A Better Approach To Life — Support Through Every Stage of Divorce
Marriage and divorce are two of the most emotionally significant experiences in adult life. But while we celebrate one openly, we often go through the other alone. Divorce, whether you’re considering it, in the middle of it, or rebuilding after it, is one of the most stressful life events a person can face. The emotional, financial, and family upheaval can feel overwhelming.
At Innovative Family Therapy in Louisville, KY, our licensed divorce counselors help individuals, couples, and families navigate every stage of divorce. Whether you’re trying to decide, working through co-parenting, processing grief and identity loss, or rebuilding your sense of self afterward, we’re here to help.
We offer in-person sessions at our Louisville office and secure teletherapy throughout Kentucky and Indiana.
Meet Your Divorce Counselors
Five of our licensed clinicians specialize in divorce counseling:
Chelsey Gorham, MSC, LMFT, GC-C
Founder of Innovative Family Therapy. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Grief Counselor. Specializes in adult counseling, grief and loss, and life transitions.
Patricia Costa Tague, LMFT, EMDR Trained
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — an evidence-based therapy especially effective for trauma.
Sonja Stewart, LMFT, Certified Prepare and Enrich Facilitator
Specializes in working with adults around grief, life transitions, and relationship concerns.
Tammy Nischan, LMFT
Brings creative and integrative approaches to adult clients, including a Therapeutic Art Life Coach Certification.
Kathy Begley, LPCA and Hannah Welling, LPCA
Licensed Professional Counselor Associates supporting adults through anxiety, depression, life transitions, and personal growth.
Want to see the full team? Meet all our therapists →
We Support You Through Every Stage of Divorce
Divorce therapy looks different depending on where you are in the process. Here’s how we work with clients at each stage:
Before — When You’re Considering Divorce Sometimes the hardest part is deciding. We work with individuals and couples weighing whether to stay or separate. This isn’t about pushing you in either direction. It’s about helping you make a clear-eyed, values-aligned decision. Many couples we see at this stage discover they want to try marriage counseling first; others realize separation is the healthiest path.
During — When You’re Going Through Divorce The middle of a divorce is often the most painful. There’s legal stress, financial change, identity disruption, and (if there are children) co-parenting decisions that have to be made under emotional duress. We help you stay grounded, communicate productively with your ex, support your kids through the change, and protect your own mental health.
After — When You’re Adjusting to Life After Divorce The legal divorce ends, but the emotional divorce can take much longer. We help post-divorce clients rebuild self-identity, grieve fully, learn to date again (when ready), navigate ongoing co-parenting, and step into the next chapter of life with intention.
Our Approach to Divorce Counseling
Divorce intersects several areas of mental health, so we draw on multiple evidence-based approaches.
Your counselor will tailor the approach to your situation. There is no one-size-fits-all in divorce work.
What Is Divorce Counseling?
Divorce counseling is mental health support specifically designed for the unique stressors of separation and divorce. It can be done individually, with both partners (sometimes called discernment counseling when you’re deciding whether to divorce), or as a family unit to support children navigating the change.
Unlike marriage counseling, which is focused on saving or improving the relationship, divorce therapy acknowledges that the relationship may already be ending (or has ended) and focuses on helping you, your partner, and your children move through it as healthily as possible.
9 Common Reasons for Divorce
In the United States, you can divorce for any reason. But certain patterns show up over and over again. At Innovative Family Therapy in Louisville, KY, these are the most common reasons we see couples ultimately separate.
If any of these resonate, divorce counseling can help — whether to repair, to part well, or to figure out which path is right.
Benefits of Divorce Counseling
Even if you’ve never been to therapy before, divorce is a transition that calls for additional support. Divorce counseling can:
- Help you cope with the stress, grief, anger, and anxiety of separation
- Provide clarity about whether to divorce, including reducing decision regret either way
- Improve communication with your spouse or ex through the process
- Build healthy co-parenting during and after divorce
- Help your children adjust to the changing family structure
- Process trauma tied to the marriage or the divorce itself (especially with EMDR)
- Grieve the loss fully — of the partner, the marriage, the family structure, the imagined future
- Rebuild self-identity post-divorce — who you are, what you want, how you want to live
- Develop boundaries with an ex, in-laws, or others affected by the divorce
- Prepare emotionally for dating, remarriage, or blended families down the road
Co-Parenting Through Divorce
If you have children, divorce counseling becomes especially important for them as much as for you. Research consistently shows that the way parents handle divorce affects children’s long-term wellbeing more than the divorce itself does.
We help co-parenting couples:
- Develop communication systems that protect children from adult conflict
- Build consistent parenting approaches across two homes
- Make decisions together about schools, healthcare, holidays, and big life events
- Manage your own emotional reactions so your child isn’t carrying them
- Support your child directly if they’re struggling — see also our child therapy and teen counseling services
- Plan for blended families when new partners enter the picture
Co-parenting sessions are billed at our family session rate (see Investment section below).
