Separation / Divorce Coach and Strategist

09/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

The mid-afternoon crash. The inexplicable anxiety that arrives around 3pm. The irritability that lands after the second coffee and the biscuits that came with it. Blood sugar dysregulation is one of the most under-discussed contributors to the emotional volatility that separation amplifies. When glucose spikes sharply and then drops which processed sugar reliably produces the body interprets the crash as a physiological stress signal and responds with cortisol. For someone whose cortisol is already elevated, this compounds an already difficult baseline. This is not a directive to eat perfectly. It is an invitation to notice whether what you are eating is helping or adding to the chemical noise of an already demanding season. Swap one spike for something steadier. See what the afternoon feels like.

Book a FREE 30-min Clarity Call at www.naomicao.com

09/09/2026

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The institution meant to protect Australia’s vulnerable children has been called the most dangerous in the country – and this bombshell investigation reveals why. > https://bit.ly/4yosDL0

09/09/2026

Last night I gave a short presentation to a room of small business owners on preparing for Mental Health Month in October.

Some of the statistics were confronting.

58% of Australian small business owners have hidden their business stress from their own family or partner. Not from the bank. Not from their staff. From the person closest to them.

So here are five practical things you can do for your workplace. None of them cost money.

1. Put the helpline numbers where people can actually see them.
Not buried in a training manual. On the wall in the kitchen, on the back of the toilet door, in the truck. People take a number down when nobody is watching them take it.

2. Ask your staff how they are going, and mean it.
Not in a performance review. Not on a Friday afternoon. Ask when nothing is riding on the answer, and be genuinely interested in the reply.

3. Name the barriers, then remove one.
People do not avoid help because they are fine. They avoid it because of cost, time, stigma, and a belief that services will not understand them. Offering paid time off for an appointment removes two of those four in a single decision.

4. Treat life events like they matter.
Celebrate the new baby. Show up when there has been a loss. Have one conversation about workload when someone's world has shifted, before it turns into a conversation about performance.

5. If you are the boss, let them see you are human.
We do not actually have to be strong all the time to lead. If you never mention or speak about your challenges, nobody on your team will mention theirs.

October is a good excuse to do one of these.

24/7 crisis lines
Lifeline 13 11 14, or text 0477 13 11 14, https://www.lifeline.org.au/
Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636, https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
Su***de Call Back Service 1300 659 467, https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/
13YARN 13 92 76, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis support, https://www.13yarn.org.au/
MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78, https://mensline.org.au/
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732, or text 0458 737 732, https://1800respect.org.au/
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/
Emergency 000

For business owners
https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/newaccess-for-small-business-owners
Medicare Mental Health 1800 595 212, Mon to Fri 8:30am to 5pm, https://www.medicarementalhealth.gov.au/
MindSpot 1800 614 434, Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm, Sat 8am to 6pm, https://mindspot.org.au/

For tradies and blue collar teams
TIACS 0488 846 988, call or text, Mon to Fri 8am to 10pm AEST, https://www.tiacs.org/
MATES in Construction 1300 642 111, 24/7, https://mates.org.au/
R U OK? free workplace and tradie conversation kits, https://www.ruok.org.au/
Separation and family
Relationships Australia 1300 364 277, https://www.relationships.org.au/
Family Relationship Advice Line 1800 050 321, https://www.familyrelationships.gov.au/

09/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

People come to me wanting the transformation to be dramatic. The clean break, the decisive settlement, the moment everything shifts. And sometimes there are moments like that. But mostly, the change that lasts is built from the unremarkable: one honest conversation, one financial document understood, one boundary held, one morning where you didn't send the reactive message. These things don't feel like much on any given day. Over six months, they are everything. Small steps, compounded, are how people come out of separation ahead. Not one big leap. A thousand small ones.

Book a FREE 30-min Clarity Call at www.naomicao.com

07/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

The speed at which someone moves on after a relationship ends is not a measure of how much you mattered. I want to say that again because the feeling it creates is so convincing: it is not a measure of how much you mattered. Fast rebounds are almost always about avoidance about a person who cannot tolerate being alone with the reality of what has ended and what they may have contributed to it. That new relationship is doing a lot of emotional work that isn't being done. Meanwhile, you are in the harder, slower, more honest process of actually feeling it and rebuilding from the truth. The person doing the real work is you. That process is less visible and far more valuable than anything showing up on someone's Instagram. Your timeline is not a deficit. It is integrity.

Book a FREE 30-min Clarity Call at www.naomicao.com

07/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

I paid thousands in legal fees.
Not one dollar of it helped me hold myself together.
The legal stuff is just one part of divorce. What I actually needed was someone to help me carry the rest.

06/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

Your ex doesn't control your narrative. The court doesn't control your identity. Your mother-in-law's opinion has no jurisdiction over your life. What you think about yourself during this process will shape every decision you make. Guard it ferociously.

05/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

The handover where you smiled and meant it, even though everything in you wanted to say something. The school event where you sat on your side and stayed focused on the child in the middle. The conversation you didn't have the one that would have felt good in the moment and cost them something they didn't deserve to carry. Every time you chose them over the conflict, you were doing the most important work of this process. Today, be grateful for every one of those choices.

Book a FREE 30-min Clarity Call at www.naomicao.com

04/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

We have been sold the idea that productivity requires urgency. That if you're not slightly anxious and pushed, you're not really working. In separation, this kills people. Every decision made from panic costs three times what it would have cost from calm. You send the reactive email now you have a legal issue. You agree to terms under pressure now you have a settlement that doesn't serve you. You snap at your kids now you have a repair conversation on top of everything else. Calm is not passive. Calm is the most energy-efficient operating mode available to you. Protect it like the resource it is.

Book a FREE 30-min Clarity Call at www.naomicao.com

04/09/2026

SPLIT HAPPENS 💔

Feedback from one of my talks with Downer Group, speaking as a Beyond Blue speaker.

We talked about separation and divorce, and the mental load it puts on people long after the paperwork is done.

Stress and anxiety do not stay at home. They show up at work. Trouble concentrating. Withdrawing from the team. More days off. A shorter fuse.

If that sounds like someone you work with, you do not need the right words. Just ask.

Beyond Blue Support Service: 1300 22 4636, 24/7.