About Jayna and Mike Haney

At 34, Jayna Haney became a single parent with two young children.

How did she balance spending time with her children while managing her work schedule, dealing with her new financial situation, negotiating co-parenting with her ex-husband, answering difficult questions, and dealing with changing feelings – all while experiencing a roller coaster of emotions associated with the grieving process?

She decided to take on her new life with gusto.  She read, talked and searched for answers about her children and herself, and about continuing to grow.

It wasn’t easy and it took time, but she was able to form a healthy single parent family life.

In 2001, she married Mike Haney, who also had two small children. She faced a whole new set of challenges with a stepfamily. Once again, she searched, researched and learned to create a satisfying and loving stepfamily life.

The road has been challenging –  building a strong marriage, being a mother and stepmother in a stepfamily, visiting family court, dealing with two sets of ex-spouses and working with the sheer, vast number of people connected to her family by way of the kids.

It was exhausting. But she got there. Today, though the challenges are still there, she has the tools she needs to make life easier.

As she reflects back, she wants to help create a “shortcut” for others like her. She has found many tools that helped in her and her family’s journey, and she now offers help to people in a similar situation.

Jayna is a marriage and family educator, coach, speaker and writer.  She graduated with a BA in Communications Studies at Baylor University, and was named one of Mortarboard’s Ten Outstanding Senior Women as well as the Outstanding Senior Woman in Communications Studies.

Starting in sales and marketing, she quickly excelled and eventually established her own successful financial services firm. Jayna’s experienced communication skills as well as her work with single parents and stepfamilies were a natural segue into education and coaching.

Jayna and her husband, Mike, spent the past few years working with single parents in programs like “Just Me and The Kids”, which was developed to help build healthy single parent families. Even while still struggling in her own stepfamily life, Jayna founded “Stepfamilies of Houston and Texas” a support chapter of the Stepfamilies Association of America in Houston in 2004.  “I didn’t have a lot of time,” said Jayna, ”but I knew a lot about Houston resources.  I found I could help other stepfamilies and divorced parents like myself.”

Mike and Jayna also speak to engaged and newly married couples regarding the importance of building a strong bond in marriage, and offering guaranteed ways to have an intentional and loving marriage.

Jayna is a certified coach through Coach Training Alliance, and received her Stepfamily Coach certification from the Stepfamily Foundation where she was trained by Dr. Jeanette Lofas, Founder.  She is a member of the Greater Houston Healthy Marriages Coalition as well as several stepfamily organizations.  She is also a contributor for MarriageMasters.com. 

Married in 2001, Jayna and Mike enjoy a loving marriage, a satisfying stepfamily life, and have a lot of fun with their four kids, now ages 10 to 13. 

About Mike

A dad since 1993, a divorced dad since 1998, and a remarried dad since 2001, Mike Haney has worn many hats in his journey though fatherhood, and discovered much about himself and how to build a successful family.

Born into a traditional nuclear family in the 1960s, his parents have been married more than 40 years. He had never experienced divorce or stepfamilies and had no idea how to deal with the issues he faced. A strong, educated, capable person, he realized he had a lot to learn – and his family was anything but “traditional” by 1960s standards.

He is intrigued with the tools he and Jayna have discovered in building their successful marriage. He is thrilled to support and work with Jayna in The Bridge Across. He and Jayna worked with single parents  together in “Just Me and the Kids” helping to develop healthy single parent families. Jayna and Mike  currently speak to engaged and newly married couples on an ongoing basis regarding the importance of building a strong bond in marriage, and offer guaranteed ways to have an intentional and loving marriage the second time around.  Mike also works with many fathers in their struggle to become successful single dads.

Mike is an international consultant with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and BA in Managerial Studies from Rice University, and an MBA from the University of Texas. Mike began his business career as an investment banker, and has served in corporate development, consulting capacities and founded two companies. Mike is also a certified stepfamily coach through the Stepfamily Foundation.

Famous among his children’s friends for leading fun activities and his involved parenting style, Mike enjoys bike riding, swimming, and playing sports with his children, and coaching them in soccer and basketball. 

Married in 2001, Jayna and Mike enjoy a loving marriage, a satisfying stepfamily life, and  have a lot of fun with their four kids, now ages 10 to 13.