What to Expect at Your First Session
Your first divorce therapy session at Innovative Family Therapy is 90 minutes long. We use this time to understand where you are in the divorce process, what’s been happening, who’s affected, and what you most need help with.
Sessions can be individual, with both partners together, or with the family, depending on what you need. Your counselor will help you decide what format will work best.
Subsequent sessions are typically 50–60 minutes long for individual work, or longer for couple or family sessions. You and your therapist will set the cadence together; weekly is common during high-stress phases, with longer intervals as things stabilize.
Everything you share is confidential, protected by HIPAA, and handled with deep care for the difficulty of what you’re going through.
Investment & Insurance
Innovative Family Therapy is a private-pay practice. We do not bill insurance directly. For divorce counseling especially, many clients prefer this: no diagnosis required in your records, no involvement from insurance companies that may later be part of legal proceedings, and full privacy for what you’re working through.
Our Divorce Counseling Fees:
- Initial session (90 minutes): $165
- Ongoing individual sessions (50–60 minutes): $110
- Half-session (30 minutes): $55
- Couples/co-parenting session (50–60 minutes): $120
- Family session (2 people): $120
- Family session (3+ people, e.g., parents + child): $130
Reduced-rate option: Our Clinical Counseling Intern Hannah Smith sees individual, couples, and family clients at a reduced rate: $45 per regular session and $65 for the initial session. She works under licensed supervision and is a strong option for clients seeking quality care at a more accessible price point.
Payment options:
- We accept most HSA and FSA cards
- We can provide a superbill for out-of-network insurance reimbursement (check with your insurance about out-of-network mental health benefits)
Frequently Asked Questions
It varies widely. Some clients work with us through an acute phase (3–6 months around the divorce itself). Others continue longer for post-divorce identity work or ongoing co-parenting support. Your therapist will give you their honest assessment after the first few sessions.
Yes — we offer secure video sessions for divorce counseling throughout Kentucky and Indiana. This works especially well for clients whose ex lives in a different city or for individuals needing flexible scheduling.
The single most protective factor for children of divorce is how their parents handle it. We can support both you (in regulating your own emotions) and your kids directly through our child therapy and teen counseling services. Co-parenting counseling can help align you and your ex on approach.
That depends on what you want. Some clients use counseling to confirm their decision and move forward more confidently. Others discover they want to try to repair it first. Your counselor’s job is not to push you toward any specific outcome.
Attorneys handle the legal process. Mediators help you reach legal agreements. Divorce counselors are mental health professionals who help you handle the emotional, psychological, and family dimensions. Most clients work with all three at different points.
Absolutely. Many of our divorce counseling clients come individually. Your work isn’t dependent on your spouse’s participation. Individual divorce counseling can be transformative.
Yes — and we often recommend it, especially if there are children involved. Joint divorce counseling helps you co-parent better, communicate clearly through the legal process, and end the marriage on the healthiest possible terms.
If you and your partner both want to try to save the marriage, marriage counseling is the right starting point. If you’ve already decided to divorce, or one or both of you is leaning that way, divorce counseling is the better fit. Some clients start with discernment-style sessions to figure out which path is right.
Why Choose Innovative Family Therapy?
- Five licensed therapists specializing in divorce work — including a Certified Grief Counselor, an EMDR-trained trauma specialist, and a Gottman Level 2 trained clinician
- Support across every stage — considering, going through, or adjusting after divorce
- Multiple evidence-based modalities — grief work, EMDR, CBT, ACT, Solution-Focused, and Gottman-informed approaches
- Co-parenting expertise — protect your kids from the worst of the conflict
- A family systems perspective — divorce affects the whole system; we treat it that way
- No waiting list — when you need support, we’re here
- In-person at our Louisville office and teletherapy throughout Kentucky and Indiana
- Private-pay practice with HSA/FSA accepted — full privacy, no diagnostic labels
- Reduced-rate options via our Clinical Counseling Intern
- Founded by Chelsey Gorham, MSC, LMFT, GC-C — a Louisville-based Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Grief Counselor
Explore All Our Counseling Services
Innovative Family Therapy supports your whole family, at every stage of life. If someone you love needs help too, explore our other services:
You Don’t Have to Navigate Divorce Alone
Whether you’re trying to decide, in the middle of it, or rebuilding after, our licensed divorce counselors in Louisville, KY are here to help. There’s no one “right” way through divorce, but going through it with support changes everything.
Call us at (502) 612-9129 or schedule online. There’s no waiting list, and we’ll match you with the right counselor on the first call.
Need Help Right Now?
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call 911 or call or text 988 (the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). You can also visit your nearest emergency room. Therapy is for ongoing mental health care — in an emergency, please use the resources above.
