Online Counseling for Professional Working Moms
Online therapy for Working moms throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, & Iowa
With Dr. Emily Fornwalt, PhD
For Successful Working Moms Who Know Something Has to Change
You run the meeting at 2pm and the bedtime routine at 8pm, and from the outside, you have a life most people would envy.
You have the career, the kids, and a house that stays presentable enough for the occasional playdate. You’re so good at keeping everything running that nobody notices what it costs you.
But you notice…
You notice it at 11pm, when you should be asleep. Instead, you’re replaying a comment your boss made in a meeting. You’re also wondering if your kid’s teacher thinks you’re a bad parent because you forgot pajama day. Again.
You notice it when the school calls at 10am because your son has a fever. You’re the default parent, so you’re the one the school calls first, and you’re the one who cancels your afternoon meetings to go get him. Nobody asks whether someone else could leave work early, because it’s always you.
You notice it at 6pm, when your kid asks a normal question about their day and you snap at them without meaning to.
And you notice it in the quiet moments, when you wonder if you should step back from the career you worked so hard for, just to get some of yourself back.
Online Counseling for Professional Moms in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Iowa
I’m Dr. Emily Fornwalt, PhD, a licensed therapist, and I provide online counseling for professional moms. My clients are successful at work and committed at home. They balance demanding jobs, parenting, school schedules, and housework, and they carry the mental load of keeping everyone on track.
You’re still getting it all done. You may also feel anxious, guilty, short-tempered, or unable to sleep, and you’re ready to work on it.
Together, we’ll look at the moments when work and your kids need you at the same time. For example, a client call might run late on the day of your son’s game. We’ll work on the guilt and worry you feel in those moments, and on what you tell yourself, like “I’m letting everyone down.” That way, you can feel like you’re doing enough at work and at home, be present with your kids, and feel like yourself again.
Sessions take place by secure video. Each one lasts 45 minutes and costs $225. My practice is private pay, which means I don’t bill insurance and I don’t offer superbills.
I see moms online in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Iowa.
Working together may be a good fit if:
You’re a professional mom in Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Virginia who manages meetings, childcare, school schedules, household tasks, and the invisible work of keeping everyone on track
You’re good at your job and capable at home, and you still go to bed feeling like you came up short in both places
You keep planning long after the workday ends, and you lie awake running through what you forgot or still need to do
You’re the default parent, so you’re the one who handles sick days, school calls, and last-minute changes
Small moments at the end of the day, like a spilled drink or one more question, can push you from patient to sharp faster than you’d like
You’ve wondered whether you need to scale back your career, even though you don’t want to
You want to keep your ambition and stay close to your kids, and you want to feel like a person outside of work and motherhood again
You’re ready to make time for weekly sessions and to practice what we work on between them
Why Working Moms Feel Guilty, Stretched Thin, and Always “On”
You’ve been moving from deadline to pickup to dinner to bedtime for so long that sitting still can feel strange.
Even when nothing is wrong, you’re already thinking ahead. You think about the email you need to answer, the meeting you need to prep for, the school form you need to sign, and the pickup you can’t miss. You plan for the next problem before it happens, because if you don’t remember it, you’re afraid nobody will.
From the outside, that looks like being organized and good at your job. On the inside, it can look like waking at 3am and thinking about work, or clenching your jaw all day without noticing. It can also look like getting to Sunday afternoon without resting once.
Staying ahead is a real skill, and it’s helped you build the life you have. The trouble is that by 6pm, your patience is running low. A whiny kid or one more request can feel as urgent as an emergency. You feel a flash of irritation before you have a chance to choose how to respond. Staying on alert all day is also why you can finish a long day and still lie awake at night.
You also spend the whole day pulled between work and home, so you rarely feel like either one got your best. At work, you feel guilty about the time you’re missing with your kids, and at home, you feel guilty about the work you didn’t finish.
Losing Yourself in Work and Motherhood
Somewhere along the way, you became the person who knows everything. You know which child needs new shoes, what has to happen before the next work trip, and whether the birthday gift got ordered. You know how many days are left until the permission slip is due. At work, you catch the detail everyone else missed, and you send the follow-up nobody asked for but everybody needs.
By the time the house is quiet, you rarely make time for the part of you who loves reading a novel or texting a friend just because something made you laugh. When someone asks how you’re doing, you say “fine.” It’s faster than explaining that you haven’t slept well in weeks, and that every weekend turns into a catch-up shift.
Then, at the end of a long day, something small happens. Your child knocks over a cup after you’ve already cleaned the kitchen, or your partner asks a reasonable question while you’re answering one last email. You snap harder than the moment deserves, and you feel guilty almost right away. You spend the evening trying to make up for it, and you start the next morning with less sleep and one more reason to be hard on yourself.
You may wonder if this is just what it costs to have a career, kids, and a full life, or if every other mom has figured out something you missed. They haven’t. You don’t need to become less driven or care less about your family. You need a way to meet the demands of your life without giving up your sleep, your friendships, and the hobbies you used to love.
Helping professional moms find that way is the work I do.
In our weekly sessions, we’ll figure out why you feel like you’re falling short even when you’re doing well. Then we’ll practice new ways to respond when work and home both need you.
Over time, you can keep the career and the family you’ve built and still have time and energy for yourself.
How I Work With Professional Moms in Therapy
You’re good at seeing needs coming, preparing for problems, and staying three steps ahead. That drive helped you get the grades, build the career, and become the person people rely on. It can also make it hard to ever feel off duty.
I won’t assume your ambition is the problem, and I won’t tell you the answer is to scale back and simplify.
