Couples Therapy

Intimate relationship can be deeply satisfying and at times, require a lot of hard work. When the relationship is working well, the partnership feels magical and transformative.

However, our relationships do not come with an owners’ manual and some rough patches are normal and expectable.  While all relationships have their ups and downs, prolonged conflict and ongoing problems are not healthy and the distress can affect other aspects of our life.

Each of us brings our learned relational patterns and attachment styles to our close relationships. Not only do these relational patterns differ between partners but our unresolved issues and difficulties can become highlighted in the context of a couples relationship resulting in distress and unhappiness.

When it becomes apparent that the couple cannot resolve issues on their own, a therapist can serve as a facilitator for repair, re-connection, resolution, and restoration of healthy patterns of interacting.

In couples therapy , I can help you:

• Develop a deeper understanding of each other so that each partner can offer and receive support

• Learn to enhance and nourish each other

• Learn to manage conflict effectively

• Recover from difficult life events in a way that strengthens the relationship

• Enhance intimacy

• Resolve issues related to parenthood and parenting concerns

• Negotiate differences in cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds

• Negotiate the impact of families of origin on the relationship

• Learn more effective communication skills

I have considerable experience working with couples of various ages and different backgrounds and sexual orientations. I have special expertise in working with couples who are negotiating cultural issues having grown up in cultures different from the one in which they are living as adults as well as with inter-racial or inter-cultural couples where the partners come from differing backgrounds and cultures. I have received training in emotion focused therapy (EFT) which is an empirically validated treatment based on considerable research. and I am a life time member of the International Center for Excellence in EFT (ICEEFT). You can hear Dr. Susan Johnson talk about EFT by viewing Soothing the Threatened Brain