I tailor the therapy process to each couple’s or individual’s needs, drawing from evidence-based approaches designed to support emotional connection, insight, and lasting change.
Below, you’ll find more about what to expect in the different forms of therapy I offer.
What You Can Expect
What is Inetgrative Behavioral Couple Therapy?
IBCT helps couples recognize and change unhelpful patterns while also fostering greater understanding and acceptance of each other. It focuses on:
Identifying the root of recurring conflicts instead of just surface disagreements
Improving emotional connection and reducing reactive arguments
Helping couples balance change and acceptance—recognizing what can shift and what requires a new perspective
Unlike traditional approaches that focus primarily on conflict resolution, IBCT also helps partners develop deeper emotional responsiveness, so they feel heard, supported, and understood in their relationship.
What to Expect in IBCT
Assessment Phase: The therapy starts with a structured assessment. Couples meet together and individually with the therapist to discuss relationship history, strengths, concerns, and recurring patterns. The therapist gathers information to understand each partner’s perspective and how their interactions contribute to distress. After the assessment, the therapist provides a summary of key relationship dynamics, highlighting areas of emotional disconnection, unhelpful patterns, and strengths that can be leveraged for change.
Treatment Phase: Therapy focuses on two key components—acceptance and change. Acceptance strategies help partners understand each other’s emotional needs, reducing defensiveness and frustration. Change strategies involve practical communication and problem-solving skills to improve interactions and strengthen connection. Over time, couples learn to break negative cycles and respond to each other in more constructive ways.
IBCT is designed to help couples move from feeling stuck in conflict to developing a deeper, more supportive relationship.
How Long is a Course of IBCT?
A typical course of IBCT lasts between 12 to 26 sessions, depending on the couple’s needs and progress. Therapy is usually conducted weekly, beginning with an initial assessment phase (1–3 sessions), followed by a structured treatment phase focused on emotional acceptance and behavioral change.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy?
Many psychological conditions, including depression, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders, and perinatal depression, are closely tied to relationship dynamics. Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy (CBCT) is a structured, evidence-based approach that integrates cognitive-behavioral techniques into couple therapy to address both relationship issues and individual mental health conditions. This approach recognizes that psychological distress often affects and is affected by relationship dynamics. By involving both partners, CBCT works to improve communication, reduce stress, and foster supportive behaviors that aid in symptom management and relationship satisfaction.
Common Areas of Focus
How relationship patterns contribute to or maintain individual symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, eating disorders)
Improving communication around mental health struggles to reduce conflict and misunderstandings
Teaching the non-symptomatic partner how to support without enabling avoidance or reassurance-seeking behaviors
Strengthening emotional connection to buffer against distress and isolation
Identifying and restructuring unhelpful thoughts and behaviors in both the individual and the relationship
Developing coping strategies that involve both partners
What to Expect in CBCT for Individual Psychopathology
Assessment Phase: The therapist evaluates how the individual’s symptoms affect the relationship and how relationship patterns may reinforce distress. Each partner's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are explored in relation to both their individual and relational well-being.
Feedback and Treatment Planning: The therapist provides insight into problematic cycles and offers a plan to modify unhelpful behaviors, improve emotional regulation, and enhance supportive interactions.
Treatment Phase: Couples work on:
Cognitive restructuring to challenge negative or distorted thinking patterns
Behavioral strategies to encourage healthier interactions and reduce stressors
Communication training to express needs and concerns in a constructive way
Problem-solving skills to manage shared stressors effectively
Exposure-based techniques for conditions like OCD or PTSD, where avoidance behaviors are common
CBCT has been particularly effective for couples where one partner is experiencing depression, PTSD, anxiety disorders, OCD, or chronic stress-related conditions. Research shows that couples who engage in CBCT often see improvements in both relationship satisfaction and symptom reduction, as a healthier relationship dynamic provides a better environment for individual healing.
How Long is a Course of CBCT?
