Great Couples Counseling in Citrus, CA. Therapy to heal relationships.

Do you feel like something is wrong or missing from your relationship? Most of us were not taught the skills necessary to have a healthy and satisfying relationship, which is why I believe almost everyone can benefit from couple's therapy. Working with couples who want to improve their communication, their sexual experiences and their quality of life is the focus of my practice...relationship and sex therapy is what I specialize in. I have helped hundreds of couples and I can help you too!

Our staff of over 25 therapists specializes in helping couples in distress. From pre-marital counseling to couples work and even marriages that have been together for years--we are ready to help. Our staff has received training from Dr. Susan Johnson, the international expert on marriage and couples therapy and can help couples get free from patterns of fighting that you can't get out of on your own. We can teach you how to get free from the gridlock of fruitless fighting, and learn how to thrive in your relationship again.

Helping couples is my specialty! I feel such a passion for this because I know how great it is to be in a supportive, fulfilling, and intimate relationship. I also know how awful it can be when the relationship is not working--feeling unhappy, dissatisfied, neglected, attacked, disrespected, betrayed. I have been helping couples improve their relationship and regaining intimacy for a number of years. For some, it means decreasing the verbal fights by talking through past hurts, forgiving, and rebuilding trust. For others, it is rekindling the fire of passion and falling in love all over again. Whatever the case, I can help your relationship get to where you want it to be!

When you are looking for a couples therapist, you need someone who is trained in couples therapy specifically. Often therapists say they know how to help a couple, but one's training in couples therapy is typically limited to one class in their entire education! The focus of therapy is traditionally on the individual! Here at LA Therapy Network, several of our therapists have specific couples therapy training! We require all our therapists to be educated specifically in couples therapy. We are all trained in helping cuoples from a developmental perspective as well as providing practical strategies for communication and conflict resolution. GLBT families encouraged and welcome!

Couples come into counseling for various problems. Couples therapy can be very helpful to identify negative patterns of behavior which cause unhappiness, it also can point our strengths in the relationship which are causing a great deal of satisfaction in the relationship. I work from a Christian based Gottman model to help couples to quickly determine what is going wrong for them and help them to solve these issues and have the happy relationship they desire.

Most couples come in seeking better communication. I will work with you to communicate effectively and in a manner that is respectful and compassionate in regards to your significant other's own story. Together we will look at your style of connecting or not connecting with one another and work to increase connection. I also work successfully with many couples who experience infidelity and are seeking to re-build their relationship. Pre-marital counseling is available for couples who are thinking of marrying or on their way to the altar.

My approach to counseling couples is to believe that all people in relationships want two things: To be loved and to be accepted. When couples seek psychotherapy, they are fighting because they do not feel loved but instead are feeling rejected, abaondoned or alone. People also are not feeling accepted but instead are feeling judged, criticized, or blamed for who they are. Couples will benefit from my approach as I help people learn how to work through hurt, anger and blame, love and forgiveness, and boundaires and acceptance. When you feel loved and accepted, you will benefit from wanting to work with one another to solve relationship problems and find success in being a couple.

When two individuals desire to be together due to the mutual love they feel for one another and encounter difficulties within the relationship seeking therapy is vital. Each couple has specific relationship need and goals. Learning the partners love language, relationship goals and assisting them with communication skills can be crucial in providing longevity to the relationship.

We have been sold a bad story about love. The truth is perfect is the enemy of the good in love and even in the good there are rough patches. But that doesn't mean you can't have a joyful and romantic relationship. I can help learn to handle painful relationships more effectively and engage fully in the process of living and loving together to build a life together.

Do you love your partner but not necessarily your interaction patterns? Are you struggling to determine whether this is the person you wish to commit to spending your future with? It demonstrates wisdom and respect for yourself and your partner to seek input from a counselor in an effort to grow or change maladaptive patterns. With a decade of experience helping couples improve communication and strengthen or evaluate their most important relationships, I would be honored to join with you in these endeavors. Please call today!

In couples counseling we will explore the strengths each of you brings to your relationship and how these contribute to the overall health of your relationship together. We will work to understand your contributions and barriers to making your relationship work. The focus will remain on your goals for the relationship with the understanding that these may change as we learn more about each parties level of contribution. I encourage honesty between both parties. You will be encouraged to speak directly with one another to work toward strengthening your communication skills by clarifying the meaning and quality of the words you choose when speaking with your partner.

According to a leading couple's therapist, David Schnarch, differentiation is a crucial aspect of intimacy for couples. My approach to couples therapy emphasizes the importance of differentiation in couple relationships. I believe that a healthy couple is one where individuals can share deeply personal parts of their selves with their partner, while also being secure enough to handle however their partner responds. This approach also incorporates exploration of attachment style and intergenerational relationships. I also incorporate aspects of Gottman therapy when treating couples and helping them to enhance intimacy and differentiation.

I have worked with hundred's of couples over the last 20 years. Each couple is unique in their own right which means there is no one way to "fix" a problem. Our deepest longings and hopes emerge in a couples relationship. Oftentimes we are working out unmet needs and hopes carried forward from our early family relationships to our present couple relationship. Problems become increasingly complex and difficult to overcome when we don't know what these issues are all about. Couples remain stuck in conflict not because of what they know, but what they don't know or can't recognize. The work in therapy is to help couples recognize unhealthy patterns of relating and introduce novelty.