Couples Counseling in San Francisco Bay Area and online across California
Support for relationships at every stage
Reconnect Through Compassionate Communication
Couples counseling helps partners slow down, rebuild trust, and find their way back to connection. Whether you’re navigating conflict, communication breakdowns, or emotional distance, therapy offers a space to be heard without blame or judgment.
My approach draws on the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), both rooted in attachment and empathy. These frameworks help you understand underlying needs and patterns so you can move beyond surface-level arguments toward genuine connection.
In our sessions, we’ll identify what’s keeping you apart and practice new ways of relating that feel safe, honest, and supportive. I provide a neutral, affirming space for all couples, including LGBTQIA+, polyamorous, and non-traditional relationships, to explore intimacy, boundaries, and shared growth.
How This Helps You:
- Improve communication and emotional safety
- Rebuild trust after conflict/rupture, betrayal trauma, or distance/withdrawal
- Understand recurring patterns and triggers
- Deepen empathy and understanding for one another
- Strengthen intimacy and connection
- Navigate transitions, separations, or new dynamics with care
What to Expect in Sessions
Collaborative, steady, and supportive care
Couples counseling begins with learning about your relationship, what’s working, where you feel stuck, and what you both hope to change. Together, we’ll slow the pace of conversations so you can actually hear each other, not just react.
I help each partner express their needs clearly and listen with openness. Over time, you’ll develop tools to manage conflict, communicate more effectively, and approach challenges with empathy instead of defensiveness.
The goal isn’t perfection, it’s connection. Couples counseling offers a steady, supportive environment where both partners can feel safe enough to be honest, vulnerable, and real. From that place, healing and growth naturally follow.
Common Questions
What is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist?
A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist is a mental health professional trained to work with individuals, couples, and families, with a strong focus on relationships, emotional patterns, and how past experiences affect present functioning.
How does a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist approach trauma-informed therapy?
A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist using trauma-informed therapy looks at how trauma impacts the nervous system, relationships, and sense of safety. The work is paced carefully to support both emotional and physical regulation.
Can a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist help with trauma stored in the body?
Yes. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist trained in trauma-informed therapy understands that trauma can live in the body, not just the mind, and incorporates approaches that support nervous system healing.
Is trauma-informed therapy different when working with a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist?
Trauma-informed therapy with a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist includes attention to relational dynamics, attachment patterns, and family systems, alongside individual healing.
Do Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists treat individual trauma or only couples?
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists work with individuals as well as couples and families. Trauma-informed therapy can focus entirely on individual experiences while still acknowledging relational impacts.
How does trauma-informed therapy support the nervous system?
Trauma-informed therapy helps the nervous system move out of constant survival mode by building safety, awareness, and regulation. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist guides this process gently and collaboratively.
What issues can trauma-informed therapy help with?
Trauma-informed therapy can support anxiety, chronic stress, emotional numbness, panic, relationship difficulties, and trauma responses. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist helps connect symptoms to underlying nervous system patterns.
Is trauma-informed therapy evidence-based?
Yes. Trauma-informed therapy draws from established research on trauma, attachment, and nervous system regulation. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists receive training grounded in these clinical frameworks.
How do I know if I should see a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for trauma-informed therapy?
If you feel stuck despite understanding your experiences, or notice strong physical reactions that do not match the present moment, working with a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist trained in trauma-informed therapy may be helpful.
Can trauma-informed therapy improve relationships?
Yes. Trauma-informed therapy with a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist often improves communication, emotional safety, and connection by addressing how trauma shapes relational responses.