Great Couples Counseling in St. Louis Park, MN. Therapy to heal relationships.

In my work with couples and relationships, I understand that every individual and relationship is different, so I will work with you to find the best way to reach the relationship goals you have. Supporting couples as they grow to create a mutually satisfying relationship is what I enjoy about my job. Therapy is a great place to learn new communication skills, increase trust, and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for one another. I will work hard to create a supportive, nonjudgmental space for each of you to grow as individuals and as a couple.

I especially enjoy working with couples. If you are part of a couple, you know how challenging it can be to stay connected and in love. Maybe you're not even sure if it's a good idea to stay together. I'll work with you individually and together to sort out what needs to change in order for you to decide about your commitment to your relationship. You'll learn communication skills and conflict resolution tools to help you have a better relationship.

At Center for Mental Health and Wellness, we work with couples who are struggling to feel connect in their relationship. Do you find yourself fighting with your partner regularly? Or do you feel completely alone in your relationship? Overtime, sometimes couples choose their sense of connectivity and togetherness. We can help you build the skills necessary to feel that spark in your relationship again.

It’s supposed to be so easy, isn’t it? Find that special person, create a life together, have lots of great sex, and live happily ever after. One of the biggest myths about relationships, is that it’s supposed to come easily and effortlessly. Well, life isn’t always like that so why should being in a couple relationship be different? As they always say, you get what you put in. If you have a bank account, and don’t deposit money into it, you can’t create savings, interest, or take out a bit of spending money for some spontaneous fun! But, if you take the time to learn about how the account works, and make regular deposits, your relationship will work for you instead of against you.

Relationships are ever changing and developing a healthy connection that can withstand the changes is ever evolving. If you or your partner are experiencing times of disconnection, couple's therapy can provide a place to understand the disconnection and learn ways to begin to support, listen and understand each other to develop a strong emotional connection to weather all the changes in life. In my practice I work with individuals who are experience relationship concerns.

Our personal relationships are often the primary sources of both positive and negative stress in our lives. Common sources of distress presented in therapy include: physical and emotional intimacy concerns, affairs, issues of distrust, financial management difficulties, child rearing, divorce, balance of work/home obligations, and conflict resolution skills. Couples counseling involves a joint effort in which both partners work collaboratively towards a common goal. Our work together can address specific exercises to build your trust, reconcile past hurts, increase affection within your relationship, and improve your ability to communicate in an effective, but respectful manner.

Want to bring back the joy and excitement you used to feel together? I help couples understand and negotiate differences in needs and feelings about a variety of issues, including communication, sex, family, shared time and future plans. You may be unsure whether you can work past the ways you've been hurt and trust each other again. Learning to stay present and listen to each other as you talk about your hopes and desires will bring you closer to the kind of relationship you really want. When you've gotten into the habit of feeling misunderstood and blamed, having a third party present to interrupt negative patterns and coach you to more effective conversations is key to creating change.

Couples counseling is a specialized area of practice that focuses on past patterns, behavioral dynamics, emotional connection and intimacy/sex within the couple relationship. I have the experience and training in two emperically proven types of treatment designed for couples therapy. I also have training in sex therapy and am working toward my certification as a sex therapist. I also offer discernment therapy for those couples who are unsure of their long term commitment, and contemplating divorce or separation. If you are struggling with communication, intimacy, infidelity or trust, blended family/parenting issues, conflict, lack of connection- don't wait. We can help!

The intimate relationships we find ourselves in, whether that be a dating relationship, a committed partnership or a marriage - don't come with manuals, but wouldn't it be nice if they did?! I believe there is always hope for these most important relationships in our lives, and I can help you see this. Don't set your sights low and don't wait, you and your partner can learn to create the relationship you both desire and I can help you. I offer home-based therapy, or the more traditional office setting.

Relationships are difficult. They take work. Are you and your partner finding that you are not as connected as you once were? Are you finding that sex is not as fulfilling or that you have lost the intimate connection you desire? In working with couples your relationship is the client. We will identify your goals for the relationship and together put together a treatment plan to reach the goals. We are skilled at working with heterosexual, same sex, and unique love relationships. Since most of the work in your relationship will be done outside of a therapy session, after the intake phase we will meet for a 75 minute session every other week.

Couple counseling is helping a couple to develop a number of key skills. These include communicating clearly, listening, emotional expression, negotiating, being respectful, managing conflict, problem solving and finding ways to negotiate how they connect and also how they create separation in healthy ways. Couples can get suck when these skills are not well developed. My approach to couple work is to assess the relationship strengths and build on these while teaching key skills and resolving the challenges the couple faces. While looking at old issues is useful at times, I generally focus on how to build a clear & hopeful future. My clinical approach is direct, supportive and active.

In couple therapy, I strive to create a safe, fair, and collaborative environment in which each partner can freely express thoughts and feelings and come to feel heard and understood. I also help couples identify and alter the troublesome patterns in their relationships, often with insight into how they developed in the first place. By recognizing when problems in the present interaction are connected to past relational experiences, we are able to interrupt the cycle of conflict and blame, expand the capacity for empathy and understanding, and allow for the possibility of new ways of relating to emerge in the therapy.

It is very challenging and rewarding working with couples. Issues in our primary relationship can impact all aspects of our life. It can be single issue based or very pervasive. A strong component of all approaches to couples' issues is learning the ability to communicate. This skill has often retreated through years of hurt feelings, defensiveness, shame. We strive to repair any damage that has been done and develop a balanced, caring relationship where both peoples’ needs are being met.