specialist, diplomatic sector
The foundations of the method were built here — studying how people communicate under extreme pressure, and what genuinely works when conflict feels unavoidable.
Became a co-parent overnight after separation
My marriage ended and there was no roadmap — just vague reassurance and instructions to grit my teeth. Neither was good enough for my son, and I knew I had to find something better.
Co-parenting and executive coaching practice launched
The method moved from personal to professional — tested, refined, and applied alongside hundreds of real families going through separation and divorce across the world.
Resolution Innovation Award & Children's Champion 2023
Recognised by the family law community for a structured, child-focused approach to co-parenting support — the first method of its kind globally.
The Co-Parenting Method — published by Penguin
The Co-Parenting Method: Six Steps to Raise Happy Kids After Separation & Divorce — published by Penguin and an instant Amazon bestseller and endorsed by the President of the Family Division.
"Most advice out there tells you to either avoid conflict altogether or simply push through it. Neither of those is a method. They are just survival, and survival is not good enough for your children. The Co-Parenting Method is not about getting through co-parenting. It is about doing it well, with real structure, clear boundaries, and a plan that holds steady even when the other parent will not cooperate. "— Marcie Shaoul | The Co-Parenting Method
A structured path toward sustainable peace.
Six steps designed to work whether your co-parent is on board or not - built on real structure, not survival advice.
Moving from Pain to Long-Term Gain
Build a clear, specific picture of the co-parenting relationship you want in five years - not a vague hope, but a defined target. Every other step builds on this one.
Managing Strong Emotions
Practical tools to hold anger, fear and frustration steady so you can show up for your children - even on the days you don't feel it.
Reinforcing Healthy Boundaries
Understand what is actually driving your co-parent's behaviour - and set limits that protect you and your children without escalating conflict further.
Communicating Without Conflict
Learn to listen properly, say what needs to be said clearly, and de-escalate a conversation before it turns into a fight. Tools you can rely on every time.
Making Effective Co-Parenting Decisions
A reliable process for the decisions that really matter - schools, holidays, new partners. Built to last well beyond the conversation you are having today.
Beyond Surviving to Thriving
Understand what you can control and what you can’t so you can build a life and sense of self that lets you show up as the parent your children need - long after you have finished working through the method.
It's not about getting through separation and divorce. It's about doing it well.
The Co-Parenting Method is built on real structure, clear boundaries, and a plan that holds steady even when the other parent will not cooperate.
No scripts, no manipulation - just practical tools you can rely on in every difficult conversation, whether your co-parent is on board or not. The most important part - the kids are front and centre.