Couples

When couples come to therapy, it's for a variety of reasons. I will meet you right where you are in your relationship. 

I've been married for over 25 years so I know from personal and professional experience that it's a journey of daily choices. In therapy, I give couples strategies to take home so they can practice small steps that lead to big changes.

My approach combins solution-focused and emotionally-focused therapies in a Gottman Method framework that's based on decades of research. Rather than taking sides, I will help the two of you find middle ground because that's where the healing can happen. For pre-married couples, I'm also a certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator.

Whether you've lost the spark of sexual connection, or are just having difficulties talking about sex, there is hope. After years of clinical experience and training that includes Sensate Focus Therapy and more, I am comfortable discussing as much or as little as you two want. In the Christian community especially, many clients find that sex is either unaddressed or done so in a way that is super unhelpful. 

The first steps are finding new ways to communicate outside the bedroom.  Along the way, we'll replace unhelpful social messages with healthier alternatives, so that you two can build or re-build understanding, joy, and pleasure. By discovering your overlapping goals, you might be surprised at how much you both want the same things.

 If you have children (from toddlers to teens), then you know how hard it is to raise kids in a consistent, healthy way. 

Sometimes parents hover too much and other times they're too harsh. I can help you find balance  with strategies that actually work.  

Using techniques from Love and Logic parenting, with the underpinnings of neuroscience, we'll work on how to combine empathy with healthy boundaries.  

You may find that besides being an effective style of relating to your kids, it can also help your own relationship by being 'on the same page' together.