Couples in early seasons of marriage often arrive to therapy holding a lot of love for each other, and for that reason, feel confused and overwhelmed by the intensifying conflict, lack of connection in intimacy, or difficulty adjusting to life’s changes as they get married, change jobs, have kids, move, etc. Couples I work with want to feel more connected and confident about their ability to connect through all of life’s seasons.

In couples therapy, I will work with you to:

• Improve your communication skills so that you can connect with each other emotionally through tense or difficult conversations

• Increase insight to understand what’s happening in conflict AND build skills to more effectively address it

• Create more clear and connecting conversations about difficult topics like sex, parenting, roles, race & culture, finances, and family

• Increase your awareness of underlying stories & beliefs impacting how you interact with each other

My work with couples is influenced by Emotion Focused Therapy and Narrative Therapy frameworks. This means that we’ll spend a lot of time working on slowing down conversations to notice and understand the common conflict cycles you get stuck in. I’ll help you learn and practice new strategies for de-escalating conflict, self- and co-regulating, and communicating about your feelings and internal process. I’ll also pay a lot of attention to stories and beliefs that influence how you engage with each other - things you may have taken in from your family growing up, from larger society, or specific experiences that have formed your perspective on the world and relationships. We’ll work together to create a safe space to get vulnerable with each other and engage in new ways.