Yes, my real name is Dawn Rebel—

— but it also reflects my work, supporting women through beginnings that can feel like endings. 

 

The first year after separation can feel like your life is ending...

What if it's actually the beginning?

I'm Dawn Rebel, a Relationship Transition Coach helping women navigate the first year after separation with greater clarity, self-trust, and confidence.

I specialize in supporting women through  Year One—the twelve months after a significant relationship ends.

It's a season filled with difficult decisions, grief, uncertainty, identity shifts, parenting challenges, and unexpected opportunities for growth. Most women are trying to survive it. My work helps them move through it with intention.

For more than 15 years, I've worked in roles centred around education, communication, leadership, and human development. I've been a teacher, a senior advisor to government leaders, Director of Communications Planning for Ontario's first female Premier, and an advocate for women's mental health initiatives.

Life eventually led me through my own separation. Like many women, I thought I was losing everything.

What I discovered instead was a deeper relationship with myself. That experience became the foundation for the work I do today.

I am a Certified Divorce Specialist, educator, and current Master's student in Counselling Psychology. My approach blends practical guidance, emotional insight, self-compassion, and values-based decision-making to help women navigate life-changing transitions.

I am also co-owner of The River Healing Centre, where I support the growth of a collaborative wellness community dedicated to helping people heal, learn, and thrive.

Today, my work focuses on one question: How do we better support women through Year One?

Through coaching, workshops, writing, speaking, and educational resources, I'm committed to helping women take the first steps toward a life they don't have to shrink inside.

And if you're standing in the middle of that transition right now, you don't have to figure it all out alone.