Great Couples Counseling in Bethesda, MD. Therapy to heal relationships.

I offer couples therapy for partners who are looking make positive changes in their relationships, whether they are dating, engaged, married, or committed. I blend strategies and interventions from several couple therapy models to fit our conversations to your unique goals. By learning new skills, healing emotional injuries, experiencing each other's vulnerabilities in a safe way, and gaining insights about how each other's past influences their current behaviors, we work together to build a compassionate and joyful relationship.

Your relationship with your partner is the most important relationship in your life. Relationship issues touch every area of our lives. Learning healthy relationship skills is a fundamental building block of a successful life. Through therapy, you will learn how to achieve intimacy, manage conflict, how to give and receive love, and to create the relationship you have always wanted.

There are two most basic fears of intimacy that we all have: one is fear of abandonment, the other is fear of being taken over, of losing my autonomy. In a relationship, people often become polarized with one clinging and the other seeming distant. With awareness of our fears and how to take care of ourselves and each other, we will bring out the best in each other. Everyone knows how to speak and listen, right? Not so. The most difficult skills to learn are to speak self-responsibly about your own experience and to truly listen and understand the other person's experience even when you don't like it. To learn these skills enables love. I can help.

Married, partnered, exclusive, non-exclusive, gay, straight, cis, trans, or poly…relationships are tough. Being in relationship with another human being is the hardest work we will ever do. Whether you’re struggling with something as painful as infidelity or as simple as whether to get another cat, we can help you find your way back to where you want to be.

I help couples develop skills and behaviors to better understand each other, resolve conflicts and communicate effectively. My approach is educational and practical, and it will help you find ways to increase intimacy, marital satisfaction and happiness. I offer services to people in a wide spectrum, from those who are looking for help with difficult relationship issues to others who are looking for relationship enrichment.

Couples therapy can be like inviting someone into your “home,” the special relational zone that you share with your significant other. Teletherapy can offer further enrichment to the therapeutic process, in addition to convenience factors. I strive to maintain a neutral and gentle perspective, helping you each observe and better manage your relational patterns of communion or disconnect. I can adapt my style to help you learn and practice new ways to empathize with your partner’s perspective, communicate effectively, resolve conflict and enjoy healthy connected-ness. I use tools such as the Myers-Briggs temperament styles, IMAGO techniques, and the Prepare-Enrich assessment survey.

Couples counseling (whether with romantic partners, marital partners, friends or colleagues) is an effective means of improving your life, your partner's life, and the condition of those living with and around you. My approach is based on a blend of writers such as Drs. John & Julie Gottman, Ester Perel, Terry Real, etc..and theories such as Imago and Emotionally Focused Therapy. I do not think any one theory or method works for all clients. We will work together to determine what works best for you and your partner in order to facilitate growth and to enable you to have greater understanding, compassion, and improved communication in your own home.