Parenting as Partners Couples Therapy

You love your child. You are doing everything you can for them. And somewhere in the middle of all of it — the appointments, the school meetings, the late nights, the disagreements about what to do next — you and your partner have started to feel more like co-managers than partners. This is one of the most common and least talked about relationship struggles there is. When a child is struggling — whether that is a diagnosis, a mental health challenge, a behavioral difficulty, or simply the ordinary complexity of raising kids in a demanding world — the relationship between parents quietly absorbs the weight of it. Different approaches to parenting. Different emotional responses to the same situation. The exhaustion of carrying something heavy together without a space to actually talk about it. Parenting as Partners was built for exactly this.

What is Parenting as Partners Couples Therapy

Parenting as Partners is couples work — focused specifically on the relationship between two people who are navigating the experience of parenting together. This is not family therapy. Your child does not attend. We are not assessing your parenting or working directly with your child's challenges. We are working with the two of you — your relationship as partners, your communication as co-parents, and the ways that parenting stress is showing up between you. It is a dedicated space to put down what you are each carrying long enough to actually see each other again.

Who Is This Couples Work Best Suited For

Parenting as Partners is for couples where: A child has received a diagnosis — developmental, behavioral, or mental health — and navigating it is creating stress and disconnection between partners Different parenting philosophies or approaches are becoming a source of ongoing conflict The demands of parenting a child with higher needs have left both partners depleted and disconnected from each other One partner feels more responsible for managing the child's needs and resentment has quietly built You are navigating school systems, IEPs, therapy appointments, or medical care for your child and the coordination of it all is overwhelming your relationship You are good parents who love each other — and you miss each other You do not have to be in crisis to come to Parenting as Partners. Many couples come because they can feel the distance growing and they want to address it before it becomes something harder to repair.

Why Beverly Lemmons

Parenting as Partners is led by Beverly Lemmons, LCSW — whose background makes her uniquely suited for this work. Beverly brings a combination that is genuinely rare in one clinician. She holds training in both Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy — giving her a deep understanding of both the couple relationship and the family system around it. She also brings years of experience as a school social worker, a background in psychiatric settings with children and families, and extensive parenting support work across developmental stages. She understands IEPs and school-based mental health. She understands what it means to navigate a system on behalf of a child while also trying to hold your relationship together. She understands the particular exhaustion of parenting a child with higher needs — and what it does to the people doing that parenting together. This is not a clinician who will need you to explain the context. Beverly already understands the world you are living in.

What This Work Addresses

In Parenting as Partners sessions Beverly works with couples on: Getting on the same page about your child's needs and how to meet them together Identifying the ways parenting stress is showing up in your relationship — the arguments, the distance, the resentment — and understanding what is underneath them Building communication tools that work even when you are exhausted and overwhelmed Redistributing the emotional and practical load more equitably between partners Reconnecting as partners — not just as co-parents — so that your relationship is a source of support rather than an additional source of strain Navigating the grief that can come with a child's diagnosis or ongoing struggles — and doing that grief together rather than separately

How It Works

Parenting as Partners is offered as ongoing couples sessions with Beverly Lemmons at We Thrive Together. Sessions are private pay and available in person in Fredericksburg, Virginia and via secure online sessions for couples across Virginia. Both partners must be physically located in Virginia at the time of each online session due to licensure requirements. Sessions are 60, 90, or 120 minutes depending on what you need.

• 60-minute session — $175

• 90-minute session — $245

• 120-minute session — $310

Your relationship deserves support too. Not just your child's wellbeing. Not just the family system. Your relationship — the one that holds all of it together — deserves a dedicated space and a skilled guide. Parenting as Partners gives you that space. Reach out and tell us where you are. Our team responds within one business day. Contact Us — We're Here to Help