FAQs
1. What is a divorce doula?
A divorce doula is someone who will work with you as you go through your family law issues. She is available via text and phone calls, and she needs to meet with you on a regular schedule for best results. Sometimes you want to keep really personal stuff away from friends and family. Your divorce doula can help with this. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re subconsciously thinking and need to talk through what’s going on to get a clearer picture. Your divorce doula can help with this.
Your divorce doula is a trained life coach and is focused on setting up a schedule to meet regularly and is available for emergencies and flare-ups at no extra cost, within reason. Your divorce doula is working with you to help discover your full life potential. We want to help you deepen your understanding of yourself, become clear about what matters, improve your performance in parenting and financial management, and enhance your quality of life.
This coaching helps you find the answers within yourself, creating a space to transform into new levels of awareness, purpose, and potential. All meetings with your divorce doula are completely confidential.
2. How is coaching different from working with a lawyer?
A lawyer is trained to get through your lawsuit- focus on paperwork, working with the judge and clerks to get the paperwork where it needs to be and legally enforceable when everything is done. Some people discerning a divorce are not ready for a lawyer yet, although they should get the advice of a family law attorney during the discernment process for the best decision. A lawyer needs all the facts and that’s it. Lawyers tend to shy away from the emotions involved because they are not useful in court, and lawyers also shy away from long conversations because they recognize you don’t want to spend lawyer fees on counselor or coach work.
Some of our divorce doulas are also attorneys. They will NOT be providing legal advice to you during coaching sessions. You working with a divorce doula who is a barred attorney will NOT establish an attorney-client relationship with your divorce doula. We want our attorneys completely focused on legal work and our doulas completely focused on helping you heal.
3. How is coaching different from working with a counselor or therapist?
A counselor, therapist, or other-termed mental health professional has gone to undergraduate and graduate school and been licensed by the state to perform mental health work. They frequently focus on the past, some have the authority to diagnose and treat mental illness, or at least communicate with MDs about mental illness, and they can often collect insurance for their services. They can be called as an expert witness in a custody case and their records can be subpoenaed.
A coach will not diagnose or treat mental illness, will not receive insurance reimbursement for services, and will not be an expert witness in a court case. Generally your coach will not tell you what to do.
4. What is the mission of Divorce Doula?
Because we lead by our own example, all coaches/doulas are intentionally 100% committed to our own personal and professional growth as a foundation for helping others. Our company was founded by Claire Edwards, who wants to help individuals rebuild or freshly build their lives when they go through a custody and/or divorce transition. She developed the DIVORCE DOULA PROGRAM to help individuals best co-parent and/or grieve and recover from their divorce on the personal level. The goal is for them to feel their own sense of personal responsibility and to feel empowered to move forward, as well as to help people maintain their freedom in the months/years following their divorce.