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Therapy for Couples

My areas of specialty include:

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  • Individuality and Relationality

  • Communication, Assertiveness, Boundaries

  • Respectful conflict, Judgment and Criticism

  • Problems which can come from transitions

  • Making room for difficult feelings and focusing on connection and relational growth

Therapy for New Parents

My areas of specialty include:

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  • Preparing for transition to parenting

  • Welcoming a new child into the world with skills to relate to your partner and baby

  • Navigating and adapting to yourselves as individual, partner and parent

  • Extensive resources for specific parenting topics

My Approach

In my psychotherapy practice, I incorporate holistic, societal, ecological, and neurobiology perspectives.  Essential to my work are two underlying foundations.

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First is: our adult beliefs and behaviors can be contributed to our early life experiences. How we were nurtured can contribute to how we respond to stress and return to safety and calm.  How we have responded to these figures, relationships and experiences have been crucial in shaping our adult selves and understanding of the world around us.

 

So many of us had injurious childhood experiences and therefore have wounded childhood parts in us. They live deep within and then can come right up to the surface when we feel triggered, provoked, anxious, shameful. The key here is recognizing these parts of us and getting to know the fears that provoke them. In session, I encourage exploration and acknowledgement of each partner's own formative childhood and how it impacts your current relationship.

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The second foundation is Somatic psychology which addresses both mind and body. In terms of our wellbeing, the body’s immediate and real-time sensations are as relevant as intellectual understanding and narrative beliefs.  In couples therapy, this is key to deeply understanding as well as working with each partner’s own feelings and behavior.  The Somatic approach is becoming widely appreciated and utilized, as research underscores how the body is integral to our experiences, trauma and healing.

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I primarily use a style of Somatic work pioneered by Stanley Keleman called Formative Psychology™ and Terry Real's Relational Life Therapy™ which is a model of relational skills.  

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If you wish to know more about any of these ideas, please don’t hesitate to ask and we can discuss your interest together.

More About Somatics In Therapy

Somatics is a holistic term and refers to

the human experience in terms of thoughts AND sensations.

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Getting to know yourself somatically is key to understanding yourself, 

learning compassionately about your patterns, and embarking on new possibilities.

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We'll explore questions like:

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How are you influencing your relationship with your embodied attitudes?

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"Embodied attitudes" are responses that get activated by contact with other people

and include physical sensations and body language.

They instinctively generate certain patterns in your thoughts and behavior,

and impact your personal beliefs.

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These attitudes have origins somewhere in your earlier life.

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How do you respond to various experiences in your life together?--

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Your body's sensations are indicators of your expectations

and signal how you respond to encounters, such as:

  wanting, waiting, uncertainty, frustration, excitement, startle,

  disappointment, transition, unexpected circumstances, and endings.

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What happens in both your thinking and body pattern?

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This question is about exploring with curiosity.

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Uncovering what happens in your thinking and within your body sheds light

on your beliefs and learned patterns of reaction.
These instinctual patterns are alive in you.

And these "somatic responses" spark your life choices.

 

Do you feel yourself drawn to any of these particular questions?
Within your relationship, do your actions and behaviors satisfy you? 

Or do you want to manage yourself differently, have more empowerment and choice?

Do you have tools to navigate being in relationship together?

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Working somatically looks at behavior: HOW you respond and act (not just uncovering the feelings).

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From this foundation,

we can introduce significant changes to familiar patterns.

I'll guide you to engage in these new possibilities and actively practice and grow .

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