Welcome to The Stepfamily Summit Blog

I’m glad you stopped by to check us out, whether out of curiosity or from interest in what we do.

How and why The Stepfamily Summit started.

2020 was a rough year for many stepfamilies. Because of restrictions, quarantines, and ongoing health concerns for many, stepfamilies started to experience challenges and issues they had never faced before. As a professional working with stepmoms, myself and many of my colleagues were scrambling to find answers to help our clients. Therapists and psychologists became overwhelmed with patients seeking help with mental health issues.

Families, couples, and individuals were feeling the effects of the pandemic, dealing with issues of:

• changes in custody
• feelings of isolation
• challenging conversations  
• loss of income and way of life
• difficult decisions around school and visitations
• and not to mention health and wellness concerns

The impact of this pandemic magnified our feelings of being alone, misunderstood, and unappreciated.

One way that’s helped us in dealing with the feelings and emotions we’ve had to face, was to get together with like-minded people, other stepparents, that get and understand what we’re going through. Unfortunately, getting together in groups or attending live events was not an option for most of us that year. Events that had been on the agenda got cancelled because of coronavirus.

Holding a virtual summit for stepfamilies seemed like the ideal solution for many. We all need to find inspiration, motivation, and hope.

And so, The Stepfamily Summit was created.

I know that I wasn’t the first one to hold events for stepfamilies. Several stepfamily guides and supporters had events so that they could create communities of liked minded people, to share their stories and find solutions to their challenges. The idea of the virtual summit was another way of reaching those seeking help and support, to find some reprieve from their current situation.

And so, the theme of our first summit was building and creating stronger and healthier stepfamilies, one STEP at a time.

What does that mean exactly?

A stronger and healthier stepfamily means rather than avoiding issues in our home, we look for solutions to the problems we face. We find the good in people in our lives rather than focus on the bad. A healthier stepfamily focuses on the long term rather than immediate gratification.

This doesn’t mean we don’t have issues or problems. It means we’re willing to work towards finding positive ways in the growth and wellbeing of each member of our family. We also know and realize that this is a lifelong journey and not something we do once or twice, but continually.

Who is Claudette?

In case this is the first time we meet, let me introduce myself:

• I’ve been a mom since 1983 years and a stepmom since 1990
• Like most of the speakers here, my work started out of my own need to find answers and get help
• At 35, I went back to school and studied everything I could around stepfamily dynamics, communication and conflict resolution, spending years researching and understanding what I was doing wrong and what I got right
• In 2006, I started my coaching practice. I’ve worked with hundreds of stepmoms over the years and touched the lives of thousands, all over the world.

You’re not alone on this journey. We get you. We’ve got your back.

Be sure to join us for this year's summit at www.TheStepfamilySummit.com. And bring a friend.