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About Us

Kids In The Middle is a non-profit agency that helps families transition to a new way of life before, during, and after separation and divorce for the sake of creating healthier futures for all involved. Our services focus on providing support and opportunities to help them achieve goals and step into a healthy, balanced future.

Kids In The Middle is a nationally accredited non-profit specializing in providing services that are unavailable elsewhere in the greater St. Louis region. Kids In The Middle has been providing counseling, education, and support to children and families successfully since 1977. Our agency is recognized as a leader in the field, receiving national accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (COA).

With 47 years of experience, the Kids In The Middle clinical team are the experts in providing these specific mental health services. We use an evidence-based program, Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) in conjunction with a family systems approach, making Kids In The Middle uniquely qualified to provide much-needed counseling services.

Kids In The Middle has demonstrated successful outcomes year after year, with over 75 percent of the children served developing positive coping skills and decreasing negative behaviors. We are also unique in regard to our privacy and confidentiality policy. We do not release case records with specific information regarding counseling services. Our confidentiality policy allows the therapists to be there for the children and remain a neutral party. This approach ensures that the children and their families have a safe, confidential, and nurturing environment to work through their feelings.

Kids In The Middle is committed to breaking down financial barriers to accessing mental health services. As a result, we have made the promise to the community to never turn a family away due to an inability to pay for much-needed counseling services for their children.

Our Mission

Kids In The Middle empowers children, parents and families during and after divorce through counseling, education, and support. Kids In The Middle has but one focus – helping children and families affected by difficult family transitions. KITM’s services emphasize building on children’s strengths and providing support and opportunities to help them achieve goals and transition into adulthood in a productive, healthy manner.

Our Vision

Kids In The Middle will improve the lives of families in the greater St. Louis community with compassion, care and confidentiality to children, parents and families facing the challenges of separation, divorce and remarriage.

DEI Statement

Our differences make the difference. At Kids In The Middle, we value varying perspectives, backgrounds, and client experiences to generate better experiences across the organization. We strive to make our clients and team members feel welcome and feel like they belong.

Our History

Kids In The Middle (KITM) was established in 1977 by Kim Lubin-Long, a therapist in private practice who observed that many of her adult clients still suffered childhood emotional and psychological scars in direct relation to their parent’s divorce. She recognized the internal suffering children endure during such difficult transitions, as well as their inability to name and voice conflicting emotions effectively. She determined that the trauma might have been alleviated if her adult clients would have had access to therapeutic interventions as children. Consequently, Kids In The Middle was formed as a non-profit agency in 1977 and was incorporated in 1979

The first services offered were Group Counseling and Individual Counseling for Children of divorce who were experiencing feelings of anger, loneliness, guilt, depression, anxiety, and other behavior problems. Our services have evolved into a family systems approach, recognizing that working with parents to reduce conflict is a critical factor in helping children cope successfully with traumatic family transitions. New services were implemented, including consultations for parents, individual counseling for parents, family counseling, co-parenting counseling, blended family counseling, co-parenting counseling groups, and the parenting class.

We have a passion for children. We know that children of parental separation and divorce adjust much better when they can share their feelings with other children. We also know that children cope more effectively when their parents are involved. By working with parents, we help them settle themselves emotionally and learn how to help their children. Most importantly, we help parents reduce conflict, communicate, and co-parent to provide their kids with safe, loving homes. Parents need not have been married to utilize our services.

Our name exemplifies our specific focus on children. Every service provided, whether for children, parents, and families are done with a focus on the child. Our model and services have evolved over the years through research, partnerships, training, and enhanced learning; however, our core service remains the same – Group and Individual Counseling for Children.

Today, Kids In The Middle is the only non-profit agency in the greater St. Louis region with the unique specialization of working with children whose families are experiencing trauma due to parental separation, divorce, and remarriage. With 46 years of experience, Kids In The Middle is regarded as the experts in providing counseling, education, and support for difficult family transitions.

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Our Impact

2,459

children, parents, and families were helped by Kids In The Middle in 2023.

86%

of children developed and demonstrated the use of positive coping skills in 2023.

81%

of children showed a reduction in negative behaviors in 2023.

6,108

hours of counseling was provided to children, parents, and families in 2023.