Counseling for Women After Divorce in Durham, North Carolina
Online therapy for Durham women & Moms who are separated, going through the legal divorce process, or adjusting to life post-divorce
Photo Credits: Valeris Nikitina; Unsplash
You’re managing separation or divorce while life keeps moving
You’re getting through the shift, school drop-off, appointments, the inbox, dinner, bedtime, and the next conversation that needs to happen with your ex.
At the same time, you’re dealing with decisions about money, where everyone will live, parenting schedules, attorneys, mediation, and what happens next. Some decisions can’t wait. Others have been sitting in the background for months because you don’t have the energy to think about one more thing.
You may be separated and still sharing a home. You may be living apart but tied together by children, finances, or the legal process. You may be divorced on paper and still spending far too much mental energy managing what remains.
You’re trying to keep daily life moving while the foundation of your life has changed.
Read more about my work with women during separation and divorce →
Separation and divorce can take over your mental space
The legal process has deadlines, but the decisions don’t stay contained there. Parenting schedules, money, living arrangements, school events, holidays, and communication with your ex keep showing up in the middle of work, dinner, bedtime, and everything else you’re already managing.
A text about a schedule change can take ten minutes to answer and hours to recover from. You may rewrite a message about the children, agree to something that doesn’t actually work for you, or replay a conversation long after it’s over.
Over time, you can end up organizing your day around avoiding conflict, predicting someone else’s reaction, and trying to keep everyone else comfortable. You’re left carrying the emotional and practical work of the relationship even after it has changed.
You can stay connected to your own judgment when conflict and pressure take over
Divorce won’t stop requiring difficult decisions. You may still share parenting responsibility with someone you don’t trust. You’ll still make choices about money, work, schedules, holidays, housing, your children, and your own future without the certainty you once hoped you’d have.
I can help you stay connected to your own judgment when conflict, guilt, or pressure starts to take over.
Instead of spending hours trying to predict your ex’s reaction, prevent conflict, or find wording that can’t be argued with, you’ll start to recognize when you’re stepping into the old role of emotional manager. You’ll learn to pause before you explain, over-accommodate, apologize, or take responsibility for another adult’s frustration.
That change goes beyond co-parenting communication. It affects how you make decisions about work, money, housing, parenting, relationships, and the life you want now. You’ll be less likely to hand your own judgment over to fear, guilt, or someone else’s disappointment. You’ll be able to tolerate the discomfort of conflict without spending the next two days trying to repair the other person’s reaction.
It also changes your capacity as a parent. When you’re not carrying a full day of conflict, vigilance, and mental rehearsal into the evening, you have more room to respond to your children as they are. You can sit with a child’s sadness or anger without treating it as proof that you’ve failed them or that you need to make the feeling disappear immediately.
Over time, your life won’t be organized around the divorce. You’ll be able to grieve what was lost without becoming stuck in it, make choices without reopening them every night, and build routines, relationships, and plans around what matters to you now.
About dr. emily fornwalt
Therapist for women in durham, nC
I work with women in Durham and across North Carolina who are separated, going through divorce, or trying to find their footing after the legal process is over.
Many of the women I see are used to handling things. They keep work moving, care for their children, manage the household, and make difficult decisions when no one else will. During separation or divorce, those responsibilities do not disappear. They become harder to carry when every decision comes with conflict, guilt, second-guessing, or another person’s reaction to manage.
In our work, we pay attention to the habits that keep pulling you away from your own judgment: overexplaining, over-accommodating, taking responsibility for someone else’s frustration, or trying to find the one response that will finally keep the peace.
I help you recognize those habits in real time, decide what works for you and your children, and respond without giving up your position just to make the conflict end.
I’m licensed in North Carolina as an LCMHC-S, license #S6459, and I hold a PhD in counseling from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
If you’d like to learn more about me than can fit in a short blurb, please explore the link below.
How to get started in Counseling
Prices and logistics:
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 clients online in all of North Carolina.
Self-Schedule here:
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.
FAQs About Counseling During Separation & Divorce
Questions About Online Divorce Counseling in Durham
If you are separated, considering divorce, going through the divorce process, or adjusting to life after divorce, you may have practical questions about working together.
Don’t see your question listed? Please see my main page on working with women during separation and divorce.
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No, I do not provide discernment counseling or couples counseling.
I provide individual counseling for women. You may be considering separation, in the middle of divorce, or adjusting to life after divorce. Our work focuses on your experience: the decisions in front of you, the emotions and reactions that arise, your parenting and co-parenting concerns, and the life you are building now.
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No. I work online with women anywhere in North Carolina. You can meet with me from Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, elsewhere in the Triangle, or another part of the state.
You’ll need a private place to talk and a reliable internet connection. You also need to be physically located in North Carolina at the time of your appointment. If you travel or move, let me know before we meet so we can determine whether we can continue working together.
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No. I work exclusively online and don’t offer in-person appointments in Durham or elsewhere.
Online sessions mean you don’t need to add a commute, parking, or time in a waiting room to a schedule that is already full. You can meet from home, a private office, or another private location in North Carolina.
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.
Online Divorce Counseling Throughout Durham
I provide individual online counseling for women throughout Durham and the surrounding area. You don’t need to travel to an office, but you do need to be physically located in North Carolina when we meet.
I work with women in Downtown Durham, Trinity Park, Old West Durham, Ninth Street, Duke Park, Old North Durham, Northgate Park, Forest Hills, Hope Valley, Woodcroft, Southpoint, East Durham, Hayti, West End, Lakewood, and Rockwood.
I also work with women in Durham’s Brightleaf, Warehouse, American Tobacco, Central Park, Golden Belt, and City Center districts, as well as clients in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Research Triangle Park, and communities throughout North Carolina.
Sessions take place by secure video, so you can meet from a private place at home, work, or another location where you can speak freely.