how i work
My approach with couples is largely informed by my extensive training under Stan Tatkin, the psychologist who developed PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy). I am a PACT Level III Trained Clinician. This approach also informs how I work with individuals.
In couples counseling, you and your partner will discover how to:
• stay connected
• help each other feel safe and secure
• manage each other's emotional highs and lows
• fight well
• rekindle your love
• minimize each other's stress and optimize health
During our sessions, I will focus on moment-to-moment shifts in your face, body, and voice, and ask you to pay close attention to these in your partner. For couples, we typically meet for 75-minute sessions.
As a Marriage and Family Therapist, my work is inspired and informed by my extensive and ongoing training in psychology, attachment theory, neuroscience and biology. Here's a brief description of each of these areas and how they are valuable in therapy:
Attachment theory focuses on how childhood bonding experiences create a blueprint for our primary adult relationships. My study in this area of psychology allows me to help you identify problems related to attachment and ways to restore emotional safety and security to your relationship.
Neuroscience is simply the study of the human brain. Understanding how the brain works is an important component of understanding the physiology of how people relate and react in relationships. New and exciting research and technology in this area have improved our ability to understand how our brain responds to threat as well as to loving connection.
The biology of human arousal explains the ability to manage one’s energy, alertness, and readiness to engage. For example, how well do you argue? Do you become overwhelmed and then shut down or do you fly off the handle in a rage? Conversely, how well do you relax? Do you relax easily and comfortably with your partner or do you turn to other things such as alcohol, the internet or shopping to unwind? These behaviors significantly influence your relationships and are often at the core of what you fight about most.