• Adults
• Couples
• Families
• Adolescents and The Transition to Adulthood
• Veterans and their Families
• Individuals or Families Coping with Chronic Illness or Disability
• Persons Interested in the Intensive Process of Depth Therapy

Psycotherapy for Couples

While every human being has the capacity for love, its realization is one of the most difficult achievements. - Erich Fromm

There are countless books written by contemporary psychological theorists regarding the complexities and challenges of loving. Although approached from different vantages, they seem to share the common view that the “journey of the heart,” a phrase used by author John Welwood to refer to the process of loving, can often be fraught with difficulties.

Although persons are usually adept at forging friendships, few begin their lives as adults understanding or appreciating the rigorous commitment and sustained open-heartedness needed to foster and nurture prolonged intimacy with another person. When conflicts emerge, they often begin to doubt the viability of their relationship, rather than recognize the conflicts as a part of the ebb and flow of coupled life.

As a person, I recognize just how evocative and transformative the process of loving can be. As a psychotherapist, I enjoy helping others to recognize and value the opportunities for self-development, learning, deepening closeness and reconciliation offered by the exploration of the differences, conflicts or other difficulties they experience in their shared lives with their partners and spouses.

We all have sensitivities, some stemming from prior relationships and some rooted in our experience of our early lives, particularly relating to our experience of attachment, attunement, separation and loss. In the course of loving, we may experience these sensitivities, or the reverberations of more significant injuries, especially if our histories include childhood trauma, abuse or neglect.

As we begin to meet, I will engage you in a conversation about your individual and shared lives, to try and understand the origins of the problems you are experiencing as a couple, as well as what may be needed to help you in resolving these difficulties.

In additional to helping you develop more insight and awareness regarding your difficulties and vulnerabilities, I will help you develop the interpersonal skills you will need to navigate or traverse impasses or tensions in the future with less impact on your experience of closeness.

Depending upon your needs, I can also assist you to:

• Affirm and renew your commitment to one another and to a process of conscious learning as a couple
• Cultivate the opportunities for learning and development that can derived from the thoughtful exploration of your problems or difficulties
• Understand one another and your strengths and vulnerabilities as a couple
• Trace the correlation between your early lives and your experience of one another and your relationship
• Understand and express your needs authentically and non-reactively
• Understand the origins of feelings of mistrust or trepidation, or heightened emotionality
• Develop strategies and skills for managing and resolving habitual tensions or conflicts and for communicating more effectively when stressed
• Develop or adopt rituals or practices that will support, nurture and sustain your life as a couple, and nurture closeness between you
• Develop your capacity for self-reflection, intimacy and trust, as well as emotional regulation when arguing or distressed
• Cope with infertility, infidelity, sexual difficulties, divorce, remarriage, financial or employment stresses, loss, grief, parenting conflicts, cultural tensions, a personal history of trauma, depression, anxiety, disability, illness, care-giving or aging, or any other source of stress or adjustment in your lives