Meet Gwendoline Van Doosselaere

We were lucky to catch up with Gwendoline Van Doosselaere recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gwendoline, thank you so much for joining us and opening up about the very personal topic of divorce. So many in the community are going through or have gone through divorce and we think hearing about how others dealt with the aftermath and managed to build a vibrant, successful life and career despite the trauma of divorce can be helpful to many who might be feeling a degree of hopelessness. So, maybe you can talk to us about how you overcame divorce?

When I was getting certified to become a divorce coach, I came across a quote that took my breath away: “I did not survive my divorce. I let my married self die. Through years and years of tears.”

That quote hit me like a lightning bolt. Society doesn’t understand that divorce is walking through death — not just the death of a relationship, but of life dreams. Of what you thought family could be. Of the life you were taught to want. Of home. It’s the death of who you were, what you believed, who you contorted yourself to be.

You grieve a living person — your spouse, your coparent, often your best friend — and you grieve the loss of witnessing your children’s every moment. You grieve your self-abandonment. Divorce is the unraveling of the beliefs that shaped your adult identity.

It’s not just legal. It’s physical. Emotional. Spiritual.

So, no, I wouldn’t say I overcame divorce. It changed me, deeply, and still does. It demands that I dig into the depths of my being to find the scraps of courage and silenced strength I needed to survive, to protect my kids, and to reclaim myself.

Divorce, as I’ve come to describe it, is a rite of passage—one that calls you back to yourself, into your fullness. It’s a rite of passage no one wants. Yet, many of us are given this invitation to a metamorphosis forged through fire.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

After surviving a multi-year, six-figure divorce, and losing the very job that had made it possible to leave in the first place, I kept hearing whispers: Friends turned to me for guidance. Acquaintances connected me to others in crisis. I had become the go-to person for navigating separation.

I never planned to become a divorce coach. I didn’t even know what one was until months into my own divorce.

Yet, in many ways, it makes perfect sense. I’ve spent my life advocating for women, children, and the environment, fighting against systems of dominance and silencing. I’ve worked in global development, led an environmental education nonprofit, and consulted on DEI with Fortune 100 companies. My entire career has been about reclaiming voice, power, and clarity in systems that distort them.

Divorce is another one of those systems — only more intimate. More vulnerable. More sacred. It speaks to the fabric of our lives.

That’s why I created Artemis Divorce Coaching.

Artemis, the Greek goddess of fierce independence, protectress of women and children, and guardian of the wild, embodies what I needed to be in my divorce — and what I help others become.

It’s not about fighting against someone but about fighting, out of love, for your kids, your future and your truest self. It’s about releasing the patterns that no longer serve us — martyrdom, people-pleasing, self-abandonment — and stepping into wholeness.

There’s a lot of advice out there about how to “fix” relationships: How to communicate better, how to manage conflict, how to do XYZ. But divorce, especially midlife divorce, is often not about failed communication. It’s about soul-level dissonance, about the breaking down of the roles and expectations we were socialized to perform and the emergence of who we’re really meant to be.

What we often lack, especially as women, is language that validates our intuition—our deep knowing. So many of us feel what’s happening energetically and spiritually but don’t have the framework to name it. That’s part of what I offer.

When I look back at photos of myself in the thick of divorce indecision, I look vacant, emptied. My spirit was in retreat, in the recesses of my being. Now, years later, I’m older, grayer — but vibrant, brimming with life.

One of the most powerful tools I use with clients is identifying their North Star. What do you ultimately want to create in this life—not what someone else wants, but you?

For me, my North Star was taped next to my computer throughout my divorce. It read:
“My goal in life, for myself and my kids, is to spend time with those we love, building memories and life experiences.”

Every decision I made, I measured against that: Does this parenting plan give me the time I need with my kids? Is this negotiation aligned with that vision—or just a distraction?

Often, women don’t know their North Star. Instead, they reveal what they value most in their words, their stories, and their patterns. I mirror it back to them and help them hold it sacred through the most consequential journey of their adult lives.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Fear Doesn’t Mean Don’t Do It
There’s a kind of fear that isn’t a warning — it’s the precipice of transformation. It’s there because it indicates the magnitude of metamorphosis. It’s there because you’re poised to transform and evolve, to shed the confines of what’s been keeping you small and cramped, and to, instead, evolve into a bigger, more robust version of you. Learn to tell the difference.

2. Courage: Rage of the Heart
The word courage comes from coeur, the French word for heart. In French, my native language, we say prendre son courage à deux mains — to take your courage in both hands. You’ll do this a thousand times through the gauntlet of divorce. Courage is about stepping forward scared and shaking—but stepping nonetheless.

3. Radical Acceptance
Divorce is a masterclass in surrender. You don’t get to control how your ex parents, how the court rules, or how your trauma resurfaces. What you can control is how you show up, how you react, how you heal. Acceptance isn’t giving up. It’s deeply owning and excavating what’s yours and letting go of what isn’t, which often means letting go of how someone else leads their life, even if it disrupts yours.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

I tend to attract mothers in midlife, especially those going through difficult divorces. Many don’t even realize it’s high-conflict. They just know it’s impossibly hard. Everything’s a fight. There’s confusion, gaslighting, posturing, threats. It’s convoluted.

These are women who’ve spent their lives over-functioning — caretaking, performing, trying to make it work — and now they’re being called to do radically different. To break patterns. To center and apply the care and compassion they so freely give to others to themselves first.

These women often don’t even have the words yet for all that’s happening within and around them. But they feel something bigger moving through them. They mostly just need guidance. Direction. Reflection. A steady hand.

That’s what I offer — practical strategy directed by your soul’s North Star. It’s a path to becoming not just “divorced,” but free to be supremely yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artemisdivorcecoaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artemisdivorcecoaching
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572986064505
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/106176594/admin/dashboard/