Neuroscience is highlighting what we have perhaps always known in our hearts-loving human connection is more powerful than our basic survival mechanism: fear.
~Sue Johnson in Love Sense
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is a stuctured, research-based approach designed by Sue Johnson, author of Hold Me Tight. EFT is rooted in attachment theory and asserts that the key to successful relationships, and couples therapy, is strengthening the emotional bond between partners. Partners in all intimate relationships are meant to depend and rely on each other; it is our nature as humans.
Accessibility, Responsiveness and Engagement (A.R.E.) are factors that create closeness and resiliency in couples. We work to foster "effective dependency" in order to create more security that, paradoxically, results in increased freedom.
In couples therapy, we identify and illustrate the recurring patterns, the cycle, including the habitual, often defensive, behaviors and the underlying "raw spots." Partners learn to speak the language of their vulnerability, reaching for the other with more confidence. Sue Johnson refers to emotions as the "music" of the couple's interactional dance. Together, we build your skills so that the successful navigation of difficulty within sessions can be repeated outside of the therapy.
Other Important Influences on my Approach
Trauma resolution, Nonviolent Communication, Sandplay, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamic theories, Buddhist study and practice, and Expressive Arts all influence my approach. My work is also informed by my extensive background in schools as a Special Education Teacher and School Counselor. Of course, my own personal development and experiences as a mother, partner, friend and spiritual practitioner influence the way I do therapy.