Online Counseling for Women During and After Divorce in Virginia
Online Divorce therapy with Dr. Emily Fornwalt, PhD
You’re still doing your job and taking care of your kids. But since the separation, your responsibilities take more out of you than they used to. I help you focus at work, stay patient with your kids, and trust your own decisions again. I work with women across Virginia who are newly separated, in the middle of the divorce, or rebuilding post-divorce.
What Your Life Looks Like During Separation and Divorce in Virginia
You may have hoped the divorce would be over by now. Instead, you're months into separation and still not divorced. You're still texting your ex about pickups, splitting bills, and keeping up at work, and you can't put any of it behind you yet.
Your work is slipping, and you’re working hard to hide it
You lose track of what someone just asked you in a meeting, because you’re thinking about the parenting schedule, a deadline from your lawyer, and the text your ex sent at lunch. You read the same email, patient chart, or lesson plan three times before it sinks in. Some days you step into the bathroom to pull yourself together, then walk back in as if nothing’s wrong.
You’re still doing your job, but it takes twice the effort, and you’re afraid someone at work will notice.
Every message from your ex costs you the afternoon
When your ex’s name shows up on your phone, your stomach drops before you’ve read a word. You draft a reply, delete it, and draft it again. By the time you send something, you’ve lost an hour, and the message stays with you through dinner.
You blame yourself for what your kids are going through
When your son has a bad week at school or your daughter cries at a handoff, you decide it’s because of the divorce. You snap at the kids after a hard call with your ex, then replay it for hours after they’re asleep. When they ask why everything has to change, you freeze, because you want to be honest without putting the weight of it on them.
You feel like you failed at something, Maybe for the first time
You’re the person who makes hard situations work, and your marriage is the one part of your life you couldn’t make work.
You put off telling coworkers, skip events so you won’t have to answer questions, and stay off social media so no one asks how you’re doing.
Late at night, you keep asking yourself how someone this good at solving problems couldn’t solve this one.
You Manage everything alone, and then the house gets too quiet
When the kids are with you, every decision, sick day, and school form is yours, including the decisions you used to talk through with your spouse.
You might still share the house while you two decide who moves out, so you plan your evenings around when your spouse gets home.
When the kids are with their other parent, the quiet is harder than you expected. You tell yourself you’ll rest or see a friend, and instead you spend the weekend binging Netflix on the couch, then feel guilty that you didn’t use the time well.
If your divorce is already final, you’re still handling custody handoffs, texts from your ex, and the choices you now make alone. You might be months out and still lose a whole evening to a text about the holiday schedule.
Divorce Counseling for Women in Virginia
I’m Emily Fornwalt, PhD, and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia (LPC #0701013449). I offer online divorce counseling for women across Virginia who are separated, going through divorce, or adjusting after divorce. Most of my clients are working moms who handle their jobs, their kids, and co-parenting all at once.
Who I work with: Women in Virginia who are separated, going through divorce, or adjusting to life after divorce, with a particular focus on professional mothers managing work, solo parenting, and co-parenting demands
Where I provide care: Anywhere in Virginia
Format: Secure individual online therapy by video
Common concerns my Virginia clients come into counseling with: The months of separation before a divorce can be final, negotiating a separation agreement, sharing a house while you work out who moves out, co-parenting communication, custody exchanges, children’s questions, trouble focusing at work and worry that colleagues will notice, shame or a sense of failure about the divorce, and decisions about your home, money, and schedules
First session: A 90-minute online intake session, private pay at $450
Ongoing sessions: 45-minute weekly online sessions, private pay at $225
How I Help My Virginia clients During Separation & Divorce
In our sessions, we’ll work on the moments that take more of your day than you want to give them. That might be a text from your ex you keep answering in your head during a meeting. It might be a custody handoff you replay on the drive home, or a question from your child you didn’t know how to answer.
I’ll help you notice when you start minimizing what hurt, taking care of everyone else’s reaction, or moving straight into fixing the problem. That’s usually where you skip the part that needs attention. We’ll also talk openly about the parts of divorce that hurt. That can include grief about the family life you expected, anger about how decisions get made now, relief that the marriage is ending, or fear about what comes next.
