THERAPY
As we nurture our curiosity, we can turn towards ourselves and one another with more compassion, more capacity for connection, more interest toward our contradictions and complexities, and feel more resourced to participate in transforming our experiences.
Couples therapy
Our senses, social histories, identities, and relationships shape the we make meaning of our experiences. When meaning feels out of reach, we may feel disconnected from ourselves, our relationships, or both, and experience pain, anxiety, anger, or grief. This sense of separateness provides contrast, and potential for creating new meaning.
In our conversations, we’ll explore the creative possibilities within your inner differences (and the differences between you as a couple) to deepen understanding of yourself, your partner, and your needs. Through this process, you may experience more clarity, improve the quality of your connection, and cultivate novel, imaginative choices.
You can find more information about what our conversations may be like in FAQ. If your curiosity isn’t quenched, please reach out. I would be glad to respond to you.
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The language we choose to make our conversations, to argue, and to ask questions, creates the reality we live in. The way we use language together can simultaneously open some possibilities while limiting others. As we bring attention and curiosity to the ways we resist speaking and the ways we rely on, we can challenge assumptions we hold about who is allowed to influence meaning and who must refrain, towards creating more mutually satisfying, collaborative worlds together.
I work from a collaborative-dialogic practice (collaborative therapy), Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), and non-violent communication to bring granular focus to our shared use of language and to interpret the socio-emotional context (or power dynamics) which shape the way we participate in making meaning.
By improving the way couples build realities together, these approaches to therapeutic dialogue can bring tangible transformation to relationships and powerful change in your conversations.
You may find more thorough answers to questions linked HERE under “I Have a Friend Who is an Amazing Listener. Why Would I Talk With You?” and, “What Does Non-Interventive Mean/What Does Non-Pathologizing Mean and Why Do You Work From That Stance?”
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Grief is about who we are*. It’s the experience of losing a part of ourselves or of losing an opportunity to become who we thought we might be. This may be through the loss of a relationship or the loss of a personal or professional role. It may be through the loss of our hopes and expectations, or the non-existence or loss of basic human rights. As grief separates us from our sense of self, it can simultaneously separate us from one another. However, there is rich information in being with grief, and in being among others who are also with their grief. Most of us are not necessarily conditioned to be with grief in ritual, embodied ways, so we generally turn away from the possibilities and gifts of grieving.
Couples have a unique opportunity to hold grief and support one another, gleaning the gifts of grief together.
*(shirley shani ben zvi, personal communication, fall 2023)
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Betrayal, in any form, can feel confounding, disorienting, and wounding. Betrayal can also point towards undefined, unspoken, or unmet needs. Maybe your experience of betrayal is pulling you deeper into your relationship, hoping to heal and grow in new directions together. Maybe it’s pulling you towards separation or divorce. Maybe you want to understand how you, your partner, or your relationship got to this place but are uncertain about much else.
Contending with betrayal as a couple is courageous. Doing so in a respectful, compassionate therapeutic relationship can help hold the sense of anxiety and shame while making space for new ways of understanding yourselves and one another.
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As with our use of language, our bodies are also meaning-making systems. Sexual expression is a practice of erotic communication for shifting power, experiencing pleasure, and reshaping embodied connection.
I am kink- and BDSM- allied, I work with unwanted (sometimes referred to as porn or sex “addiction,” or “out-of-control sexual behaviors”), and I facilitate open dialogue with medical providers and partners for common, but uncomfortable conditions like vaginismus and erectile dysfunction.
Perinatal + Early parenthood Couples therapy
The perinatal period, or the time before and after the birth of a baby, can be a generative and transformational opportunity for parents and caregivers. While the inclusion of a new baby changes the shape of your family, it can also catalyze change and reveal needs, inequities, and vulnerabilities that are worth tending to in your relationship. Using Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), I work with couples to understand and challenge the social and emotional influences on the way you understand your roles as caregivers and partners. Working together, we’ll bring more mutuality and reciprocity for shared caregiving of one another and of your baby.
perinatal + postpartum therapy
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) are the most common complication of pregnancy and childbirth. Fortunately, the symptoms respond to treatment. Stigma and isolation keep many new parents from reaching out for support, however, left untreated, the effects of PMADs can ripple through our relationships and families with long lasting implications on health and well-being.
If you're contending with anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, unsettling changes in your beliefs and behaviors, grief about a negative birthing experience, loss, or ongoing disorientation through change and uncertainty, you are not alone and you are not to blame. When tended to, difficulties like these have the chance to become more legible, allowing an opportunity to make sense of your experiences and more choice in how you go on.
Although I practice from a collaborative philosophical stance, depending on the concern you bring to our conversation, I may provide additional structure through the use of modalities including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI). Depending on your unique needs, you may also opt for us to coordinate care with other relevant providers.
group therapy
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This group offers a space for mothers to explore the psychological and emotional initiations of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum through the lens of Descent & Rising by Carly Mountain. Together, we’ll honor the complexity of matrescence. We will explore what is shed, what is unearthed, and what begins to rise through identity, relationship, selfhood and the awakening role of the mother in this transformative threshold.
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This 8-week group is for fathers at all stages of parenting wanting to heal the wounds of patriarchy in their relationship with their own male caregivers and with their children. Drawing on the pioneering work of bell hooks and Terry Real, we’ll create space for developing autonomy and vulnerability as well as authority and humility.
Through dialogue, reflection, and relational practices, we will expand our capacity for being with shame and honoring the gifts of anger and aggression. We will practice embodying integrity and compassion for your ancestors, yourself, and your children.
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This 8 week group offers a therapeutic space for couples navigating the profound relational and emotional transformations of pregnancy, birth, and early parenting. Grounded in the Circle of Care framework from Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy, partners will deepen their bond with one another by collaboratively navigating change and constructing an ongoing foundation for equitable parenting practices.
The quality of caregivers’ relationships is one of the strongest predictors of a child’s long-term emotional wellbeing. A child’s secure attachment grows in part through witnessing and experiencing the emotionally attuned and mutually supportive relationship between their caregivers.
Partners in Parenting is a meaningful container during this climactic shift in your lives as much as it is an intergenerational investment.
Group work is an effective way to engage in therapy with a therapist and peers. In some cases it may be also be more cost-effective than individual or couples therapy.
You may review the upcoming virtual fall offerings and their descriptions to the right.
Each offering will be updated with meeting times and pricing. As meeting times are shaped by group availability, I invite you to reach out with interest and timing preferences.