My Approach to Helping
My focus in individual therapy is on helping people recognize how their past contributes to the challenges and conflicts they face and how their present offers them opportunities to feel, think and act in new, self-affirming ways. I help clients renegotiate past traumas so that they can feel more resilient and hopeful and work with many who struggle with anxiety andor depression to find new ways to navigate with less difficulty and more resilience. One central goal is to build on areas of strength and competence and to develop resources to counter negative patterns of living. I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and a Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist.
I am a Certified Gottman Therapist and have done extensive training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and in Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFS' couples' model). In working with couples, I provide specific assignments for strengthening the positive aspects of the relationship and give couples tools to negotiate their differences more effectively. We explore how patterns learned in childhood are replicated in the marriagerelationship and develop strategies to alter maladaptive patterns. Learning to self-soothe in the face of conflict is a key strategy.
In 2012 I published my first self-help book for couples: Steering Your Marriage.