Why Consider the Healthy Divorce Program?

Separation does not have to be adversarial. Through the Healthy Divorce Program, families move through emotionally supported, structured decision-making, guided by the experience and knowledge from both therapy and mediation professionals.

Giulia Papa

B.A., LL.B., AccFM, VOCP
Family Lawyer • Accredited Family Mediator (OAFM) • Child-Inclusive Mediator • Voice of the Child Practitioner

My Style & Approach

Giulia is a family lawyer and Accredited Family Mediator with the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM). She holds an LL.B. from the University of Kent and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2020. Giulia also holds a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School, completed in 2019. She is trained in child-inclusive mediation and is also a Voice of the Child practitioner. In her mediation practice, Giulia facilitates productive, balanced discussions and prepares clear, comprehensive mediation agreements that reflect the decisions made by the parties. Her approach is child-centred, trauma-aware, and grounded in dignity, clarity, and collaboration. Giulia supports families across Ontario as they navigate separation, parenting issues, and conflict with stability and confidence.

She has spent the past several years supporting individuals and families through the legal and emotional complexities of separation and divorce. Her practice is grounded in a non-adversarial, trauma-informed approach that empowers clients to create lasting, practical solutions related to parenting, support, and property division. Giulia collaborates closely with therapists and wellness professionals to ensure clients receive holistic and integrated care throughout their transitions.

Cindy McAfee

FOUNDER | RSSW, PSYCHOTHERAPIST
Areas of focus: Partner Betrayal, Infidelity, Relationship Challenges, Intimacy Reunification, Life Transitions, Grief, Anxiety, Depression, Alcohol/Drug Addiction, Relapse, Childhood/Adult Trauma, Self-Esteem, and Emotional Dysregulation.

Education, Training, & Personal Development

Cindy is registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and The Ontario Social Service Worker Association. Cindy is the winner of the 2024 Barb Baker Distinguished Social Service Work Merit award. She has over 15 years of experience working with Adults and supporting Individuals, Couples, and Families. She is a Group Therapy facilitator for Worthy, Women’s Support Group, and has facilitated groups at Barrie Withdrawal Management Services.

Cindy is certified in Gottman Couples Therapy and is a Gottman 7PP Educator. She is trained in screening for Domestic Violence, Family Mediation, New Ways for Families Mediation, and has worked with Gabor Mate through his Compassion Inquiry for childhood developmental trauma. 

Cindy uses evidence-based modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution Focused Therapy, Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), Applied Suicide Intervention, and Addictions Counseling.

Cindy works with clients who may be experiencing alcohol and drug addiction, relapse, grief, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, life transitions, relationship challenges, childhood trauma, partner betrayal & infidelity, and emotional regulation.

Personal Interests

Aside from running my practice and my work as a Counsellor, I am a proud “Glama” of two boys that bring immense joy and fulfilment to my life. It is a blessing witnessing their growth and development, from infancy to childhood and beyond, and being part of their milestones and achievements. I too get to be childlike by having playful moments, and share laughter by engaging in fun activities and shared experiences together.

Why choose the Healthy Divorce Program?


When emotions are tempered by practical decisions, families transition more successfully,  both legally and relationally. This program blends therapeutic insight with a mediation structure to achieve clarity, stability, and dignity.

The Healthy Divorce Program is designed to achieve the following goals:


  • Preserve respectful relationships wherever possible
  • Honour the needs and experiences of children

  • Reduce conflict, stress, and uncertainty

  • Create durable agreements that reflect self-determination and choice

What Is the Healthy Divorce Program?

Separation is both a legal transition and an emotional one, particularly when children are involved. The Healthy Divorce Program is a structured, therapy-informed mediation process designed for couples who have already participated in marriage or couples counselling and have decided to separate.



This program integrates therapy and family mediation, so emotional processing and practical decision-making move forward together, creating clearer agreements, reduced conflict, and a more stable family foundation.

Important Note:
We do not provide legal advice or legal representation. The Healthy Divorce Program is mediation and therapy-based, and is designed to work alongside each party’s independent lawyer, should they choose to involve one.
We strongly encourage all clients to seek independent legal advice (ILA) throughout the mediation process. This ensures you are fully informed of your rights, responsibilities, and available options, and supports confident, well-informed decision-making. Working with a lawyer alongside mediation is highly recommended for your protection and peace of mind.

Who This Program Is For

The Healthy Divorce Program is ideal for:

  • Couples who have already attempted counselling and are ready to separate
  • Parents seeking a child-focused, respectful process
  • Families who want to avoid litigation and reduce long-term conflict
  • Individuals who value emotional support alongside structured decision-making

This is not collaborative law. Mediation remains neutral, structured, and focused on resolution, supported by therapy at key points. Clients retain full self-determination, and lawyers or financial professionals may be consulted independently.

