My approach to marriage counseling and couple therapy is integrative. I focus on patterns or sequences in your relationship, utilizing techniques from a variety of approaches to modify or change these patterns. I have specifically had extensive training in emotionally focused therapy (EFT) and the Doherty approach (TDA), with additional training in Gottman method and integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT). I also teach these approaches in graduate programs at two universities.

Whatever therapist you choose or model they work from, research shows a few things very clearly: the relationship with the therapist matters the most, and you can generally know within the first 3 or 4 sessions if the therapy is going to go well. What to look for: a sense of traction within these first few sessions, like the therapist knows what they are doing, and you feel some hope or confidence that you might be able to get somewhere. If you don't feel this in the first few sessions, you are not likely to get this traction later in therapy. In that case, you could bring up this concern with your therapist (including me!) around session 3, and either find a new therapist, or they need to change how they are working with you.

During my graduate training, I had 2 years of experience conducting functional family therapy (FFT) with adolescents and their families, trained by Thomas Sexton, PhD, ABPP, and Corinne Datchi, PhD, ABPP. Following grad school, I worked for The Family Institute at Northwestern University, where I continued training in family therapy and gained experience with young adults in family therapy. I now work with families with older adolescents or emerging adults, or families consisting of all adults.