Please Help...!

Today I sent this message to Linda Blum, of First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue.  Linda is in charge of that church's Divorce Recovery Workshop as well as their Singles group. This is just ONE step in my outreach effort to spread the word about the value of Divorce Support Groups and Workshops as well as to promote the growing trend toward Collaborative Divorce (no-court, peaceful, dignified divorce practice).

Please help spread the word by posting this blog to your Facebook page or tweet about it; sending it to your church or synagogue leadership, your counselor, your community leaders, or your colleagues/friends/family members who are or know somebody going through divorce.

Please help support the advancement of healing those in need by means of dignified conflict resolution methods.  

Thank-you!

Hi Linda,

I'm following up on a phone message I left you this morning.  As mentioned, I am a facilitator for the divorce support program (workshop and weekly support group) at University Presbyterian Church. I've been a facilitator there for the past 5.5 years, having participated in the workshop almost 8 years ago as an individual going through divorce.  It's been so rewarding to me in my role as facilitator to give back the support, hope and encouragement to those in need as they walk the heartbreaking path of divorce.  

I am also an attorney, who after 8 years of litigation practice, left the law 13 years ago because I was so jaundiced by the high conflict, competitive, no holds barred approach of our legal system.  In the meantime I have enjoyed a career as a freelance writer, specializing in writing about spas and wellness.  It was only in October 2010 that I learned of a growing movement in the realm of Family Law, called "Collaborative Law."  Collaborative Divorce (also called "no-court divorce," "divorce with dignity," "peaceful divorce") offers divorcing couples the support, protection, and guidance of their own collaboratively-trained lawyers without going to court. Additionally, Collaborative Divorce encourages the use of collaboratively-trained child and financial specialists, divorce coaches and other professionals all working together on one team.  The couple, with the guidance and resources of the collaborative team, then craft a mutually agreeable divorce settlement tailored to their needs and circumstances.

When I learned of Collaborative Law, I was thrilled since my role as facilitator had left me wishing there was some way to assist divorcing individuals legally, besides my returning to an intolerable career as a litigation attorney.  As I'm sure you've witnessed many times in your own workshop, our support group and workshops are rife with horror stories involving the legal system, whether it's the overwhelming expense of it, brutal litigation tactics, or ending up with a truly unjust settlement.  And so often children are caught in the middle, left with broken hearts and uncertain futures.  

Collaborative Law/Divorce strives to avoid all of these reproachful side effects and outcomes in a graceful and dignified fashion.  I quickly immersed myself in it, and immediately began acquiring my training and credentials to practice Collaborative Law.  I now have a small Collaborative Divorce practice located in Lake Forest Park (at the very north end of Lake Washington near Kenmore & Bothell), which I opened in February, and am humbly and gratefully serving individuals who seek a respectful and graceful means of divorce - even if they are currently in conflict with their spouses (as collaboratively-trained practitioners, we've been taught how to deal with higher conflict cases, not simply amicable ones).

I've provided a number of links regarding Collaborative Law below:

• baldwincollaborativelaw.com/  (this is my practice)
•   (I've recently started publishing a blog dubbed, "Divorce Doula" on a community news website)
• http://www.kingcountycollab.org/   (this is the King County Collaborative Professionals website - includes collaboratively-trained attorneys, financial advisors, divorce coaches, child specialists, etc.)
• http://www.collaborativepractice.com/   (this is the website of the International Association of Collaborative Professionals/IACP; this site has a plethora of great information, videos, resources, etc.)
•  http://video.collaborativepractice.com/video/default.html  (~20 minute fascinating video clip, recently produced by IACP which follows a real-life couple as they go through a Collaborative Divorce)

In any event, while I wanted to alert you to my practice, I'd also like to extend an invitation to meet with me so that we can discuss both of our church's divorce recovery/support programs and so we can learn from each other and share ideas, resources, and best practices.  As you may or may not be aware, UPC runs a well-attended weekly divorce support group (every Monday night from 7 to 8:30pm) year-around so as to provide support and continued learning and growth opportunities to those in need during the lengthy spells between our twice-annual Beyond Divorce workshops.  We would be honored to have you refer our weekly program to anyone seeking such immediate support.

Please let me know if we might be able to schedule a meeting to get together.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.  

Warmly,

~Brooks

L. Brooks Baldwin, Esq.

Baldwin Collaborative Law, LLC

"No-Court Divorce Solutions"

www.baldwincollaborativelaw.com

(206) 307-2472