
Couples Therapy
Aging, the birth and growth of children, crises, deaths, and other life changes require that people in relationships revisit and sometimes re-negotiate the terms of their commitment. Most couples face these challenges successfully without a therapist, but occasionally couples gets stuck, overwhelmed, or feel hopeless figuring out what to do. Therapy is useful to couples who are interested in an outside, seasoned perspective and the strategies a professional can bring to help them hear each other differently.
I help couples and families. I like to focus on how interpersonal challenges evolve in interpersonal systems.
One of the draws to couples therapy for me is the chance to provide an affirmative, strengths-based, sex-positive, reflective space for couples who want to work on their relationships or contemplate serious marital transition. I help couples explore ways of maintaining, invigorating, and re-inventing their partnerships across the lifespan to allow both individuals to thrive. I work with same-sex, heterosexual, and mixed orientation couples.
My framework as a therapist has a strong grounding in interpersonal neurobiology and the science of resilience. The essential message of interpersonal neurobiology is:
- Our brain is tribal.
- We have a deep need for connection to other people.
- Our brains evolve through meaningful bonds to others.
I believe people can navigate challenging, sometimes emotionally fraught, terrain as a couple more harmoniously when they understand their own brain-heart-gut dialogue and the ways it plays out in relationship.
My office is located in Portland, Oregon, in the lovely Buckman neighborhood near Revolution Hall. In a close-in, residential neighborhood just blocks south of East Burnside, ten minutes from downtown, parking is convenient.