A peaceful outdoor bistro table with two chairs, setting a collaborative space for couples therapy in California.

Something in your relationship brought you here. Whatever it is, it deserves attention. Maybe the arguments have become circular: the same fight on repeat, each time leaving you more depleted and further apart. Maybe the distance has grown quietly, and you’ve become more like roommates than partners. Maybe something has broken—a betrayal, a loss, a moment you can’t come back from alone.

Who I Work With

I work with couples at every stage: those in acute crisis, those who feel a slow drift they can’t name, and those who are doing well and want to invest in something even better. Specifically, I support:

Couples in recurring conflict who are caught in patterns they can’t break.
Couples recovering from infidelity or betrayal of any kind.
Couples navigating ADHD and its impact on the relationship.
Couples where conflict and disconnection have roots in early history and attachment patterns.
Couples navigating religious trauma and how it affects connection and intimacy.
Couples who want to grow proactively, before things become painful.

What I Believe About Couples Work

What would it feel like to stop dreading conflict and have a relationship with real intimacy, connection, and joy? That’s what I want to work on with you.

Every couple develops patterns. Some of those patterns protect: they keep us safe from old wounds. But protection has a cost. When we close down to guard ourselves, we also close down to each other. Some of us go quiet and pull away. Others pursue, push, escalate, desperately trying to reach someone who is withdrawing or shutting down. Neither move gets us closer.

The challenge therefore is to learn to stay open and curious, and to repair after rupture. The goal isn’t a relationship without conflict—it’s one where conflict no longer costs you the connection.

In couples work, I pay as much attention to each of you individually as I do to the relationship between you. Who you are, what you carry, and what you need matters.

I welcome clients of all backgrounds and identities, and I am LGBTQ+ affirming. Whatever brought you here, you don’t have to keep struggling without support.

This Work Can Open the Door To:

A new ability to recognize what’s happening beneath the surface of an argument, in yourself and your partner.
The capacity to stay open instead of shutting down—to learn rather than protect.
Real communication skills: the ability to actually hear each other and express what’s underneath.
A deeper understanding of your partner’s inner world, including parts you thought you already knew.
Productive conflict: disagreement that doesn’t damage the relationship.
Greater intimacy, connection, and joy.

The Approaches I Draw On

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Trained in EFT through an foundational externship, I work to help couples identify the emotional cycles underneath their conflict. EFT is grounded in attachment theory, the understanding that our deepest needs in relationships often go unspoken, and that the way we pursue or withdraw from those needs drives the patterns that feel impossible to change. When partners can speak from that deeper layer, conversations that went in circles can finally go somewhere new. Learn more

Gottman Method Couples Therapy

I draw on Gottman Method Couples Therapy, a research-backed framework to help couples understand the specific patterns that erode relationships over time and build what the Gottmans call the Sound Relationship House. This includes concrete tools for managing conflict, deepening friendship and intimacy, and creating shared meaning. Learn more

Developmental Model for Couples Therapy (Bader/Pearson)

Having completed training in the Developmental Model for Couples Therapy, I understand relationships as living systems that grow through predictable developmental stages. This model is particularly powerful for couples who are learning to know what they each want, say it clearly, and stay open when their partner does the same. Learn more

Frequently Asked Questions

Is couples therapy only for relationships in crisis?

Not at all. You don’t have to be in crisis to benefit from couples therapy. Many couples come simply because they want to communicate better, feel closer, or build something more intentional together.

My partner is hesitant about therapy. What should I do?

This is very common. Sometimes it helps to frame the first session as an assessment rather than a commitment—just coming in to see if it feels useful.

We’ve tried couples therapy before and it didn’t help.

Past experiences with therapy that didn’t fit are real. The relationship between you and your therapist matters enormously, as does whether the approach is the right match. I’d welcome a conversation about what felt missing before.

Can I come in alone if my partner won’t join me?

If your partner won’t join you, the most useful first step is often to begin individual therapy to explore your own patterns and what you bring to the relationship. I work with couples and individuals as separate tracks: if you begin as an individual client, that is the work we do together.

Do you work online?

Yes. I see clients in person in Los Gatos and San Francisco, and work with clients online throughout California.

If something here resonates, I’d love to connect.