Welcome to The Rebuilding Compass
This page gives you a simple overview of what this platform is, how it is organized, and how to move through it without feeling like you need to understand everything today.
The Rebuilding Compass is intentionally broad because people arrive from different situations. The best first step is to choose the pathway that fits what you are experiencing right now.
What This Platform Is
The Rebuilding Compass is a stabilization-first educational support ecosystem for people navigating emotional overwhelm, high-conflict situations, divorce stress, caregiver burnout, recovery after prolonged conflict, and major life disruption.
The goal is to help you slow things down, stabilize emotionally, organize your thoughts, understand your options, and take one clearer next step.
The Main Areas of the Platform
Start Here
The guided entry point for choosing the right pathway based on what you are experiencing right now.
Find Your Starting Path →Recovery & Stabilization
For emotional overwhelm, nervous system exhaustion, trauma-informed education, and recovery support.
Open Recovery Hub →Divorce & Conflict Navigation
For divorce organization, communication, documentation, mediation preparation, and practical next steps.
Open Divorce Navigation →Education Center
Free educational articles, videos, guides, and resources to help you understand what may be happening.
Explore Education →Programs & Support
Structured options for toolkits, memberships, coaching, guided systems, and deeper support.
View Programs →TRC Institute
The future-facing home for facilitator education, professional pathways, and institute development.
Visit Institute →How to Use This Site
- Start with one pathway. You do not need to explore the entire site at once.
- Stabilize before trying to solve everything. Clarity is harder when your nervous system is overloaded.
- Use free education for understanding. Free pages are designed to help you recognize patterns and reduce confusion.
- Use paid tools for structure. Paid programs, toolkits, and memberships are designed for implementation and progression.
- Return later as your needs change. The pathway that fits today may not be the pathway you need next month.
What You Can Expect Here
- Plain language instead of legal or clinical jargon.
- Stabilization-first guidance before escalation or major decision-making.
- Practical tools to help you organize, prepare, communicate, and think clearly.
- Recovery awareness for chronic stress, high-conflict dynamics, emotional exhaustion, and identity loss.
- Respect for your pace so you do not feel pressured to decide everything at once.
Your Best Next Step
If you are unsure where to begin, use the guided pathway page. It is now the primary starting point for the entire ecosystem.
DIY Divorce Resource Center – Start Here
This Welcome & Orientation page is the starting point for your DIY divorce journey. If you're working through this process on a tight budget, you’re in the right place. Begin by using the tools in this Resource Center — the Parenting Plan Builder, Support & Budget Planner, Mediation Toolkit, Co-Parenting Wizard, and more. Each tool is designed to help you stay organized, reduce stress, and avoid unnecessary attorney fees. Once you’ve completed the steps that apply to your situation, return to this page and use the Binder Builder at the bottom. With one click, it will combine everything you’ve created into a clean, printable packet you can use in mediation or for court filing. This keeps you in control, moves your case forward, and helps avoid mistakes that cost time and money.
Step 1: Work Through the DIY Tools
- Complete your Parenting Plan Builder (schedule, holidays, exchanges).
- Use the Support & Budget Planner to understand your money picture.
- List issues and build an Agenda in the Mediation Toolkit.
- (Optional) Run the Co-Parenting Wizard for a draft parenting schedule.
Your work is stored in your browser on this device. You can come back and make changes anytime.
Step 2: Come Back Here to Build Your Binder
- Scroll down to the Ready-to-Submit DIY Binder section.
- Enter your case caption and “Prepared by” information.
- Choose which sections to include (parenting plan, money notes, agenda, co-parenting summary).
- Click Compile Preview to see your packet.
- Use Print → Save as PDF to create a file you can take to mediation or court.
You can rebuild the binder as many times as you need while your situation or agreements evolve.
What you’ll need before you begin (helpful, not required)
- Basic information about your marriage (dates, children’s names and ages).
- Rough ideas about income, rent/mortgage, and monthly expenses.
- A calm time and place where you can focus without interruptions.
- Optional: a notebook or digital notes app to jot down questions for later.
Don’t worry if you don’t have everything perfect. These tools are meant to help you think through your situation, not to judge or grade you.
If you get stuck, feel overwhelmed, or want a second set of eyes on your DIY work, you can book a low-cost mediation or coaching session. We’ll walk through your binder, flag potential problem areas, and help you prepare for mediation or a self-represented court appearance — without turning your case into an endless legal battle.
Before You Use This Support & Budget Tool
This is a do-it-yourself planning tool. It is not legal advice and it does not replace the official California child support or spousal support calculators.
The goal is to help both of you see:
- What money is coming in for each of you every month.
- What your basic living costs look like in two separate homes.
- How the children’s needs can be covered in both homes, especially where they spend the most time.
- What range of spousal support might be realistic after looking at your real-life budgets.
