As an experienced Santa Monica relationship therapist, I am here to give you answers to your relationship problems, no matter what they may be. No problem is too big or too late to solve – especially when it is dealing directly with something so important in your life. No relationship therapy question is too silly to ask and everyone has their own journey, so it’s never a good idea to come into a session in hopes of comparing your therapy with those of someone else’s.

If you are looking for relationship counseling in Santa Monica, CA and are part of the LGBT community, are not married or have a relationship that doesn’t look like the “traditional, monogamous, heterosexual couple,” I welcome all kinds of partnerships, including open marriages, polyamorous partnerships, and all sorts of relationships. Your issue is not too big to work through if you and the other party(ies) are committing to it and want to work through it, as well.

There are various practices that can be approached when coming in for relationship therapy. Depending on the situation at hand and parties involved, the technique or method might be different from case to case. However, the way I work is that I incorporate mindful techniques that are derived from spiritual practices like yoga or Buddhist meditation, which has proved to be extremely effective.

When you are in session with me, I will assess the issues at hand and try and come up with the best possible practices that we can incorporate into our sessions. Generally speaking, however, I often find that it helps to involve the body and awareness of bodily sensations to be able to speak out and express feelings, emotions or other things that otherwise couldn’t be spoken out, verbally.

The methods I generally use are one of three or a mixture of techniques including Psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and narrative therapy. By taking you and your partner through these various techniques, we can find the source or root of certain issues and work our way backward from there. Each method is tailored to using a certain technique to pry the mind and implore you to think, feel, and observe one another and yourself.

Psychodynamic indulges the person to take a look at the past. CBT scans the present and inquires about thoughts and behaviors that are occurring now and how they end up forming a belief system that can possibly be affecting your actions. Through examining these thoughts, you can then start to try and reform or reshape this belief system so we can get you thinking and feeling in a more positive way. Narrative therapy allows and empowers my patients to know that they are not the problem. It gets them to individually, mentally, and emotionally separate their identity from the problem, which can instill in them a self-confidence and knowledge that can affect their future thoughts and behaviors

There are various methods and techniques I use in relationship therapy, which means that every session from relationship to relationship will be different.

There are some relationship improvement techniques I use, like physical exercises (you can read some very effective Relationship Improvement Exercises on this page), that you can try at home with your partner that can really strengthen the connection between you two and feel the weight of one another, physically. I believe that methods based through the physical touch and yoga principles can really help not only you get in better touch with one another but also allow you to recognize certain features to a relationship, like a power dynamic. However, as I mentioned before, this will look different from one couple to another.

One of the main goals here in relationship therapy is to give you and your partner(s) the tools you need to be able to continue working and committing one another into your relationship, no matter how hard it gets, to thrive and grow way past when our sessions end.

However, to achieve this growth and to get to a place where you and your partner(s) thrive and grow, you have to take that first step. By the word “you”, I am referring to all parties in the relationship – because, without the commitment of everyone, you cannot get the results you want.

I implore you to try relationship therapy out and reach out to me and book your first appointment. No problem is too late with the commitment and attitude needed to work on it.

Pages I recommend:

Couples therapy
Depression therapy