While the need for love and intimacy is universal, failure to acquire or sustain love is a painful experience. Love is an outcome of who we are to each other and not a promise . . . “Two halves have little choice but to join and, yes, they do make a whole. But two wholes when they coincide . . . that is beauty. That is love.” Peter McWilliams (1970)

While all individuals share the wish and the need for loving, intimate relationships, the achievement of intimacy is a formidable undertaking, and many individuals are afraid of intimate encounters. They may fear the exposure of their faults, abandonment, angry attacks, losing control, their own destructive impulses, or being engulfed.

I believe that a relationship is a vessel in which growth may occur. The presence of a loving intimate relationship sustains and nourishes individuals and goes a long way toward helping individuals to achieve their potential. I believe in human potential. The therapeutic relationship we are going to establish will contribute to achieving your potential.

Couples generally come to therapy when they are in crisis or have ongoing conflicts. These may be due to poor communication, stress, or other factors affecting their relationship. They want to resolve the conflict, to repair their relationship, and to learn how to live in harmony. Couples come to therapy at all stages of their relationship, including the beginning. middle, or later, and seek the return of “happier times” or to experience such happiness and satisfaction for the first time.

The couples therapist keeps a focus on the couple rather than one individual or another, except in situations involving physical abuse. The focus is on understanding and improving interaction and problem solving. This may include obtaining histories of the couples’ families of origin to enhance mutual understanding of sensitivities and distortions in communication.