Marriage & Family Therapy

Marriage can be beautiful AND it can be tough. Many couples find themselves at a critical juncture in their lives, either during a tumultous career change, abrupt life change such as a death in the family or illness, or just have difficulty coping with the day-to-day deluge of life's stresses.  In this day and age we are running too fast and it’s hard to stop long enough to really engage with nature, be present in the moment and connect with ourselves or with our loved ones.  But it is very important for our health and wellness as individuals and for our relationships to be able and willing to do this.

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, I am trained in both psychotherapy and family systems. I focus on understanding an individual client’s symptoms and interaction patterns within their existing relationships and environment.  Counseling is a unique and custom process that must be tailored to each client.  After sitting down to help you identify your personal strengths and resources, I can help you create more successful strategies for attaining your goals, as well as learn better ways to use your own strengths. I am less focused on problems, and more interested finding solutions.

There is no perfect life and no perfect marriage, but we can perfect the way we react to life's ups and downs.  With hectic schedules and increasing stresses and responsibilities, individuals and couples often find themselves not having as much time as they would like to focus on their relationship. 

Over time, the relationship dynamic may suffer. They may drift apart and lose sight of the goals, dreams and aspirations they once shared. Keeping your relationship a priority can be especially tricky during times of stress or major life transitions, such as having a baby or becoming primary caregiver for an aging parent. It may feel like your relationship changed overnight, but most often it takes days, weeks and years to become disconnected from one another. Relationships are important components of a healthy and well balanced life. It takes some work to do this and it’s not always easy; all relationships go through ups and downs. The key is to continually reassess your relationship and changing needs with mutual respect and constant communication. Although I have worked with couples who have waited until they are “on the brink” of crisis, couples can benefit from the therapeutic process at any stage of their relationship. Couples therapy includes both pre-marital counseling and marital counseling. The most common problems I see in my practice include:

• Trust Issues
• Intimacy Challenges
• Conflict Management
• Communication
• Infidelity and Recovery
• Traumatic Events
• Life Changing Transitions
• Separation or Divorce

Broken trust, while difficult to repair, is not impossible. When couples are in tune with one another and follow through with their commitments, trust can be rebuilt over time. Trust is an action, not a state of mind.

Couples also face challenges from work-related stress, complex in-law relationships, parenting issues, pre-marital counseling, infertility or reproductive challenges, and some question whether they have fallen out of love. Whether you or your partner feels unhappy in the relationship or unsure about the level of commitment to the relationship, couples therapy can reveal and interrupt the repetitive patterns that keep you stuck in the same negative pathways.

Effective communication and conflict management are key for any happy and healthy couples. Each partner in a relationship has their own style of communication. Couples therapy helps partners to listen and respond more effectively during the routine activities of life as well as during times of difficulty. Conflict is a natural part of all relationships and can actually be positive as long as it is managed effectively. My role is to facilitate a safe and balanced dialogue between partners through Narrative approaches along with Mindfulness Techniques, Imago Therapy, Solution Focused/Strength based approaches and Gottman’s approach to relationships and marriage.

While we can't go back and change the past, I can provide support to couples by helping them create the changes they desire while nurturing hopes for their future. Contact me today to discuss how therapy can help strengthen your relationship.