My aim is to use the most effective therapeutic tools available to support relationships that involve gender and sexual diversity.

Emotionally Focused Therapy

Believing strongly that attachment theory provides the deepest understanding of love and relationships, I am certified in  Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples*, which relies on the following strengths:

• Non-Blaming: in sessions, we focus on how each person reacts to cues from the other and how this interaction can get hi-jacked by past events, misinterpretations, assumptions, and defense mechanisms; no one person is ever to blame.
• Non-Shaming: we also strive to deeply understand and validate the emotional drivers of peoples’ behaviors holding firmly to the belief that we are all trying our best to deal with really difficult situations and feelings.
• Client-Centered: we move at the pace in which each partner is willing and able; there are little to no prescriptive rules, agenda, skills, or dialogs.
• Personal & Interpersonal: the process helps each person understand her or his own internal cycle and how that interacts with others’.
• Experiential: EFT uses exploration of the hardest moments we face with our loved ones to then encourage expressions of our deepest longings, worries, and needs.
• Real Change: EFT aims to create change at the core level of our beliefs about ourselves and others making intimacy safer, freer, and more open to the deep connections we all crave.

Rounding out my knowledge about what can get in the way of truly loving connections, I am trained and experienced in the following:

• Mental health disorders such as anxiety, trauma, and addiction
• Talking about sex and intimacy
• Recovering from infidelity (emotional and/or  physical affairs)
• Bi-cultural relationships
• Conflict resolution (certification as a General Civil Mediator)

*The term “couples” is intended to include all manner of relationships from monogamous to polyamorous, romantic to plutonic, traditional to “kink.” For more information, please check out my FAQs of Couples Counseling.