According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2024 there were 47,216 divorces granted in Australia. Anyone who has been through one, knows it can be a traumatic and emotionally difficult time.
But help is at hand; not a lawyer or financial advisor, but a “divorce coach”.
On November 10th, “Hendo” was joined by Sydney divorce coach, Naomi Cao on ‘Monday Morning Matters’, talking all things… well, divorce!
Cao’s coaching journey started with her own unexpected divorce, resulting in frozen finances and her inability to seek legal advice.
“I help people navigate and get some clarity on what they’re experiencing at the time and having experienced it myself I do really understand what it feels like to be sitting in that mud,” said Cao.
She furthered saying her clients are granted a “safe space to download their emotions, feel the betrayal; feel you know how they got to this place today…I provide a roadmap for people.”
Prior to her shift in career, Cao was a pharmacist by trade, enabling her with previous experience in “counselling patients and really understanding, you know, I guess their health treatments… I do come from a mental health awareness space.”
The main preface of Cao’s coaching revolves around, “the whole idea is to avoid court. I mean sometimes, it’s unavoidable in some situations…the whole premise is to actually give people a little bit more clarity, and so that they can have the confidence to properly instruct their lawyers.”
When reflecting on difficulties individuals seek her expertise on, Cao expressed, “you’ve got a lot of women who do come, and they’ve spent some many years looking after the kids, and they get that message you know, ‘I don’t want to be married anymore’. The first thing that comes to mind is, ‘how am I going to survive?’.
Cao reflected on her own personal experience continuing, “I felt my situation for the first time, in such a long time; that I was really financially vulnerable. Where I couldn’t afford the basics. It was a decision, do I make the hour consultation with a lawyer, where I spend $600. Or do I keep that money and spend it on groceries for my kids”.
Have a listen!