Brynie Lacob: Member Spotlight
Brynie Lacob
Family Professional
CDT Membership Profile
Continuous learning, in order to offer her clients services that align with her values, has defined Brynie Lacob’s practice. From a foundational Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, she went on to complete an Adlerian Master’s in Counselling Psychology, and is a Certified Coach Practitioner. Her career has been spent both in private practice and also in various educational settings, including the Toronto School Board where she facilitated the Roots of Empathy program, an initiative designed to help improve classroom dynamics through the sharing of feelings and conflict resolution among students.
After working with the TDSB, Brynie worked for seventeen years at the Dunblaine School as a social skills program developer, teacher, counselor, and family liaison. She established her private practice in 2014 and currently focuses on helping individuals, couples, and families evolve to become the best versions of themselves by identifying and breaking unhealthy patterns of behaviour, as well as by providing useful tools and strategies to develop greater independence in all aspects of their lives. Since 2022, Brynie has also been a part of the Country Day School mental health advisory team. In this role, which began as a pilot project, she offers guidance to teachers, parents and students both virtually and within the school. She also presents at parent evenings on topics relating to mental health.
In Brynie Lacob’s thirty years of working with families and teaching students with special needs, she has developed extensive experience with divorce and the devastating social, emotional, and financial impact it has on all parties involved. This was her impetus for expanding her skills into the collaborative arena and has found the process to be a natural fit with her core beliefs and values. Brynie endeavours to foster a safe space for families to navigate the complexities of this change through parenting plans, communication-training, and therapy with children of all ages.
Brynie is a Registered Psychotherapist with the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professionals. She works to develop an individualized approach with clients of all ages and life stages. This is primarily accomplished through collaborative dialogue and thoughtful questioning.
Quick Q&A with Brynie Lacob:
Q: It sounds like you practice social work/psychotherapy in many different environments. What drew you to collaborative divorce?
A: Over my many years of working with divorcing families, and my own divorce over 24 years ago, I was constantly saddened by how destructive the process of traditional family law was on already fragile individuals. I looked for alternatives to offer people and finally came across Collaborative Divorce. The principles resonated immediately with me. The idea of disincentivizing lawyers to drag clients into a litigious and expensive court battle, made perfect sense to me. Moreover, using neutrals (financial and family) to help ease the emotional process of all family members is a dignified way of preserving relationships which are already fragile.
Q: What would you say is the biggest benefit to having a collaborative family professional involved in a collaborative divorce?
A: In my experience, the greatest benefit has been having someone to help navigate the multitude of emotions that are at play during a divorce process. At times, I am there to redirect potentially conflictual conversations by pointing out triggers and inflammatory language. I have also seen huge benefit in working with the children and offering them a voice in this somewhat confusing and traumatic time. I help as a team leader and facilitator. By this, I mean being able to facilitate and guide team meetings between lawyers, clients, and financial neutrals.
Q: Can you think of a single moment that stands out where you knew that collaborative practice had an especially positive outcome for a specific family?
A: Yes, I am currently working with a family where both parties were committed to separating with dignity. It has been a pleasure working with them and seeing how child focussed their process has been. I have been able to be creative in planning a divorce that has worked in both their interests and mostly allowed the children the freedom from strife and being placed in any loyalty binds. This family has kept legal costs to a minimum and both feel that they were “drivers in their process”. They are celebrating Diwali together even though they are separated and have found a way to maintain respect for each other as co-parents and not as two people battling it out in court.
