Couples and Parents
COUPLES
I am a Certified PACT couples therapist. PACT stands for A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy®. (To learn more about the PACT approach click here.)
My first exposure to PACT was not as a therapist but as a participant in a retreat I attended with my wife. The experience had a profound impact on our marriage and approach to parenting. I immediately loved PACT’s focus on putting the couple relationship first, as well as the practical tools it provided to support this new outlook in my role as partner and parent.
As a PACT therapist, I remain excited about PACT and supporting couples in putting their relationship first. In my office, couples develop sensitivity to the pitfalls of becoming a team divided. They address past hurt and establish how to move forward. They express greater vulnerability and venture into areas where they need to grow. They also laugh and find new ways to make life together more enjoyable.
I aim to be direct and honest about the situation that couples face. I am also sensitive to the fact that therapy isn’t easy and requires exposing difficult feelings. I work hard to create an atmosphere of safety and security because these are the key ingredients couples need to see themselves through a rough patch.
I have integrated the PACT training into my decade of experience as a family therapist. In a PACT-informed approach, you as a couple learn to operate from a place of safety and security, which allows for better support for your entire family.
PACT is the “show me therapy”; I invite you to come give it a try.
PARENTS
Parent consultation often begins when parents want outside help to better understand their own feelings around challenges that the family is facing. It is also a way to formulate and approach specific challenges. It can be very helpful for parents to have a separate place to receive support, get a sense of what’s developmentally appropriate, and speak openly in a confidential place about family struggles.
Parents have come to my office for consultation about a wide range of issues including setting up rules and limits around technology, talking to kids about major life transitions such as divorce or illness, challenges with blending families, and difficult decisions about how to provide the best learning environment for a child who is struggling or acting out. In all of these areas, I provide a non-judgmental approach to insure that parents can obtain clarity.
