Relational Therapy

I approach therapy from a relational-cultural frame, which means I think that people heal and grow through connection with others, and that our lived experience, culture, and the systems we live in affect our wellbeing and health.

In relational therapy, the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a powerful tool for healing. I strive to create a collaborative, safe, and empathetic space where you can freely express yourself, feel heard, and work through difficult emotions. Through this connection, we can examine how your relationships with others mirror the relationship you have with yourself, helping you develop healthier ways of relating to both yourself and those around you.

We are all relational beings seeking to make sense of the ourselves, others and the world. In response, the therapeutic relationship can be used as a vehicle to gain insight, self-compassion and understanding. Slowing down to consider why we (and others) act, believe and think the way we do can result in healthier relationships and boundaries while getting our needs met.

Relational Therapy (RT) is an approach rooted in Psychodynamic Therapy. Psychodynamic therapy puts emphases on the psychological cause of emotional pain. Self-reflection and self-examination are its major focus. RT asserts the relationship is in fact what is needed for true reflection, examination, and ultimately change. Major tenants of RT are the therapist's stance, authenticity, presence, reflection, and engagement.

My therapy is oriented toward thinking about relationships.

I believe the therapeutic relationship is the biggest influence on change. I see a relationship built within the psychotherapy room as a catalyst to repair old attachment wounds, or core wounds. By having a consistent, stable relationship we can safely break down maladaptive relational patterns and practice new ones. A relational approach believes that through the therapist up, down or co regulating with a client they can better tune into their own emotional experiences.

As humans, we have evolved to withstand life’s inherent traumas through interdependency. Not codependency. Interdependency. We thrive, as humans, when we can rely on and support others. And we learn how to support ourselves and others through the kind of support we’ve received. In therapy, we create a relationship (a unique one at that!) to help you bring those feelings up to be safely experienced and now responded to in the way(s) you needed before. With compassion, empathy, sincere belief, and support. This is how we release the past and free ourselves from having to “manage” all the freaking time.

Mind, body, spirit, relationship—to our selves, to one another, to our environments, No good therapy will ever ignore your entirety. We are complex beings that require multiple elements for survival. Neglect in one area often leads to imbalance in others. Reallign with your sense of purpose by honoring your whole self and relation to others, including your environment. If there are limits to what I am able to do, I have an expanse of resources to which I will direct you.

Using the therapeutic relationship, I can help you understand more about how you feel in relationships and to experience new ways of being in relationship that translate to outside the therapy room.

Relationships can be the most beautiful experience. They can also be difficult and bring tremendous conflict and pain. Poor communication, unspoken conflicts, past pain, old traumas, these get in the way. Close bonds are fractured when the foundations of trust are weakened. This often presents in avoidance or escalated fights. Relational work allows partners to start to resolve serious issues, restore trust, and get the relationship back to healthy connectivity.

We grow through and towards relationship. My training emphasizes the importance of relationships to our mental health.

Our relationship is the catalyst for change, and compassion is the foundation on which self-acceptance and transformation are built.

I provide therapy from a relational-cultural frame, with attention to how the past affects the present. Relational-Cultural therapy focuses on how connection is a vehicle for healing as well as an outcome of healing. This therapeutic approach also considers how psychology has historically pathologized people based on identity (ex: sex, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, sexuality)

A relational approach to therapy means that I will operate as an active participant in your therapy. The foundation of this work is the relationship between you and I and the dynamics that manifest during our sessions as they illuminate and relate to your other relationships. I often use the immediacy of the therapeutic relationship with the goal of increasing awareness and discovering previously hidden processes and beliefs that undermine well-being.

I am highly relational in my work with clients, and I strive to create a space where clients feel deeply known, seen, and understood. I believe that in the context of such a relationship, hopefulness and change organically take place. I foster a therapy environment where clients can feel seen, valued, and understood. I see therapy as a collaboration between your lived expertise and my clinical expertise, and value the opportunity to get to know you and your story.

This is my primary theoretical orientation.

Approaches therapy from a relational framework whether I work with individuals, relationships, or families. I explore issues in how people relate to others and their environments.

I provide therapy from a relational-cultural frame, with attention to how the past affects the present. Relational-Cultural therapy focuses on how connection is both a vehicle for and an outcome of healing.

Relational psychotherapy is an offshoot of psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, both of which have a long and varied history going back to Sigmund Freud. As its basic premise, psychoanalysis assumes that people are often unaware of the factors that contribute to their mental and emotional state, and that uncovering these unconscious processes and assumptions leads to wellness. The way it is practiced today, there is a wide variety of approaches and styles in psychoanalysis (i.e. Freudian, Jungian, Object-Relations, Relational) that can look and feel quite different from the stereotype of the silent analyst saying only “Mmm Hmm” as the patient talks. Psychoanalysis is distinguished from psychoanalytic psychotherapy by both the frequency and setup of therapy. In psychoanalysis the patient usually comes in 2 – 5 times per week and often lays on a couch facing away from the therapist, whereas psychoanalytic psychotherapy incorporates the same theories and methodology of analysis without the same level of involvement. Psychoanalysts are required to undergo an additional educational training that often lasts for many years before being able to be called an analyst and perform analysis, whereas many therapists work from psychoanalytically-informed perspective and are well-trained in a psychoanalytic approach.