Masha Healy, Founder and CEO of Caught in the Mezzo, launched her organization this past spring to provide resources and community for young women of divorced families. With nearly 50% of marriages ending in divorce or separation in the United States, including her own parents marriage, Healy knows what it’s like to say, “My parents are divorced.” She’s experienced the looks of pity and the awkward pauses that follow that sentence. With Caught in the Mezzo, Healy hopes to change the culture surrounding divorce and to create a community for young women from divorced families to go to.
“I’m not here to say that divorce is great. What I’m here to say is that the children don’t choose this,” Healy says. “On one hand, it’s teaching the young women you should be comfortable to say my parents are divorced and just like talk about it but, on the other hand, it’d be great if people who are friends or around children [of divorce] could have that same level of comfort.”
When asked how Caught in the Mezzo was born, Healy confessed its came from personal experience. For Healy, divorce is normal. Her parents have been divorced since she was in fourth grade and even though it is a part of her everyday, family life, growing up was difficult at times even though she had a great community and therapy. Healy understands that not every child of divorce has access to these resources and that’s why she started Caught in the Mezzo.
“If you were to go on Google and search up: ‘Resources for children of divorce,’ a lot of the resources that would come up are from therapists or law firms. They’re not written by children of divorce or children who are going through divorce. That same thing goes for if you were to visit a bookstore,” Healy says.
With Caught in the Mezzo, Healy hopes to change this. Through resources written by children of divorce and for them, Caught in the Mezzo creates a safe space for its members to share their experiences, their struggles, and to make sense of the feelings they’re feeling.
“My vision for this is to just make young women feel confident in the fact that like, yeah, their parents are divorced but, that’s okay and you can talk about it,” Healy continues, “There’s nothing wrong with [divorce] because talking about it is what makes it okay and what helps you create bonds and move past that.”[gravityform id=”13″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true”]
When marriages fall apart and kids are involved, they can get caught in the middle, the “mezzo.” Healy understands that being caught in the middle can be hard and kids with divorced parents don’t always have access to therapy or can feel alone simply because their peers can’t relate to them. Through community, discussion, and resources made specifically for them, Caught in the Mezzo hopes to help children of divorce feel not so alone.
“This website and this organization is for young women from divorced families,” Healy says. “We have an option on the bottom of our website to subscribe to a mailing list. We very much want this to not just be for young women even though it is definitely a service for young women, but it’s in some ways a culture change too because we want people to look at divorce from the child’s perspective, almost the young adult’s perspective.”
When it comes to romantic relationships, Healy explained that coming from a divorced family can carry its own set of difficulties. “A lot of children from divorce have a hard time trusting and the idea of marriage and raising a family is hard to deal with since you never had a “healthy” example,” Healy says.
Through community and conversation, Healy says that Caught in the Mezzo is a place where young women can go to.
“You’re in this situation, you didn’t make a choice to be in this situation but, what can you do to make this situation better and how can you make it better for yourself?” Healy questions.
Because Healy understands what it’s like to be a child of divorce she understands the burden that others like her carry and that’s why she created Caught in the Mezzo. Designed for individuals 18 – 29 years-old, this subscription-based service offers its members a closed community and access to resources as well as a free mailing list that anyone can sign up to receive. Normally $9.99 a month, Caught in the Mezzo is now offering Mezzo Memberships for free for 3-months.
For more information, visit caughtinthemezzo.com
