Providing Couple, Marriage, and Relationship Therapy
The last 10 years of my career I have specialized in couple work as a certified Imago Couple's Therapist. I work with all kinds of couples — living together, married, divorcing, couples in traditional marriages, gay and lesbian couples, as well as couples in both blended and adoptive families.
I absolutely love the Imago work — both the underlying philosophy and the very practical ways it helps couple's "do something different" right away. Rather than talking to a therapist "about our relationship or about my partner" it asks each partner to talk directly to their significant other, and I become a coach or guide in the process. A significant part of the therapy is teaching new skills, learning new information, and by practicing "something different" in your communication, your actions day by day, and in your relationship overall. Often this difference is learning how to listen more deeply, to speak more kindly, how to give more generously, how to work directly with anger and frustration (or jealousy, or disappointment, etc), how to cultivate more understanding of the underlying issues so that compassion naturally arises out of conflict. You may explore just what Imago means at www.GettingTheLoveYouWant.org .
I don't ask my clients to do anything I haven't already tried, both personally and in my primary relationship, which is a marriage of over 20 years. We recently celebrated our 20th Anniversary with a Re-Commitment Ceremony, a ritual that renewed and deepened our vow to each other. I truly believe that being committed to another person through thick and thin is a primer for learning how to cultivate a very conscious, deep, mature love that enriches life.
My values concerning commitment to marriage are reflected in the fact that I am a member of the National Registry of Marriage Friendly Therapists at www.MarriageFriendlyTherapists.org .
