Great Couples Counseling in Westmont, CA. Therapy to heal relationships.

I am here to help couples through issues in their relationships to come to mutual understanding and empathy. I am LGBTQ+ allied and support all traditional and non-traditional relationship structures. I also offer non-denominational pre-marital counseling, helping couples prepare for this lifelong commitment by providing a safe space to share and understand each other’s values, needs, and desires for the relationship.

I specialize in Couples Therapy at the Narrative Couples Center. I help partners to achieve new stories for the future. My approach is strength-based. It explores what couples hold most precious in their lives and relationships and brings people closer to their hopes and preferences. My counseling offers tools and collaboration to help each member of a relationship to move towards shared understanding.

All couples will face challenges. Let's face it, it's hard to live with another person. Some conflict is healthy and normal. But when it seems like you're arguing all the time, feeling negative about your partner, or feeling disrespected, it is time for help. I will teach you positive communication techniques, ways to feel like a team again, and regain the love in your relationship.

Therapy offers a supportive environment where you can communicate in a safe way... learn to calm down, listen and validate the other person... become more aware of each other's over-reactions and vulnerabilities... understand each other's needs... clarify commonalities and differences in your relationship goals... negotiate, accept and move on to a better emotional state. By understanding and empathizing with both of you, I can provide you with insights, exercises and concrete skills to help you transform your relationship into a lasting source of love and companionship... or find the courage to end what cannot be repaired.

I see clients in relationships of all kinds. Whether you are in a poly relationship, you practice non-monogamy, or if you are in a traditional marriage, you are in the right place. I offer a non-judgmental space where we work as a team to improve communication, develop connection and understanding, and use real tools to better your relationship. I am more than a mediator-- I help each person communicate their true thoughts and true needs without conflict. Do you have intimacy issues and need sex therapy? I provide that service as well. Sex is part of every relationship and should always be a priority. Physical intimacy is vital and I can help you make improvements that stick over time.

In couples counseling we will explore the strengths each of you brings to your relationship and how these contribute to the overall health of your relationship together. We will work to understand your contributions and barriers to making your relationship work. The focus will remain on your goals for the relationship with the understanding that these may change as we learn more about each parties level of contribution. I encourage honesty between both parties. You will be encouraged to speak directly with one another to work toward strengthening your communication skills by clarifying the meaning and quality of the words you choose when speaking with your partner.

Without conflict, couples do not achieve intimacy. The challenge is helping you and your partner learn how to have healthy conflict that leads to intimacy, rather than destructive conflict that destroys the relationship. I specialize in working with affairs and broken trust, abgtneuro-diverse couples. I usually start with helping you learn ground rules for being able to have safe, constructive, healthy conflict to reduce and eliminate destructive relational patterns. I also use Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) to help you reconnect, learn healthy communication skills, rekindle the flame that you once had, and start talking to each other again. If you are willing to work, I am here for you

Are you questioning whether to remain invested in your current relationship? Would you like to learn ways in which to strengthen your existing relationship? Learn effective ways of communicating with your partner that can help bridge the gap of misunderstandings, focus on strengths and identify tools that are already building on your commitment to one another.

When you are looking for a couples therapist, you need someone who is trained in couples therapy specifically. Often therapists say they know how to help a couple, but one's training in couples therapy is typically limited to one class in their entire education! The focus of therapy is traditionally on the individual! Here at LA Therapy Network, several of our therapists have specific couples therapy training! We require all our therapists to be educated specifically in couples therapy. We are all trained in helping cuoples from a developmental perspective as well as providing practical strategies for communication and conflict resolution. GLBT families encouraged and welcome!

All relationships take work and effort, however that doesn't mean a relationship should only feel like work. Having different likes, viewpoints and drives doesn't necessarily equal incompatibility. Communication and conflict resolution skills are key to a successful relationship. In my work with couples, I engage with each partner as a unique person, however the relationship as a whole is my priority.