How the Program Works

Therapy-First Foundation
Before mediation begins, clients participate in therapy sessions through Balanced Life Therapy to:

  • You and your co-parent desire to maintain positive communication or a functional long-term working relationship post-divorce.
  • Clarify priorities and boundaries
  • Improve communication awareness
  • Reduce reactive responses during mediation

Family Mediation
Mediation is facilitated by Giulia Papa, an accredited Family Mediator, and focuses on:

  • Separation agreements
  • Property division
  • Child and spousal support
  • Parenting plans

Mediation is neutral, structured, and self-directed, empowering clients to make informed decisions at their own pace.

Ongoing Therapy Support
Therapy sessions are scheduled at key stages to ensure emotional processing keeps pace with decision-making:

  • Before intake
  • After the first mediation session
  • Between mediation sessions, as needed
  • After the separation agreement is finalized by each party’s independent lawyer

Therapy may be individual or joint, depending on clinical appropriateness. This ensures emotions are processed without stalling progress, improving the durability and stability of agreements.

Support for Children & Voice of the Child
Children are deeply affected by separation. The Healthy Divorce Program incorporates a child-focused lens by offering:

  • Therapeutic support for children during the separation process through qualified professionals
  • Developmentally appropriate counselling
  • Parenting discussions in mediation that are informed by children’s developmental needs and best interests

Giulia Papa is a certified Voice of the Child Practitioner.
Where appropriate, the child’s voice may be included only through a separate and clearly defined process, such as:

  • A co-mediation model
  • A standalone Voice of the Child engagement

In these circumstances, Giulia acts solely in the Voice of the Child role, separate from and independent of the mediation process, in accordance with professional and ethical standards.

After the Agreement: Ongoing Support
Separation agreements evolve as families grow. To support long-term stability, the program includes:

  • One-hour annual mediation check-in to address emerging issues
  • Follow-up therapy session to support adjustment and emotional well-being

This approach allows families to manage change proactively, especially when children are involved, without returning to crisis or court.

Benefits of a Therapeutically-Informed Mediation Approach
Through our combined experience in therapy and mediation, clients experience measurable benefits:

  • Reduced conflict and stress during and between mediation sessions
  • Stronger, more durable agreements grounded in emotional clarity
  • Improved communication and co-parenting outcomes
  • Emotional containment and support during decision-making
  • Child-focused strategies that protect development and wellbeing

How does the Healthy Divorce Program work?

Meet family mediator Giulia Papa

Family mediator Giulia Papa offers a warm, steady presence for families who want a calmer, more compassionate way to resolve conflict and navigate separation or co‑parenting. Giulia works as a neutral guide, helping everyone feel respected and supported while you explore options and build agreements that truly fit your family.

A calm, caring guide

  • As a family mediator, Giulia does not take sides or decide who is right or wrong; she focuses on creating safety and balance in the conversation.
  • She offers a calm, structured space where difficult topics can be discussed with more ease, less reactivity, and greater mutual respect.
  • Her gentle, grounded approach helps lower tension so family members can speak openly, listen more fully, and move from blame toward understanding.

Supporting healthy communication

  • Giulia helps each person put words to needs, worries, and hopes in clear, respectful language instead of criticism or attack.
  • She slows the conversation down, checks that everyone feels heard, and makes sure quieter voices and children’s perspectives are not overlooked.
  • When emotions rise, she kindly redirects the dialogue back to what matters most: practical, caring solutions that support the whole family.

Focusing on children and long‑term wellbeing

  • In separation or divorce, Giulia keeps children at the center, helping parents design child‑focused parenting plans that prioritize stability, safety, and connection in both homes.
  • She encourages parents to work as a cooperative team, reducing conflict so children are not placed in the middle of adult disagreements.
  • By helping you establish more respectful patterns now, Giulia supports healthier communication and co‑parenting in the years ahead.

Empowering families to make their own decisions

  • Giulia does not impose answers; instead, she helps you explore options, understand the impact of choices, and create agreements that feel fair and workable to everyone.
  • This collaborative, respectful approach helps family members feel more ownership over the outcome and more committed to following through.
  • Families leave the process with clearer agreements, less resentment, and a greater sense of dignity, stability, and hope for the next chapter.

Healthy Divorce Program components

Separation agreement

A separation agreement is a written agreement made under Ontario’s Family Law Act in which separating spouses decide how matters arising from their relationship will be handled, without going to court.
A separation agreement may address:

  • Division of property (for married spouses, including equalization of net family property)
  • Spousal support
  • Child support
  • Decision-making responsibility and parenting time (formerly custody and access)
  • Use or sale of the matrimonial home
  • Debts and financial obligations
  • Any other issues related to the breakdown of the relationship

Property Division

Property division is governed by Ontario’s Family Law Act and requires married spouses to share the increase in value of their property during the marriage through a system called equalization of net family property.
Key points:

  • It applies only to married spouses. Common-law partners do not have automatic property division rights (except for joint property or court claims such as unjust enrichment).
  • Each spouse keeps ownership of property in their own name, but the value gained during the marriage is shared, not the property itself.

