Online Counseling for Moms Throughout South Carolina
Counseling for Professional Moms in South Carolina
You’re the One Everyone Relies On, and You’re Alone With It
You show up everywhere, at work, at your kid’s school, at the neighborhood thing on Saturday, at the family obligations, in the group chat you’re active in.
You show up prepared, on time, with the right tone, with the appropriate level of enthusiasm. Nobody has ever had to say to you, where were you, why did you drop the ball. You don’t drop the ball.
What nobody sees is the cost: the hour you spend getting ready for something that’s supposed to be casual, because casual still requires being on; the mental rehearsal before you go into your kid’s parent-teacher conference; the way you’re always slightly managing everyone else’s experience, even when it’s just family dinner.
You come home after these things and you’re not tired from the event, you’re tired from yourself and from the way you haven’t stopped managing in years. And you don’t know if the person underneath is still in there, or whether she got replaced somewhere along the way by someone who’s very good at staying on top of things.
The anxiety that made you good at all of this, the managing, the preparing, the staying ahead, is the same thing that has worn you down to nothing. You’re the machine that runs the performance, and the performance runs on you.
More about my approach to working with professional moms here.
What You’ve Already Tried
You’ve tried self-care, bubble baths, walks, a book at bedtime. You’ve tried the girls’ trip that was supposed to reset you and instead you spent the whole time feeling like you were watching yourself have fun.
You’ve tried journaling, a gratitude practice, and probably a lovely retreat.
Some of my clients have done therapy that helped them understand themselves, and they come to me because they’re ready for the next layer of work. They know they manage too much, they’ve done the insight work, but they want long-term change.
Insight gets you part of the way there, and then there’s a point where understanding why stops being the thing that shifts things.
What shifts things is working with the part of you that’s been managing for so long that it doesn’t know it’s allowed to stop managing.
My Approach to Therapy for Professional Moms in South Carolina
I’m Dr. Emily Fornwalt, a licensed therapist in South Carolina, and I work with moms who have spent so long being competent and prepared for everyone else that they’ve lost track of themselves.
I keep a small caseload, around ten clients, because doing this work well requires really knowing you. I remember what you told me last week, I’m thinking about your situation between sessions, and you can reach out if something comes up midweek.
I’m warm, honest, and not going to let you perform in my office. You can bring me the version of yourself that’s not dressed up, not polished, not ready, the version that’s tired of being “on”. That’s the version we’re trying to find.
How Therapy With Me Helps Professional Moms in North Carolina
It’s Sunday at 4pm and you’re reading a book, and you’ve been on the same page long enough to have thoughts about it. You’re not skimming while mentally planning tomorrow; you’re just reading.
Monday morning you wake up and the first thing you do isn’t reach for your phone. The coffee is still hot when you drink it. You take a shower without mentally composing your first email, and you walk into your first meeting having had a morning instead of having survived one.
The weekend feels like rest, because you’re not catching up on chores the whole time and you’re not mentally triaging next week. At your kid’s soccer game, you’re watching the game instead of scrolling your phone, and when they look over at you from the field, you’re looking back.
You sleep. Not perfectly at first, but the 3am wake-ups stop being every night, and your body starts to trust that when you lay down, it’s allowed to rest.
Cities I Serve in South Carolina
I work with clients across South Carolina via secure telehealth, which means no commute, no need to find childcare for the drive, and no worry about being seen walking into an office downtown
My clients come to me from Charleston and Mount Pleasant, Columbia and Lexington, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Greer, as well as Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Summerville, North Charleston, Goose Creek, Hilton Head, Bluffton, Myrtle Beach, Florence, Aiken, Anderson, Beaufort, and surrounding areas.
If you have reliable internet anywhere in South Carolina, we can work together.
i’m Emily.
About dr. emily fornwalt
Therapist for Professional Moms
I’m Dr. Emily Fornwalt. I’m a licensed therapist with a PhD in counseling from UNC Charlotte, and I specialize in working with women who are functioning on the outside and exhausted on the inside.
I’m trained in approaches that work with the part of you that reacts before you have time to think — the part that snaps at your kid or tightens up before a meeting — which is where the real changes happen.
I see clients exclusively by telehealth in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Schedule, Fees, & Logistics
Sessions are 45 minutes, typically once per week, and are $225 per session. Initial sessions are 90 minutes at $450.
Please note, sessions are completely private pay. I do not bill insurance or provide Superbills.
I see clients online in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Ready to Begin?
1. Schedule your first session using the link below, which will take you to my HIPAA-compliant calendar
2. Complete intake paperwork that you will receive via email
3. Show up. That is the hardest part, and you have done harder things this week.
Schedule Your First Session: Book your first session online here
Not quite ready to book? Send me a note instead.
Call or Text
423.281.4089
emily@alignedcounseling.com
Office mailing address
404 S Roan St., Johnson City, TN, 37604