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

I will work with you at whatever stage you are in as a couple. You will develop better communication skills. I will help you both get to a place of repair and mutual understanding. We will look at what supports forgiveness and healing. You will become stronger and more connected as a couple. I will help educate you as to what contributes to a healthy relationship. I will coach and guide you as you take risks and try new ways of communicating.

One of my main specialities is couples counseling. I work with couples of all varieties - not just romantic couples but any combination of two people who need help with their relationship; sisters, father and daughter, cousins, business partners. I also work with other types of couples such as gay and lesbian couples, transgender couples, polyamorous couples etc. I enjoy this work immensely and have helped many couples find more closeness, safety, compassion, ease and care for each other. About half of my clients are couples so I have a great deal of experience. No matter how old and deep the problems are in your relationship, I can help you finally move past these issues for good.

I am certified in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy which is based on 30 years of research into what works for couples. 90% of couples who go through Emotionally Focused Therapy report an improvement in their relationship. Sometimes it can seem like the same argument happens over and over, even though the topic might seem different. Often partners don't feel that they are understood or heard. I help couples understand, see, and hear their own and their partner's more vulnerable feelings which underlie the stuck pattern of arguments. The closeness you used to have can be regained and is often improved as you understand and know each other better than you ever did before

Relationships are the most complicated, yet most rewarding things in life. They make us feel excited, happy, and high on life one minute while maintaining the ability bring us pain, frustration, and emotional distress the next. For all the beauty that comes with companionship and commitment, there are also times when you have to sacrifice things you may not want to for the sake of the relationship. Furthermore, maintaining one’s own identity while growing with another person can be a lot to manage. I help couples come to a much more meaningful understanding of how each person is showing up in the relationship so that they can make healthier choices towards a more fulfilling future together.

My work focuses on a combination of skills training in how happy couples talk and argue, and the creation of safety and opportunities to create "heart-to-heart" conversations to restore and revitalize intimacy in your relationship. It is these two approaches that are supported convincingly by a large body of research, and it requires a therapist who acts as coach and referee. I don't let couples fight their same old fights in my office - the whole point is to get past the same old arguments and have the deeper and more useful conversations that have been sidetracked.

Do you feel that your relationship with your partner has become more difficult through time? Have the challenges of juggling the demands of work & child rearing responsibilities caused you to lose connection with one another? Do you ask yourself why can't my partner and I communicate effectively? The growing demands on couples and families in our success-driven society can result in the loss of effective communication & connection with each other. Utilizing techniques from Dr. John Gottman, & Dr. Sue Johnson's Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, I help couples heal, reconnect & reestablish their love relationship with a more compassion, and deeper understanding of one another.

It really hurts when the person you love is focused on "being right", rather than really getting you! Does your relationship create a deep pain or numbness in your heart? When we start to believe that our LEGITIMATE needs for connection will not be adequately met with our partner, it is easy to focus on our personal needs (at the expense of our partner's). A NORMAL human response to this is: nagging, petty repetitive fights, silent-treatments, numbing out, outbursts, being condescending, focusing on being right (rather than really listening). Using EFT, I FOCUS ON SHIFTING THE CULTURE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP from its current negative painful cycles into being a safe place for both of you.

As a relationship therapist with over 30 years experience, I work exclusively with couples and adults, using proven methods for developing better communication skills and deeper understanding of repetitive emotional patterns. By improving teamwork you can learn to resolve your differences more quickly and reach lasting solutions more effectively. The goal: to enrich your relationship with more generosity, forgiveness, playfulness, and open-hearted sharing throughout your life together. Please visit KinseyLeaseCounseling.com to learn more.

I focus my practice on supporting families (or key individuals within the family) facing issues related to separation, divorce, co-parenting and mixed/blended families. I work with couples who are going through the processes of separation and divorce, supporting them with being able to co-parent successfully. I can also work with parents as they re-partner, creating new blended/mixed families.

I work with a lot of couples, and have helped them learn to relate with more empathy, effective communication and positive regard. I'll help you to better understand each other, and to manage conflict in a more productive and supportive way. Though we are by nature drawn to be in relationship, there are now well understood reasons—rooted in our neurobiology and our attachment patterns (which I'll explain)—that often make functioning in relationships difficult. In addition to helping you understand the source of these difficulties, I'll guide you in using that knowledge to create a more intimate, enriching and secure partnership, one based on the principle that you are in each other's care.

Relationships are hard. We need to acknowledge that, then address issues specific to your relationship. The most critical needs of any relationship are trust and friendship. I work to bring those into the relationship and find ways to foster them to make them prevalent over conflicts and everyday struggles. Communication is often the presenting issue with couples, however, IF an underlying warmth is present, conflicts are addressed and managed in a gentler, more loving manner. Couples need to find shared meaning in their lives and become each others' refuge. I explore with you desires, dreams, regrets, wants, etc.. Call me today and begin the journey back to your passion / friendship.

Are you trapped in destructive cycles of anger and blame? Have you lost trust because of an affair? Are you avoiding your partner or feeling disengaged? Is it hard for you to have real conversations or solve problems together? I will help you untangle your painful negative cycles of communication and build new stronger connections. You can learn to have power over that cycle by learning your triggers and undoing them. You will learn about the roots of the cycle learned in early relationships. Call, text or email me to set an appointment.

As we know, romantic relationships can bring out the best and worst of us. Working with couples involves being open to identifying and experiencing those parts of ourselves that get triggered. In this way, we allow the relationship to be an opportunity for working through patterns that block intimacy and develop new ways of being that deepen communication, allow for more honest, open expression and enable each partner to be a healing agent for the other. This is a pathway of healing and growth- a vehicle for enhancing capacity for love (including self-love) and soul connection.