Good couples therapy makes a difference. Most couples report an improvement in her relationship even after a few sessions. Couples therapy is not just part of what I do as a therapist, it’s most of what I do as a therapist. While I have the academic credentials, experience, and specific training to work with couples, it’s not just an academic exercise. It’s a heart passion. If you are looking to improve communication, restore your relationship after a breach of trust, discern if it's time for the relationship to end, or restore closeness and intimacy, growth and healing is possible. 

Couples Counseling for Parents

When we have an intimate and cooperative relationship with our closest partner, we are better parents and better people. I know. I’ve been on the receiving end of couples counseling when it’s helpful …and when it’s not. That’s why I specialized in relational therapy. My passion is to help couples connect and heal and grow. Week in and week out, I witness first-hand how caring and competent couples counseling helps parents.

Parenting can often place a strain on a couple’s relationship–whether parenting a 2-month-old or a 20-year-old. Fighting over parenting differences; changes in sexual desire, messiness in the home, balancing the demands and stresses of day-to-day life, and even agreeing on how to handle a young adults launch successfully are challenges that often pull couples apart rather than toward each other. The type of couples therapy I practice focuses not just on helping solve practical problems in the family but also at addressing the root of common issues to create a lasting sense of partnership and connection.

Betrayal Recovery

Couples often seek couples therapy because there has been a betrayal of trust. Whether it’s been an affair or an addiction or a secret life that’s been discovered, there is help. For many couples, a crisis can be the catalyst to a better, more fulfilling relationship. There is no greater honor for me than to be a guide on that journey of healing and restoration. 

Counseling for Couples in Distress

While I work with a variety of common couples concerns, some couples find themselves on the brink. I specialize in working with couples that have experienced a relational crisis or come to a critical decision point in their relationship. This can include problems created by a serious betrayal of trust, substance abuse, unaddressed mental health struggles and trauma, or just a gradual deterioration in the relationship that has caused one or both partners to consider separation or divorce. In these cases, I work with couples to establish a sense of safety and hope as we work together to either rebuild the relationship or to carefully discern if the relationship can or should continue.

Balancing the pressures of work and family and relationships can get overwhelming. I get it. I'm a man. But counseling can help. Help with becoming a better father or husband. Or dealing with anger, depression, anxiety, or addiction. Or struggling with compulsive sexual behavior.  Or transitioning to retirement. Exploring a career change or relieving job stress. Recovering from grief and loss and divorce. Or spiritually searching or struggling.

“Women’s dissatisfaction with their men is real, understandable, and—once the man is willing—fixable.” This quote by Lisa Sulvivan describes well what I see in my work with men. When men are willing to tap their inner strength to address the things that may have been holding them back in their roles as a loving partner or caring father, beautiful things can happen. As a man I know that learning to live relationally is achievable. Even enjoyable! 

Families can be a source of joy as well as pain. Instead of isolating the parts of the family to work on their individual problems, family therapy brings together the parts to help change the interactions that may be maintaining the challenges. Different seasons of family life can bring different challenges. From the exhaustion of parenting toddlers or the emotional roller coaster of adolescence, to the challenges of interacting as an adult child with aging parents, coming together as a family to improve relationships can bring relief and restore joy.