Episode
From Role Model to Soul Model: The Spiritual Dimension of Divorce Nobody Talks About with Lisa Lisser
- Podcast
- Divorce Happens
- Published
- Apr 17, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1337
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/divorce-happens
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Summary
There is a dimension of divorce that nobody warned you about — one that has nothing to do with lawyers or custody schedules or dividing furniture. It goes much deeper than any of that. Divorce goes to the heart of your identity. And when the role you built your life around — wife, partner, the person in that marriage — is suddenly gone, the question that surfaces isn't just "what do I do now?" It's "who am I without this?" In one of the most soulful and quietly transformative episodes of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell sits down with Lisa Lisser — divorce and life transition coach, former litigator, nonprofit leader, spiritual counselor, and holder of two master's degrees — to explore the spiritual dimension of divorce that most people only recognize in hindsight. Lisa has lived it herself, rebuilt herself from it, and now dedicates her practice to helping others do the same: move through divorce while holding onto their soul. At the center of this conversation is one of the most powerful reframes you will hear on this show: the shift from "role model" to "soul model." Lisa explains that when we define ourselves by our roles — wife, mother, career woman — and one of those roles collapses, we collapse with it. But the soul model is different. It's the thread beneath all the roles, the one anchored in your values rather than your titles. And it is that thread, Lisa argues, that becomes your compass through divorce. She walks through how this plays out in the messiest, most emotionally volatile moments — the impulse to blast your ex on social media, the urge to say the second half of that sentence, the moment you feel like you have to choose between being fierce and being strategic. Her answer is "strategic empathy": the practice of stepping just far enough into your…