Couples Therapy

All couples go through challenges at some point in their relationship. Sometimes these challenges can become so fixed and repetitive that each partner begins to feel desperate. You find yourself having a different version of the same fight over and over again. It’s great if couples seek out therapy together before getting to that point, as a preventative measure, but if you have already gotten to such an impasse, couples therapy becomes necessary.

My approach to working with couples is founded on the premise that in virtually all relationships each person is contributing to the problem in some way. Each person comes into the relationship with their own implicit ways of making sense of the world, processing emotions, and navigating relationships, which have been shaped over a lifetime. In other words, we all have baggage that we bring into a relationship, and two people’s baggage can interact in some pretty combustible ways. What’s needed, and what I facilitate as a couples therapist, is to create a situation in which the heat gets turned down and couples can have more productive conversations. I help each person listen to what their partner is saying and really try to understand it from their perspective. I also help each person to say the things that they need the other person to hear. Once each person feels truly listened to and understood on their own terms, things can get to a better place.

In working together we will focus on:

• improving communication

• increasing trust

• creating a healthy balance of closeness and autonomy

Additionally, I have experience helping couples with issues regarding sex & intimacy, infidelity, premarital concerns, parenting, financial stresses, challenges with families of origin and in-laws, supporting a partner with a mental illness, and non-monogamous relationships, including open relationships and relationships in which a third or more intimate partner is involved.