Relationship Therapy
Tired of feeling frustrated and alone in your relationships?
It’s exhausting when you’re constantly searching for the kind of love and connection that leaves you feeling seen, valued, and secure—only to end up disappointed and heartbroken. You watch others around you seemingly find ease in their relationships, and you can’t help but wonder, why does it seem so difficult for me? You may find yourself attracting partners who are emotionally unavailable, or perhaps you feel like you're giving too much without receiving the kind of support you need in return. Maybe you’ve found that, over time, you and your partner or other loved ones have changed and are finding it hard to know how to keep your connections strong.
You struggle to pinpoint exactly what you need from the significant people in your life, let alone express it. While being on your own isn't ideal, you're not sure if putting yourself out there again will ever lead to the kind of fulfilling relationships you really want.
The good news is - change is possible!
As difficult as relationships can be, you can learn to show up differently—for yourself and for the people you care about. With the right tools and insights, you can create relationships that are healthy, fulfilling, and sustainable. Focusing on relationship issues in individual therapy can help you to explore the patterns keeping you stuck and can help you to forge ahead with a greater balance of individuality and meaningful connections in your life.
Why do relationships feel so hard?
As human beings, strong relationships are key to our emotional and physical well-being. From the moment we’re born, we begin to learn how to trust, love, and connect with others. Throughout our lives, we encounter the inevitable challenges of being in relationships with imperfect people, and sometimes, these experiences leave us feeling hurt or disconnected.
In response to past relationship wounds, we might develop coping mechanisms that keep us safe but ultimately prevent us from connecting deeply with others. These could include putting up emotional walls, hiding our true needs, or becoming overly accommodating to avoid conflict. While these defense mechanisms may have served us in the past, they can also limit our ability to build the kind of relationships we truly desire.
But the good news is, you can change those patterns. Just as you learned to protect yourself before, you can learn to connect with others in a healthier, more authentic way—one that aligns with your core values and leads to the fulfilling relationships you deserve.
Relationship therapy can help you:
Confidently identify and express your needs in relationships
Recognize and change relationship patterns that may be holding you back
Manage conflict more effectively, helping you communicate your feelings and needs without escalating tension
Set clear boundaries, so you can protect yourself while still staying connected
Process past wounds and learn how they might be influencing your present relationships
Stay true to yourself while building meaningful, supportive connections with others
Some approaches I use to help you make relationship changes:
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-based approach to talk therapy. In Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, we mindfully explore your thoughts, feelings, and body sensations and how they relate to your overall goals for showing up in your relationships. This might look like noticing what happens in your body in the present moment as you practice setting boundaries. Or it might look like exploring skills for keeping you grounded during difficult conversations. This can be a powerful tool for really connecting to your experience in the present moment and practicing new ways of showing up in your relationships with the support of your therapist.
A parts work approach to therapy assumes that you have different parts of yourself with their own emotions, motivations, and needs. For example, has there ever been a time where you have been invited somewhere and thought to yourself “part of me really wants to go, but part of me really just wants to stay home”. This is a simplified example of what it is like to acknowledge that having different parts is a normal part of being human. When using parts work in therapy, we’ll explore the different parts of you that show up in your experiences, learn to compassionately listen to those parts, and strive to create greater harmony amongst your different parts so that you can have more clarity in how you want to approach your relationships.
Gottman Method is an approach to therapy that is informed by decades of research from relationship experts John and Julie Gottman. I bring my experience and training in couples therapy to the individual therapy room to help you practice skills and develop confidence in applying tried and true tools in your relationships. Some of the skills we might work on include gently broaching difficult topics, staying in conversation around challenging subjects, listening for and sharing about deeper meanings beneath the surface in conflict situations, and approaches for sharing care and appreciation for the important people in your life.
Thinking about starting therapy to work on relationship issues, but still have some questions?
How can things change in my relationships if I am coming into therapy by myself?
Personal growth and self-reflection are often key first steps in shifting relationship dynamics. When you make changes in how you show up in relationships, often those around with naturally make shifts as well. Even if they don’t, therapy can help you build the confidence to show up in the ways that you want to, regardless of how other people respond.
I’m afraid that opening up in therapy will just make things hurt worse than they already do.
I definitely get this - confronting our emotions can be so tough! That’s why I don’t take a one-size-fits- all approach. Instead, we’ll work together on a plan that best meets you where you are. My goal is to help you face the hard things at a pace that works best for you, with lots of validation, support, and encouragement along the way.
How do I know what to talk about in therapy?
It can definitely be hard to know where to start, and I’m here to support you along the way. In the beginning, we’ll take a structured approach where I’ll guide you in exploring different parts of your experience and background. I’ll ask you questions to help clarify your goals and, together, we’ll create a plan for focusing in on the things that feel most important to address.
You don’t have to stay stuck in the same painful patterns.
You can uncover the patterns that have kept you stuck and develop the tools you need to create the relationships you’ve always wanted. You can learn to trust yourself and your instincts, set clearer boundaries, and feel more empowered to create and maintain relationships that are healthy, fulfilling, and built to last. When you’re ready, feel free to reach out and we can schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation to talk about how relationship therapy can help you work towards your goals.
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