Dr. Elizabeth Degi Dubois, PhD

Dr. Elizabeth DuBois, PhD, CDC is a Certified Divorce Coach and trauma recovery coach with more than a decade of experience in research and working with women navigating divorce and domestic violence.

Since 2010, Dr. DuBois has been researching on divorce and family law policies’ impact on women’s abilities to leave violent marriages. Her work on intimate partner violence and family law has been published in numerous trade outlets and peer-reviewed publications including Advances in Gender Research, Empowerment in Practice: Strategies and Outcomes, and Women’s Political Leadership Monograph. Dr. DuBois is an internationally syndicated blogger for Worthy.com, where her writing focuses on divorce and domestic violence.

In late 2018, Dr. DuBois’ launched her coaching career focusing on divorce and trauma and working with clients from across the US and Australia. Over the course of 2019, she completed the Certified Divorce Coaching program, the United States’ preeminent certification program for divorce coaching professionals. Following completion of her certification, Dr. DuBois moved her coaching practice in-house at Z Family Law, LLC, becoming the first in-house practitioner in the DC metro area.

Due to the corona virus global pandemic in 2020, Dr. DuBois recognized a need beyond the DC area for her unique blend of legal coaching and intuitive/energetic gifts. Driven by the desire to explicitly serve clients using intuitive (mediumship) methods, she established Divorce Is Freedom to guide women through the divorce process using traditional coaching methods and her energetic gifts.

Prior to shifting into private practice, Dr. DuBois served in executive leadership of numerous non-profits, and has been a consultant to organizations including USAID and U.S. government contractors on a range of issues related to gender-based violence and women’s empowerment. Between 2013-2015, Dr. DuBois served as the founding Executive Director of the George Mason University Center for the Study of Gender and Conflict (CGC). Now in its 7th year, the CGC is an internationally respected research and practice center at an R1 university, and has augmented scholarship on gender-based violence in countries across the globe. Dr. DuBois continues her work in academia as a part-time faculty member at American University’s School of International Service.

Dr. DuBois has an extensive background in sociological research related to divorce and family conflict. In 2012, Dr. DuBois was a Fellow at the Faculty of Sociology at National Research University—- Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia, where she studied Russian civil society's extralegal responses to domestic violence. Her Master's Thesis was a cross-cultural analysis of divorce and domestic violence laws in developing countries. Her forthcoming book on family conflict and race relations, Dear White Parents: Uncomfortable Reflections on Parenting and Privilege, will be available late 2020 from Opus Publishing.

Dr. DuBois graduated from American University in 2005 with a BA in Print Journalism, and in 2012 earned her MA in Sociology from George Mason University. Dr. DuBois holds a PhD from the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, which was conferred in 2019.