Couples counseling can be helpful to any relationship looking to grow and improve skills to make your relationship thrive. If you are just starting out and it's premarital therapy you are looking for, or you are on the brink of the relationship ending, couples counseling can help. It will provide an outside perspective and increase your ability to interact in ways that are more productive and enjoyable. Even if your relationship is going great, there is always something to learn about your partner in couples counseling.

All couples experience challenges. I specialize in helping couples through challenging times. Whether you are struggling with communication, sex and intimacy, or parenting, we work collaboratively to gain understanding and insight into the issue(s) so that the relationship can deepen and grow. I also help couples who are considering marriage and are not sure if they are a good fit. Even the best of relationships can feel difficult or discouraging at times. Together we can work through such difficulties so that your relationship can feel rejuvenated and fulfilling again.

Is your relationship full of miss-communications or missed opportunities to reconnect? Have you experienced a traumatic event that has thrown each of you into isolation? Situations can happen which cause you to develop negative communication patterns and extreme misunderstandings. You did not come together to live alone. If you have been settling for living together as roommates, it may be time to reach out for professional help. Relationships can become distressed, or simply just get stuck. Cindy is here to listen, partner with you, and create a treatment plan specific to your needs. Couples counseling is tough work. If you are ready - I'm here to help and partner with you through it all. Come, begin your journey back in to the relationship you...(view profile to read more)

Why do we seem to have the same arguments over and over again? How do I know if we are really supposed to be together? Are there things we could be doing to better support each other, to help each other grow and be our best selves? If we really love each other, why do we so often hurt each other? How do I know if this is real love, anyway? Relationships are hard. Even more than desire, they require effort and understanding to make them work. Often, even if two people really love each other, one or both may need help to maintain the right effort or understanding to keep the balance necessary for long-term success. Having outside, objective support can make all the difference.

My approach is to help each partner see clearly where s/he stands, what s/he stands for, and what meaning the relationship holds. How do these values come into play in the relationship? How do our own expectations, and those of society at large, influence the relationship? Often, understanding the role of a relationship in our own lives reveals possible ways forward. Sometimes, it shows us that moving forward might not be what we want to do.

I specialize in couples and marriage counseling. My approach is based on recent research in marriage science showing what habits successful couples have that other do not. My approach is skills based and practical, teaching both of you how to communicate more effectively, how to understand each other, how to decide what is changeable and what is not in your relationship, how to deal with perpetual issues,on which you may be deadlocked, and different ways to view issues and problems in your relationship to reduce conflict. I also help you identify what is working in your relationship, (or what used to work) so that we can build on the positive.

I believe that good relationships are built on secure attachments, ones that are engaged and emotionally responsive to one another. In my experience working with couples, and research supports this idea as well, a combination of strategies that teach them to be more accepting of each other while at the same time working to change some of their assumptions and automatic behaviors are at the root of change. I see this in my private practice with partners attacking, often forgetting what brought them together in the first place; I guide them back into each other's arms, and back into a safety zone with a combination of attachment and communication techniques that have shown to be effective.

I work with couples to repair and rebuild their relationships. My practice focuses on providing couples with the tools they need to create a healthier and more connected relationship. I believe in an integrative approach that is rooted in evidence-based therapies such as Emotionally Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy. My goal is to help couples find a deeper understanding of one another and create a more meaningful relationship. I strive to provide a safe, non-judgmental, and respectful environment that encourages honest communication and healing.

Couples counseling is an amazing experience. Your relationship is my client and I will work closely with both of you to identify the relational dance you participate in, and how we can interrupt the negative patterns you engage in, and instead promote healthier ways of connecting and attaching. Couples therapy can be a really fun and pleasurable experience where you get to know more about your partner and also about your self. Couples therapy works in a stage process. I will be there along each step of the way helping to make sure that you guys are connecting. I will help to empower you both so that you may enhance and strengthen your most important relationship!