CBCT typically lasts between 12 to 20 sessions, depending on the couple’s needs and progress. Sessions are generally weekly, beginning with an initial assessment, feedback, and treatment planning phase, followed by a structured treatment phase focused on developing effective relationship skills and improving individual health.
What is Functional Analytic Psychotherapy?
Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) helps individuals and couples create meaningful change by exploring how relational patterns emerge in the here and now. This includes how people express emotion, seek connection, manage vulnerability, or respond to distress in close relationships. These patterns are gently brought into awareness and explored in session, providing an opportunity to practice new ways of relating in real time.
FAP emphasizes emotional presence, authentic connection, and behavior change through lived experience—not just insight. By focusing on what unfolds in the therapeutic relationship or between partners during sessions, clients can build self-awareness, emotional courage, and greater flexibility in how they relate to others and themselves.
Common Areas of Focus
Difficulty expressing needs or emotions in close relationships
Feeling disconnected, distant, or emotionally shut down
People-pleasing, avoidance, or fear of conflict
Patterns of self-criticism, shame, or relational insecurity
Repetitive dynamics with partners, friends, or family members
Struggles with intimacy, trust, or fear of abandonment
Healing from past relational trauma through corrective emotional experiences
Practicing vulnerability and authenticity in safe, supported ways
What to Expect in Functional Analytic Psychotherapy?
Awareness and Real-Time Feedback
FAP begins with exploring how key relational themes show up both outside and inside the therapy room. For individuals, this may involve noticing tendencies to withdraw, over-accommodate, or suppress emotions. In couple therapy, partners are supported in bringing emotional experiences into the room and responding to each other differently, with the therapist actively guiding these moments.
Relational Practice
Because therapy is also a relationship, FAP uses the therapist-client (or partner-to-partner) interaction as a safe space to try new behaviors—like asking for reassurance, expressing hurt, or practicing assertiveness. Over time, these new behaviors can generalize to real-world relationships.
Strength-Based Focus
FAP is not just about identifying what’s “not working”—it also helps clients and couples reinforce strengths like authenticity, courage, and emotional presence.
How Long is a Course of FAP?
FAP can be integrated into both short- and long-term therapy. For some clients and couples, meaningful progress can happen in 12–20 sessions, especially when therapy builds off clear goals and uses in-session relational work early on. For others, longer-term work supports deeper emotional growth and relationship repair.
Because FAP focuses on emotional safety, authenticity, and meaningful change, it’s highly adaptable to your unique needs and relational context.
What are Brief Intervention and Prevention Services?
Brief interventions and prevention services help couples strengthen their relationship by increasing closeness, improving communication, and identifying problematic patterns before they escalate. These approaches focus on enhancing satisfaction and preventing dissatisfaction rather than waiting until serious conflicts arise.
Research shows that couples who engage in preventive therapy or brief interventions experience higher relationship satisfaction and lower rates of distress over time. These services may include communication training, conflict resolution strategies, and exercises to deepen emotional connection. By addressing issues early, couples can reinforce positive interactions, reduce misunderstandings, and build a more resilient partnership.
What to Expect in Prevention Services
Assessment Sessions: Couples complete a structured assessment to identify relationship strengths and areas that may need attention. This includes discussions about communication, conflict resolution, intimacy, and emotional connection.
Feedback Session: The therapist provides personalized feedback on the couple’s relationship patterns, highlighting what is working well and what may need improvement.
Skill Development: Couples engage in targeted exercises and discussions designed to enhance their connection, improve communication, and develop strategies for managing stress and conflict effectively.
How Long is a Course of Prevention Services?
Prevention services are designed for non-distressed couples who want to strengthen their relationship and prevent future issues. These services focus on enhancing closeness, improving communication, and reinforcing positive relationship patterns before significant conflicts arise.
The length of prevention services varies based on the couple’s needs and goals, but most programs range from 1 to 4 sessions. Some couples may benefit from a one-time consultation, while others prefer a structured multi-session program to build and practice skills over time. Since these interventions are proactive and flexible, couples can engage at their own pace and ensure they gain the tools needed to maintain long-term relationship satisfaction and resilience.