The Post-Separation Abuse Podcast

The Post-Separation Abuse Podcast

Hosted by Danielle Black

A direct, evidence-based podcast for people navigating all-things separation and divorce, including; post-separation abuse, family violence, parenting, property settlement and the family law system - with a relentless focus on protecting children and building a life beyond separation. Because, the advice your lawyer gives you is only the beginning. Family law tells you what the system can do. This podcast helps you understand what to seek, what to challenge, what to bring into the room - and how to live with the decisions, and move on with your life, afterwards.

Danielle Black is a specialist post-separation parenting coach and the founder and principal coach of Danielle Black Coaching. Having navigated her own complex separation, and guided hundreds of clients to successful outcomes, Danielle and her coaching team specialise in helping protective parents to optimise the outcome for themselves and their children, and support clients to navigate post-separation situations that other professionals don't properly address.

Drawing on her extensive tertiary qualifications, developmental science, research, trauma-informed practice and both professional and lived experience, she examines how abuse can continue after separation, how systems and professionals respond, and what genuinely informed decision-making and credible advocacy requires when risk, fear or power imbalance is present.

Because understanding family law is not enough.

Having a lawyer is not enough.

A lawyer can advise you about the law, legal process and evidence. But optimising your parenting outcome also requires knowledge of child development, attachment, coercive control and trauma; the capacity to remain strategic under pressure; and the confidence to advocate for what you and your children genuinely need.

This podcast examines all of those layers.

It challenges the assumptions that routinely shape post-separation outcomes: the fixation on 50/50 shared care, the misuse of “friendly parent” ideals, the belief that compromise is always constructive, and the fantasy that engaging the right professional means you can safely hand over the strategy, decision-making and advocacy.

Across the podcast, Danielle explores:

how post-separation abuse operates through parenting, financial and legal processes;
what children need after separation - and why adult notions of fairness are an inadequate guide;
what lawyers and other post-separation professionals were, and were not, trained to understand;
why standard co-parenting frameworks often fail families affected by coercive control and other forms of family violence and post-separation abuse;
how to assess the benefits, risks and real-world costs of negotiation, litigation and other pathways;
how knowledge, capacity and advocacy can materially change outcomes;
and what comes next, when separation and survival no longer occupy the centre of your life.

Expect direct language, research-backed analysis, practical guidance and a few cuss words - not platitudes, false balance or simplistic promises of justice.

This is not only about understanding what happened in your situation.

It is about making informed decisions now - and becoming the author, and authority, of what comes next.

To go deeper, explore The Post-Separation Parenting Blueprint™, Danielle’s flagship program for parents building the knowledge, capacity and advocacy skills needed to make informed, protective decisions after separation.

Learn more at danielleblackcoaching.com.au.

Contributors

Host

Danielle Black

Hi, I’m Danielle.

I’m who women turn to when ‘conscious uncoupling’ doesn’t feel like an option.

I help women stay sane, take back control, and heal, while dealing with high-conflict separation, divorce and co-parenting. This includes optimising court outcomes when there are disputes about parenting arrangements.

I’m a specialist protective parenting coach with extensive lived and professional experience of high-conflict separation & divorce, including: post-separation abuse, mediation, meetings with expert witnesses and successfully creating safety, security and stability for families - including my own.

I'm honoured to walk beside women while they navigate what is often the hardest path they will ever experience.

Navigating separation and post-separation parenting can be like having your own personal ‘wilderness’, and we are stronger, and braver, together.

https://www.danielleblackcoaching.com.au

Co-host

Brigid Morgan

I'm a senior coach at Danielle Black Coaching.

I specialise in supporting parents without court orders to prioritise their child’s developmental needs in informed, intentional, and sustainable ways. This includes supporting parents to parent protectively, maintain appropriate boundaries, and make evidence-based, genuinely child-first decisions, while protecting their own emotional and mental health.

Working within the Post-Separation Parenting Blueprint™ and Danielle Black’s coaching framework, I bring deep experiential understanding shaped by professional training and lived experience.

Originally from New York USA, I understand the complexity that separation can involve for expat parents - particularly navigating high-stress family transitions while family and support networks are overseas.

My work is also informed by lived experience navigating high-conflict separation as the primary caregiver to a neurodivergent child.

Co-host

Trudie Hargrave

I'm a senior coach at Danielle Black Coaching.

I’m here to help you understand the options open to you on your journey, and I specialise in helping clients understand the realities of the court system and post-separation co-parenting - including the realities of co-parenting after achieving parenting orders.

I am also passionate about supporting families with neurodivergent or additional-needs children, and helping parents maintain strong, secure bonds with their children post-separation - particularly in complex situations where the parent-child relationship may be vulnerable to pressure, manipulation, or exclusion.

I support parents to build parental capacity, emotional steadiness, and approaches to parenting that keep children at the centre.

I have extensive lived experience of high-conflict separation and co-parenting. This includes lived experience of the court system, legal aid, and optimising my court outcome.

https://www.danielleblackcoaching.com.au