CASE STUDY

Boulder, Colorado

The original Rebuilding program, and the one every other program is modelled on. Fifty years in one county.

Dr. Bruce Fisher lived in Boulder. He built the program there, in his own town, working with divorcing people in his community before the method went anywhere else. From Boulder he travelled the world teaching others the material and how to run it locally.

The Boulder program is still running. This is what it looks like now.

Run part-time by Bob Manthy, LPCC, with one part-time administrative assistant. Boulder County population 327,000.

Who takes the program

Two things stand out. Most students are not young, and most did not choose the divorce. Two-thirds are women, three-quarters were left, and the typical student is in a long marriage that ended without their agreement.

The same pattern shows up nationally

Boulder's student profile closely matches what we measure across more than five thousand people entering divorce recovery.

National figures from Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale assessments, 2023–2026. See the Divorce Recovery Index.

Boulder skews further toward people who were left and people mid-process, which is consistent with a program that has been the known local option for decades — people find it earlier. But the shape is the same, which suggests Boulder is a normal divorce recovery population rather than an unusual one.

How the program runs

Four ten-week classes a year, one per quarter. Thirty to fifty students in each. Bob Manthy delivers the program and manages it as part-time work, with a part-time administrative assistant handling student requests and assessments.

The monthly introduction

Once a month there is a ninety-minute introduction session, usually on a Wednesday evening. It explains the Rebuilding Blocks and gives prospective students a chance to meet the team before committing to ten weeks.

That session is the front door. It costs almost nothing to run and it converts because people who are considering the program get to see the room and the people in it first.

The assessment does the persuading

Prospective students are encouraged to take the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale — a hundred questions, about ten minutes — and are sent their results across six areas of recovery.

When people see how they are actually doing, they often realise they need the program more than they thought.

There is very little selling. The assessment tells someone where they stand against other people in their position, and the conclusion tends to follow on its own.

Graduates run on volunteers

New students are met by what Bob describes as an army of volunteers — all graduates of earlier classes. They welcome new arrivals, run breakout groups, organise activities outside class and provide support the facilitator could not supply alone.

After finishing, students can join the graduate community. It holds regular events, sometimes drawing more than a hundred people, giving graduates from different cohorts a chance to connect.

The graduate community is not a nice extra. It is the operational engine: it supplies the volunteers who support each class, and it supplies the referrals that fill the next one.

Why the marketing cost is so low

Three-quarters of Boulder's students arrive by referral, and the program runs on very little advertising.

That took decades to build, and it compounds. Every class produces graduates, graduates produce volunteers and referrals, and referrals fill the next class. The program's reputation is now doing work that advertising would otherwise have to pay for.

What Boulder is not doing

Four classes a year, in a county of 327,000 people, run as part-time work.

The calendar allows more. So does the population. Boulder is not running at capacity — it is running at the level one person chooses to work.

The Fisher Rebuilding Seminar™ is delivered under licence from Rebuilders International.

About Rebuilders International

Rebuilders International trains mental health professionals and divorce coaches in the Rebuilding method, developed by Dr. Bruce Fisher over more than forty years. Individuals going through divorce can find programs, classes and a free self-assessment at rebuilders.net.