How property division works (Equalization):

  • Each spouse calculates their Net Family Property (NFP):
    • Total value of assets on the date of separation
    • Minus debts on that date
    • Minus value of assets owned on the date of marriage (with some exceptions)
  • The spouse with the higher NFP pays the other spouse half the difference between their NFPs (the equalization payment).

Special rules:

  • The matrimonial home has special treatment:
    • No deduction for its value at the date of marriage
    • Both spouses have an equal right to possession, regardless of ownership
  • Property division can be varied by a separation agreement, as long as it meets legal requirements.

Child and Spousal Support

Child support is a legal obligation to financially support a child after parents separate, based on the child’s right to benefit from both parents’ incomes.
Key points:

  • Governed by the Federal Child Support Guidelines
  • Paid by the parent who has less parenting time or, in shared parenting, based on both parents’ incomes
  • Calculated primarily using the payor’s income and number of children
  • Mandatory and cannot be waived by parents
  • Continues while the child is:
    • Under 18, or
    • Over 18 but still dependent (e.g., attending school or unable to be self-supporting)

Spousal support

Spousal support is financial assistance one spouse may pay to the other after separation to address economic disadvantages arising from the relationship or its breakdown.
Key points:

  • Governed by the Divorce Act (for married spouses) and Ontario’s Family Law Act
  • Not automatic—entitlement must be established
  • Determined by factors such as:
    • Length of the relationship
    • Roles during the relationship (e.g., childcare, career sacrifice)
    • Each spouse’s income and earning capacity
  • Amount and duration are often guided by the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (not mandatory but influential)

Parenting Plan

A parenting plan is a document that describes the arrangements for a child’s care after separation, including decision-making responsibility, parenting time, and how parents will communicate and resolve issues, based on the best interests of the child.
What a parenting plan typically includes:

  • Decision-making responsibility (education, health care, religion, major activities)
  • Parenting time schedule (regular days, holidays, vacations)
  • Transportation and exchanges
  • Communication between parents and with the child
  • How future disputes or changes will be handled
  • Any special needs or cultural considerations for the child

Legal status

  • A parenting plan can be part of a separation agreement or a court order
  • Courts will follow a parenting plan as long as it serves the child’s best interests
  • Parents cannot contract out of a child’s best interests; a court can change a plan if needed

Governing law

  • Divorce Act (for married parents seeking divorce)
  • Children’s Law Reform Act (for unmarried parents or where no divorce is involved)

Important note
Ontario law no longer uses the terms custody and access. Parenting plans use:

  • Decision-making responsibility
  • Parenting time

What is the role of the therapist?

During separation in the Healthy Divorce Program at Balanced Life Therapy, Cindy McAfee’s role as the therapist is to be a steady, compassionate support for both partners so the process feels safer, calmer, and more respectful for everyone involved.

Holding a safe emotional space

  • Cindy gently “holds the container” for the emotions that naturally come with separation, offering a place where sadness, anger, fear, and grief can be expressed without judgment.
  • She makes sure each partner has space to speak and be heard, so no one feels dismissed, attacked, or pushed aside.
  • Her presence helps lower the emotional intensity in the room, making hard conversations feel more manageable.

Supporting respectful communication

  • Cindy helps you put big feelings into clear, respectful words instead of criticism, blame, or shutdown.
  • When the conversation starts to escalate or go in circles, she kindly slows things down and brings the focus back to what matters most: your well‑being, your values, and your children.
  • She teaches and reinforces healthier communication tools and boundaries that you can carry into future co‑parenting.

Keeping the process child‑focused and values‑aligned

  • Cindy continually brings the attention back to your children’s needs, helping both parents keep decisions child‑focused rather than conflict‑focused.
  • She helps you explore what kind of relationship you want to have as co‑parents and what kind of emotional environment you want your children to grow up in.
  • By anchoring decisions in your shared values, she supports agreements that feel fair, compassionate, and sustainable.

Guiding toward clarity and stable agreements

  • Cindy supports you in thinking clearly about parenting schedules, routines, holidays, and transitions, even when emotions are high.
  • She helps you look at practical realities—finances, housing, responsibilities—while still honoring the emotional impact of those choices.
  • Her goal is to help you reach clear, realistic agreements that reduce future conflict and give your family more stability and peace.

In all of this, Cindy’s role is not to take sides or decide who is right, but to walk alongside both of you with kindness, helping you move through separation in a way that protects your emotional health and your children’s future as much as possible.