Intimate relationship is one of the most demanding and rewarding endeavors that we experience.
It is easy to get stuck in unhealthy patterns and lose connection with the joy that can come from loving and relating to another. Past wounds and patterns from prior experiences of love, both as adults and children, arise in our current intimate relationships, often creating cycles that over time become stuck and painful ways of interacting.
My approach with couples looks carefully at the cycles in the relationship that aren’t working, by discovering what happens in your painful interactions, when one or both of you become triggered emotionally.
We will slow these moments down and feel into what is happening for each of you.
What emotions are being evoked? Is what you’re noticing a familiar experience, one that predates this relationship? In a safe and focused way, we look for the unconscious layer of emotions and experiences.
Once there, you are able to see and feel your self and your partner more deeply and your empathy for your self and your partner unfolds. Then, the cycles that your relationship is limited by become clear.
New ways of relating to your self and your partner can be formed in couples therapy–ways that are much more thoughtful, vulnerable, loving, and fun.
The goal is to create a relationship where both of you can weather the inevitable challenges with awareness and skill, and therefore more fully experience the joy and satisfaction that intimate relationships can bring.
As your couples therapist, I am actively engaged in our sessions, leaning in to deeply understand your particular struggles and strengths with warmth, curiosity, insight, and carefully focused interventions. Issues that I commonly encounter with couples are:
- Painful Patterns of Communication
- Emotional alienation
- Emotional entanglement/co-dependency
- Choosing to stay together or not, separation, and divorce
- Sexuality and intimacy
- Challenges and changes that come with parenting
- Infidelity and trust
- Excessive fighting
Working with couples is a principal area of focus and passion for me.
I stay up to date on current trends in couples therapy. My work as a couples therapist draws from many experts in the field, primarily Stan Tatkin’s Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT Level 2 practitioner), Sue Johnson’s Emotional Focused Therapy approach (Level 1 practitioner), and the mindfulness-based Experiential Couples Therapy approach developed by Rob Fisher, MFT.
My work with couples is often a deeply powerful and transformative process. I welcome couples of all backgrounds and sexual orientations to my practice.
Located in The Mission/Noe Valley
(415) 742-1396
[email protected]
SPECIALTIES:
- Individuals
- Couples
- Parenting
- Relationships
- Trauma
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Self-Esteem, Self-Acceptance
- Recovery from Addiction
- Major Life Transitions
- Aging
- Purpose and Meaning
- Spirituality
- Grief and Loss
Location Details