Use this tool to start a calm, honest money conversation. Bring your results to mediation so you can talk about what is possible and fair, instead of arguing over numbers that don’t match real life.
If at any point this feels confusing or overwhelming, consider booking a low-cost coaching session so we can walk through the numbers with you. We still do not give legal advice, but we can help you understand the options you may want to discuss with a mediator or attorney.
How to Understand These Calculator Results
• How much money each parent brings home every month • What it realistically costs for each of you to live in your own home • What the children’s basic needs cost in both households • Whether one parent has more room in their budget to help support the children • How different the two adults’ take-home incomes are, which helps estimate spousal support
The goal is not to decide who is right or wrong. The goal is to help you have a calm, honest conversation about:
• What is financially possible • How the children can be supported in both homes • How to keep both households stable • What a fair agreement might look like before you ever step into a courtroom
These tools help you prepare for mediation. They do not replace the official California calculators, and they are not legal advice.
Support & Budget Planner (Educational Only)
Leave this box unchecked if there are no minor children. Check it if you want to add a simple child support calculator.
How this page works (start here)
This page is a planning tool for pro se couples. It is not legal advice and it is not the official California guideline calculator. It is meant to help you talk about numbers in mediation.
- Fill in the incomes and basic expenses for Spouse A and Spouse B.
- If you have minor children, check the box above to open the Child Support section.
- Use the Spousal Support and Two-Household Budget sections to see what feels realistic.
- Click “Run All Calculations”.
- Click “Copy Summary for My Binder” to paste the results into your notes or DIY binder.
Children’s needs come first. This tool is designed to help both of you see what is possible in real life, not just on paper.
1. Spousal Support (Educational Estimate)
How to use this spousal support section
This section gives a very simple estimate based on the difference between your net (take-home) incomes. Courts use their own software and legal rules. This is only to help you think about a starting point for talks in mediation.
Steps:
• Enter each spouse’s net monthly income (after taxes).
• Enter the length of the marriage in years.
• Adjust the factor slider (0.10–0.40) to see low / mid / high ranges.
Spouse A
Spouse B
What does the adjustment factor mean?
The adjustment factor shows how much of the income difference becomes spousal support.
• 0.10 – 0.20 = lower-range support (shorter marriages, closer incomes, tight budgets)
• 0.25 – 0.30 = mid-range support (common starting point in many talks)
• 0.35 – 0.40 = higher-range support (longer marriages, large income gap)
This is only an educational estimate. Judges can order more, less, or no spousal support at all.
3. Two-Household Budget Check
How to use this budget section
After separation, each person has their own rent, utilities, food, and other costs. This section helps you see:
- How much money is left for Spouse A after basic expenses.
- How much money is left for Spouse B after basic expenses.
If one person ends up deeply negative every month, that can be a sign that the support number needs to be adjusted. This is not financial advice, but it is a helpful reality check.
Spouse A Budget
Spouse B Budget
Reminder: This page is for education and planning. It does not replace the official California guideline support calculators, legal advice, or court orders.
Co-Parenting Wizard (Educational Only)
Answer a few simple questions and this wizard will suggest a parenting schedule pattern and co-parenting guidelines you can copy into your Parenting Plan, mediation notes, or DIY Binder. This is not legal advice or a court order.
How this Co-Parenting Wizard works
- Children’s ages and school needs
- Distance between homes
- Work schedules and overnights
- Conflict level between parents
- A schedule pattern (for example: 2-2-3, week-on/week-off, or primary + alternating weekends)
- A summary paragraph you can paste into a parenting plan
- Simple communication rules to reduce conflict
Step 1 – Child Basics
Ready-to-Submit DIY Divorce Binder
This tool pulls together your key DIY work (parenting plan, money notes, mediation agenda, and co-parenting summary) into one printable package. You can review it, then use your browser’s Print → Save as PDF to create a file for mediation or filing. Educational only – this is not legal advice.
How this binder works
- You fill in the case caption and “Prepared by” line below.
- The binder tries to pull content from other DIY tools on this site:
- Parenting Plan preview (Parenting tools)
- Money / Support notes (Budget & Support tools)
- Mediation agenda (Mediation Toolkit)
- Co-Parenting Wizard summary (if you used it)
- You click Compile Preview and review everything in one place.
- When ready, use your browser’s Print → Save as PDF to create a copy.
Cover Information
Include These Sections
If a section is empty (for example, you never used that tool), the binder will show a short note so you know it’s missing.
Mediation Readiness Mini-Quiz
Answer honestly. This is not legal advice—just a quick self-check.
1. I feel physically safe meeting or communicating with the other party.
2. I have basic access to financial information (income, debts, major assets).
3. I’m willing to brainstorm options instead of “winning at all costs.”
4. I can keep communication mostly civil if there’s a neutral third person.