You built this life on purpose. Our work together is about helping you live it without losing your sleep, your patience, your closeness with the people you love, or your sense of yourself.
My Training and How I Work in Sessions
I’m warm, and I’m honest. You can bring me the tired version of yourself, the angry version, the version who cried in the car before walking into the office, or the version who yelled at her kid in the Target parking lot and is convinced she’s ruining her children. I won’t flinch, and I won’t judge you.
I’ve sat with many women carrying this same mix of responsibility, pressure, and guilt. None of them were bad mothers. They were capable mothers who had been doing too much for too long without enough time to recover, and they were ready to change that.
I have a PhD in counseling, and in our sessions, we’ll do more than talk about your week. We’ll look at what happens in your body when your inbox fills up and the school calls in the same hour. We’ll look at what you tell yourself when you feel like you’re falling short, and what keeps you awake at night. Then we’ll work on what helps you stay calm and kind when dinner runs late or your boss moves a deadline.
I keep a small caseload, around ten clients at a time, on purpose. Our sessions don’t have to feel rushed, and I can keep up with the details of your life, like what happened at work, what’s changing at home, and what we worked on last week.
What Changes at Work and at Home Through Counseling
If nothing changes, the cost keeps adding up. You might step back from a career you love because you’re too tired to keep going. You might spend years feeling distant from the people you’re working so hard for, or watch your kids grow up while you’re half on your phone.
Our work helps you keep your career and your family without paying for them with your sleep, your patience, and your sense of yourself.
You used to end every day thinking about what you didn’t get to, and that list was all you could see. In our sessions, you learn to notice when you’re judging yourself by a standard nobody could meet. Now, when you close your laptop, you can name what you did well, like the client you kept happy and the form you signed on time. You go to bed feeling like you did enough, and you start the next day with confidence instead of dread.
Dinner used to be one more task to get through before bedtime, and half your mind stayed on work. Now, when your kid tells a long, winding story about recess, you follow every word and ask who Marcus is. Because you listen to the small stories, your kid keeps telling you the big ones, like the friend who left them out or the test they’re worried about. You’re building the closeness you want to still have when they’re teenagers.
For two years, you’ve said no to stretch projects because you couldn’t picture taking on one more responsibility. Then your manager mentions that a director role opens in the spring, and you want it. You aren’t using all your energy just to get through the week anymore, so you have room to plan your next move. You apply, and your career keeps moving forward while your kids are young, instead of standing still until they’re older.
You used to drop everything when the school called, because it felt easier than asking for help. When your son runs a fever on the day of your big presentation, you call your partner or your backup sitter to cover pickup, and you give the presentation. You feel a twinge of guilt, and you remind yourself that he’s safe and cared for. You keep your word at work, and you stop bringing resentment home with you.
You used to lie awake running through tomorrow’s list, and you started most days already tired. Now you write down what’s left, decide it can wait until morning, and fall asleep. You wake up rested, so you have patience at breakfast and focus in your first meeting. On Saturday afternoon, you still have the energy to read a novel on the porch while your coffee is hot.
What It’s Like to Work With Me
We’ll work together
You won’t be handed a list of things to accomplish alone between sessions. I’ll bring questions, observations, and ideas; you’ll tell me what fits your life, what doesn’t, and what I’m missing. We’ll adjust as we go.
I’ll notice your strengths, even when you roll your eyes
When you’re tired, frustrated, or convinced you’re messing everything up, it can be hard to see what you’re doing well. I’ll notice the resourcefulness, care, and persistence you are using to get through your life. You’re allowed to roll your eyes when I point it out; that happens sometimes.
I’ll be direct without talking like a therapist on TV
I will be honest with you, and I won’t hide behind clinical jargon or a carefully neutral therapist voice. If I say something that doesn’t fit, I want you to tell me. We can talk about it, correct course, and keep going.
There will probably be laughter
Therapy can include difficult conversations, grief, anger, and real work. It can also include laughing at the absurd parts of your life, developing inside jokes, and getting a break from treating everything quite so seriously. I won’t force humor, but I will make room for it when it helps.
About Dr. Emily Fornwalt, PhD
Therapist for Professional Moms
I’m Dr. Emily Fornwalt, a licensed therapist with a PhD in Counseling from UNC Charlotte.
I work with professional moms who are used to succeeding by staying three steps ahead, and who are tired of the effect that constant responsibility has on their sleep, patience, and relationships.
I provide secure online counseling for adults in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Iowa.
How to get started in counseling
Session information and pricing:
Sessions are 45 minutes, usually once a week, and cost $225 each. Your first session is a 90-minute intake, and it costs $450.
My practice is private pay. I don’t bill insurance, and I don’t provide superbills, which are the receipts some clients send to their insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement. Because I don’t bill insurance, no information about our sessions goes to an insurance company.
I see moms online in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Iowa, so you’ll need to be physically located in one of those states during each session. My practice is based in Eastern Time.
How to self-schedule your first session:
Choose an appointment time through my HIPAA-compliant calendar using the button below.
I’ll review your request and confirm it, usually within one business day. Then you’ll get your new-client forms by email and a text from IvyPay asking you to add a card.
Log on for your first session at the time you scheduled, using the secure video link in your confirmation.
Have a practical question before Scheduling? Send me a message below.
If you have a question before you schedule, send it here and I’ll reply personally within two business days. This form is private and secure, so you’re welcome to share as much or as little as you’d like about what’s bringing you to therapy.
This form is only checked during regular business hours, so if you’re in crisis or need help right away, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
Thank you for your message.
I’ll reply personally within two business days.
Counseling for Professional Moms in Your State
I’m licensed in five states, and each state page explains how online counseling works where you live.