Durham/Chapel Hill Office Clinicians
Dr. Lindsey Ohler works with children, families and couples who are transitioning through the separation and divorce process. Providing supportive therapy, she works with children and adolescents to process their emotions in relation to the break-up of their family. Dr. Ohler provides a warm and safe environment for children and teens to share their fear, anger and sadness. Furthermore, with adults she helps individuals
Dr. Colleen Hamilton provides assistance to individuals transitioning following divorce or separation. Her individual work focuses on life-restructuring issues often seen during that time, such as identifying support systems, changing one’s peer groups, and effective co-parenting. As one of our resident child psychologists, she is well versed in helping parents understand, help, and guide their children through the divorce process. Dr. Hamilton also works with parents to develop an effective co-parenting relationship or parallel parenting system.
From the very beginning of her career with a B.S. in Child Development & Family Relationships, Dr. Lepage has been focusing on families, and she has extensive experience working with individuals, couples, parents, and children going through divorce. Dr. Lepage completed both her master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation in Clinical Psychology in the area of developing parenting plans, and is an expert in cooperative co-parenting and parallel parenting. Her combined experience in divorce transitions, child development, parenting plans, and conflict resolution make her highly sought out by people going through separation. She is skilled at helping within the traditional divorce model
Raleigh/Cary Office Clinicians
Heidi works compassionately with individuals and families who are considering or experiencing separation and divorce. Focusing on the use of positive communication, Heidi works with individuals to manage heightened emotions, identify coping strategies, and draw on their strengths to navigate this new territory. She works with children of separating and divorcing families to provide an outlet for their emotions while family dynamics shift. For divorcing couples who are also parents, Heidi provides support as the couple works toward a healthy co-parenting routine and relationship that focuses on the children.
Separation and divorce can be a challenging time that is often emotionally charged for both adults as well as children of any age that are involved in the process of redefining family. Melissa provides therapy in a safe, open, honest and non-biased setting to support them through this life transition and focuses on self-care and coping skills. Everyone involved want to understand what is happening and what lies ahead. Each person will be impacted differently based on their own personality, past experiences and their ability to have any control over what is happening. The emotions involved vary day to day and person to person and these feelings can be confusing, frustrating and painful. With parents, Melissa provides support to each individual as they face this life change and promotes establishing a healthy and effective co-parenting relationship for the benefit of the children. The goal is to identify their own part and work towards emerging from the loss of this relationship towards positive, healthy relationships going forward.
Just as every relationship is unique, every separation comes with its own challenges and grief. In the life of a family, separation or divorce is invariably a major event, affecting not only the couple but also their relatives and any children they may have. Seeking therapy around a separation or divorce can help all people involved process the experience and navigate the future. Dr. Maestre has experience working individuals, couples, children and families undergoing separation and divorce. She is interested in helping children understand and cope with divorce in age-appropriate ways, supporting separating couples in their communications around co-parenting and other important decisions, and helping each individual adult formulate a plan for their next life chapter.