Understanding Men and Women: Why Relationships Break Down—and How Awareness Changes Everything with Alison Armstrong
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Release Date: 03/05/2026
How to Stop Anxiety from Controlling Your Divorce Decisions with Mindful Drinking Coach, Colleen Freeland Kachmann
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
If you've ever felt like you can't think straight, can't stop second-guessing yourself, or can't figure out why you keep making decisions you regret, this episode is for you. One of the most damaging and least talked about effects of divorce is what anxiety does to your decision making. Fear takes over, your nervous system goes into overdrive, and suddenly you're not making choices from a clear, grounded place, you're reacting. Most people don't even realize it's happening until the damage is done, and for many, anxiety and alcohol end up feeding each other during this exact chapter of life....
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10 Year Anniversary Episode: High Conflict Relationships: Self-Love Deficit, Delusions & Boundaries
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
To celebrate a decade of Journey Beyond Divorce, we're sharing a special collection of episodes featuring Karen McMahon as a guest on some of her favorite podcasts. Over the years, Karen has joined incredible hosts across the divorce, coaching, and personal growth space to share her story and her expertise. This collection brings those conversations together in one place, offering a look at Karen's voice and message from a different angle, through the eyes of the hosts who welcomed her. Thank you for being part of this journey, and for helping Journey Beyond Divorce grow into what it is today....
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The Masculine Dilemma: Why Divorced Men Keep Repeating the Same Mistakes with, Relationship and Men’s Work Coach, Geoff Laughton
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
What if divorce wasn't really about her? That's the question Karen McMahon poses to open this episode of Journey Beyond Divorce, and the question at the center of her conversation with Geoff Laughton, a Relationship and Men's Work Coach with 33 years of experience, 300+ workshops, and thousands of clients. Geoff calls the pattern the "Masculine Dilemma," a set of unconscious traps that quietly erode men's marriages long before divorce ever becomes a possibility. He's also 44 years into his own marriage, so he's not just teaching this work, he's living it. Karen and Geoff dig into what actually...
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How High-Conflict Childhoods Shape Adult Children with Dr. Sharon Martin, DSW, LCSW
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
High-conflict divorce doesn't end when the papers are signed. It lives on in the next generation, and often in the very patterns adults bring into their own marriages. In this episode, Karen McMahon sits down with Dr. Sharon Martin to unpack how growing up in a dysfunctional or high-conflict home quietly shapes the adults those children become, showing up years later as codependency, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and conflict avoidance. Karen and Dr. Martin trace how a child's instinct to stay safe around unpredictable or explosive parents can calcify into lifelong habits of...
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How to Start the Divorce Process... What Most People Get Wrong
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
You've made the decision, or maybe it's been made for you. Either way, most people do what feels urgent: call a lawyer in a panic, tell their spouse too soon, move out of the house without thinking it through. Those early moves can follow you through the whole process. In this episode, Karen McMahon shares the five essentials to get right before you file, so you move forward with clarity and a plan instead of fear. First, investigate your legal rights, talk to a matrimonial attorney in your jurisdiction before you do anything else, so you understand where you stand on finances, assets, and...
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Gray Divorce: What Every Man and Woman Over 50 Needs to Know About Retirement, Social Security, and Spousal Support with Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, Andrew Hatherley
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Divorce after 50 looks nothing like divorce in your 30s or 40s. Custody battles and parenting plans give way to a different kind of high-stakes negotiation, one centered almost entirely on money: retirement accounts, pensions, Social Security, and spousal support. And with gray divorce rates doubling since 1990 for people over 50, and tripling for those over 65, Karen McMahon believes this is a conversation more couples urgently need. In this episode of the Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast, Karen sits down with Andrew Hatherly, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), trained mediator, and...
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Divorce Without Court: Choosing the Right Approach - Mediation, Collaborative Divorce, and Settlement Negotiation with Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Cary Jacobson
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Most people assume divorce means courtrooms, legal battles, and losing control of the outcome, but Karen McMahon knows that's not always true. In this episode of the Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast, Karen sits down with Cary Jacobson, a collaborative divorce attorney, mediator, and child advocate, to break down every path to divorce outside of litigation and help listeners understand which one actually fits their situation. Karen and Cary walk through the full spectrum of options, from do-it-yourself kitchen table agreements and settlement negotiation between attorneys, to mediation, to the...
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Divorcing with a Special Needs Child: 5 Critical Considerations with Mary Ann Hughes
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Parenting a neurodivergent or special needs child already takes constant coordination and advocacy. When divorce enters the picture, Karen McMahon believes those needs don't get simpler, they become the center of every decision. In this episode, Karen sits down with Mary Ann Hughes, founder of Special Family Transitions and a certified special needs divorce coach, mediator, and co-parenting specialist. As the mother of sons on the autism spectrum, Mary Ann brings both lived experience and deep expertise to a conversation most divorce professionals aren't equipped to have. Together they cover...
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Healthy Masculinity After Divorce: The Skill Men Were Never Taught with Brent Perkins
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Karen McMahon sits down with Brent Perkins, founder of 3x Bold and director of leadership at Front Row Dads, to unpack a pattern she sees constantly in her work with high-achieving men going through divorce: they know how to control themselves, but they were never taught capacity, the ability to stay present in emotional, messy, or uncertain moments without fixing or shutting down. Brent built seven and eight-figure companies, led global teams, and did everything right on paper, until his marriage ended and forced him to confront the patterns his success had never solved. In this conversation,...
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When Co-Parenting Isn’t an Option: A Trauma-Informed Path to Protecting Your Child with AJ Gajjar, Trauma-Informed Parenting Consultant
Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast
Co-parenting is often held up as the gold standard after divorce. But that advice assumes two emotionally healthy, cooperative parents. In high-conflict divorce, and especially in situations involving coercive control, manipulation, or post-separation abuse, that assumption can do more harm than good. In this episode, Karen McMahon is joined by AJ Gajjar, Parenting & Trauma Consultant, child development specialist, and creator of Trauma Healing Parenting, for an important conversation about what children truly need when co-parenting isn't possible. Together, they explore why many parents...
info_outlineIn this episode of the Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast, Karen McMahon sits down with relationship expert Alison Armstrong to explore how fundamental differences between men and women often fuel misunderstanding, conflict, and disconnection—both in marriage and during divorce.
Alison shares powerful insights into how men and women process the world differently, including the concept of single-focus versus diffuse awareness. She explains how testosterone supports a focused, task-oriented state of mind and why many men need transition time after work to shift from problem-solving mode into connection at home—a dynamic that is often misunderstood as distance or indifference.
The conversation also dives into how emotional dynamics affect men biologically, why many men need safety and time to access their feelings, and how both men and women frequently misinterpret each other’s intentions—confusing hurt with disrespect.
Together, Karen and Alison discuss how shifting the questions we ask, assuming positive intent, and stepping out of punishment-based dynamics can dramatically change communication during and after divorce. They also highlight the importance of prioritizing children’s wellbeing and creating healthier patterns moving forward.
Alison also shares resources from her work, including Lux and The Queen’s Code, offering listeners practical tools for building greater understanding and connection.
If you’ve ever wondered why communication between men and women can feel so frustrating—and how to change that dynamic—this episode offers insight, compassion, and a new lens for navigating relationships with greater clarity.
Connect with Alison:
- YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/PAXPrograms - Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnderstandMen - Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/TheAlisonArmstrong/
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Follow JBD on Instagram: @journey_beyond_divorce
- Book a Free Rapid Relief Call: http://rapidreliefcall.com
- Free Divorce Support Network Gift: https://divorcesupportnetwork.com/jbdpod