Relationships make and break us. They are the very building blocks of selfhood. What our parents say about us, how they reflect back to us important information about ourselves, and what they choose to mirror, ignore, or reinforce build the foundation of our personalities—and inform what we expect, long for, avoid and repeat with romantic partners. I believe that part of falling in love engages what psychoanalyst Phil Ringstrom calls “a longing to accomplish something incomplete…to fulfill what has felt deficient, or to repair what has felt fundamentally broken.”

 

My work with couples is guided by the belief that self-actualization and growth happen in the context of relationship. I feel deeply committed to helping couples increase the capacity for safety and freedom, and build skills that allow couples to “fight well” and repair the inevitable injuries that happen along the way when two people are engaged in the hard work of becoming and relating.