My Approach to Helping
I have been practicing Marital and Family Therapy in the Anchorage, Alaska, area since 1976. Over the past years, I have focused mostly on working in the areas of pre-marital, marital relationships, divorce, and co-parenting. My clients are individuals or couples wanting to come together, stay together and/or come apart. I believe that healthy relationships are at the heart of a healthy life and person. Great relationships require skills that many folks have not learned. Learning relational skills and taking a look at stumbling blocks within each partner that prevent us from having a mutually satisfying, healthy relationship is the focus of my work. Relational Life Therapy, the work of Terry Real, has greatly influenced my work as a marital/relationship therapist. According to RLT, relationships go through cycles of harmony, disharmony, and repair. My vision is to help folks learn the skills that will lead them to a cherishing relationship.
More Info About My Practice
I am also involved with The Couples Center of Alaska a non-profit organization focused on strengthening Alaska couple relationships. The Couples Center of Alaska will provide a variety of affordable and high-quality services to help couples and individuals at all stages of their relationship, including post-divorce co-parents. The founders of The Couples Center of Alaska share the belief there is no greater influence on our happiness than the quality of our intimate relationships. The mission is to promote, through counseling, education, and training the well-being of couples/individuals and families by strengthening adult couple relationships
Important Factors for Choosing a Therapist
I think the most important factor in choosing a couples/relationship therapist is the experience and qualifications of the therapist. Make sure your therapist has received specific training and is experienced in marital therapy. Too often, therapists say they do couples therapy or marital therapy if they have two people sitting in the office. This is incorrect. Marital therapy requires very different skills than doing individual therapy. Individual therapists usually help people identify and process feelings. They assist them in achieving personal goals. Couples therapists, on the other hand, need to be skilled at helping people overcome the differences that naturally occur when two people live under the same roof. They need to know what makes a marriage tick. A therapist can be very skilled as an individual therapist and be clueless about helping couples change. For this reason, don't be shy. Ask your therapist about his or her training and experience.