Marriage over? You need ‘the divorce doula’

Just how feasible is a ‘good divorce’? After her marriage broke down, former barrister Laura Rosefield found a gap in the market, she tells Kate Wills.

Some of her clients call her their “secret weapon” or “guardian angel”. One in particular refers to her as their “3am friend” because she’s on call 24/7. Another, a high-end jewellery designer, described her services as “litigation in a hug”. A celebrity PA who regularly refers clients to her nicknamed her “the divorce doula”. Yet Laura Rosefield prefers to be known as a “divorce consultant”, and her services are in high demand.

“I fill the gaps between the more traditional roles of the lawyer, the barrister, the therapist, the mediator,” she says. “I’m the bridge between the complexities of the law and the client who is often devastated and anxious, and going through the worst time of their life. I like to think I’m bringing empathy and compassion into the brutality of the process.”

It was Rosefield’s “very stressful and difficult” divorce in 2010 that led her to recognise the need for such a gap-filler, after her uncle, a commercial lawyer, became her “divorce buddy”, a non-judgmental, trusted adviser guiding her through a time that in terms of stress comes second only to the death of a partner or a child, studies say.

Read the complete article here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/marriage-over-you-need-the-divorce-doula-nm3v8s2qx?shareToken=8f55c3fd12a8b0f4903d57013e2c950c