When the separation agreement is on the table
A separation agreement asks you to make decisions about custody, support, the house, and money while you’re angry, hurt, or worn out. You might agree to terms you don’t want because you just want the conflict to end. You might also reopen a decision you already made because you’re afraid you chose wrong.
In therapy, you can separate the fear that comes with each choice from the facts you need to make it. Then you can bring clear answers to your lawyer or mediator, instead of giving in at 11pm because you’re too tired to argue.
When you’re still living in the same house
Sharing a house during separation means you can’t leave the conflict at the door. You might listen for the garage door, stay in your bedroom after the kids go to sleep, or rehearse a conversation about the bills for three days.
In therapy, you can figure out what you need to get through each evening in a shared house. You can decide which conversations need to happen now and which ones can wait for your attorney, your mediator, or the day one of you moves out.
When you’re months into separation and still keeping it quiet at work
A year of separation is a long time to act normal at work. You may be taking calls from your lawyer in your car, rescheduling meetings around mediation, and telling no one why. That effort to hide it leaves you with less for the work itself, and it keeps the shame going, because hiding it makes it feel like something to be ashamed of.
In therapy, we’ll work with what you feel just before a meeting or just after a text from your ex, so you can give your work your full attention. You can decide what your boss needs to know, if anything, and stop using your energy to hide it. You can also look honestly at what happened in your marriage, including what was and wasn’t in your control. Then you can stop treating the divorce as a verdict on whether you’re capable. Over time, you can tell a coworker you’re divorced without dreading their reaction, and you can trust your own judgment again at work and at home.
→ Read my main divorce counseling page to learn more about how I work with women during and after divorce.
What It’s Like to Work With Me in Divorce Counseling
We’ll do this together
I won’t hand you a list of tasks to finish alone between sessions. I’ll bring ideas, questions, and observations, and you’ll tell me which ones fit your life, which ones don’t, and what I’m missing. Then we’ll change what we focus on based on what you tell me.
I’ll notice your strengths, even when you roll your eyes
When you’re tired, frustrated, or sure you’re failing at work and at home, it can be hard to see what you’re doing well. I’m good at noticing the resourcefulness, care, and persistence you’re using to keep your job, your kids, and your home going during the divorce. You’re allowed to roll your eyes when I point out a strength; sometimes that happens.
I’ll be direct without talking like a therapist on TV
I’ll 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 your experience, 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 hard work on the problems you came in with. It can also include laughing at the absurd parts of divorce, sharing inside jokes, and getting a break from the heavy parts. I won’t force humor, but I’ll make room for it when it helps you.
Dr. EMily Fornwalt, PHD
Therapist for Women During Separation and Divorce in Virginia
I’m Emily Fornwalt, PhD, and I’m licensed in Virginia as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC #0701013449). I offer online counseling for women across Virginia during separation, divorce, and the years after. I earned my PhD in counseling at UNC Charlotte, and I’ve spent more than 20 years teaching, supervising, and providing therapy.
Many of my clients are working moms who are used to being capable, responsible, and prepared. In our sessions, we’ll look at what happens when a text from your ex, a hard handoff, or a tough moment with your child brings up anger, fear, guilt, or grief. Then we’ll work on responding in a way that fits your needs and your kids’ needs.
If you’d like to know more about me than fits in a short blurb, please click the button 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 for out-of-network reimbursement. Because I don’t bill insurance, no information about our sessions goes to an insurance company.
I see my clients online throughout Virginia.
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.
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 Across Virginia
I offer online counseling to women anywhere in Virginia. You might live in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, or a small town in the Shenandoah Valley. You might be newly separated, in the middle of the legal process, or a year past the final divorce.
Because we meet by secure video, you don't have to add a drive to a day that's already full. You can meet with me from your office with the door closed, from your parked car on a lunch break, or from home on a night your kids are with your ex. You just need to be in a private place in Virginia during each session.
Do you live in or near one of these cities? You can read more about how I help women there:
I also see women in Norfolk • Chesapeake • Alexandria • Newport News • Hampton • Roanoke • Lynchburg • Suffolk • Charlottesville • Fredericksburg • Harrisonburg • Fairfax • Leesburg • and communities across Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Central Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and Southwest Virginia.