Counseling for Couples and Families
Couples Counseling
Being a Marriage and Family Therapist I have received specialized training in working with couples. I enjoy the work I do with couples and value the importance of having healthy relationships. Couples counseling can involve pre-marital counseling, counseling to aid in greater communication and intimacy, healing a marriage from an affair, support through a divorce, and more. I tailor my approach to each couple's needs, seeing some couples exclusively together and others where I see individuals, as well as the couple. In all couples sessions I support and encourage open, honest communication. I work to help the couples decrease blame and increase personal responsibility. While some seek me out to be the judge of who is right and wrong, I make it clear that I do not place blame, rather I ask, "Is this working for you?". I utilize Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), a modality with high success rates in improving bonds and satisfaction between couples.
Family Therapy
My goal in family therapy is to aid in increasing connection and cooperation between family members. In working with children of families I often state and encourage the structure of, "You get a say, but you don't get to make the decision". At the same time I am working with the parents to aid them in co-parenting and setting appropriate boundaries. I listen to and respect all view points and work to help disengage families from power struggles and unimportant arguements, while increasing meanful communication. Family therapy works well with my style as an active and direct therapist. Successful family therapy demands a therapist who holds individuals of families accountable to be respectful in session and 0ne who is willing to confront inconsistencies and issues within the family dynamic. My approach to family therapy is extremely tailored to each family, spending time working with individuals, sub-groups, and the full family as needed.