Recognize the cycle
Learn to see the pattern as it begins, including the protective move each partner makes.
Couples therapy
You may love each other and still feel trapped in a cycle neither of you knows how to stop. The details change. The argument underneath often does not.
Request a ConsultationOne partner reaches harder while the other pulls away. A request lands as criticism. Defensiveness protects against shame but leaves the other person even more alone. Resentment builds; trust thins; intimacy becomes difficult to approach.
Couples often arrive focused on who started it or whose version is right. Those questions can keep both partners inside the same cycle. We look instead at what each person does, what each is protecting, and how those moves fit together.
Active & structured
I work actively and directly with couples. We identify the cycle you create together while remaining clear that shared patterns do not erase individual responsibility.
We work to understand what each partner is protecting, communicate more vulnerably and directly, and practice different responses while the pattern is happening—not simply analyze it once the moment has passed.
Couples work incorporates relational approaches, including Relational Life Therapy (RLT), to support honesty, accountability, and genuine connection.
In the room—and between sessions
Learn to see the pattern as it begins, including the protective move each partner makes.
Move beneath accusation or withdrawal toward the need, fear, hurt, limit, or truth that has been difficult to express.
Try a different response in real interactions and bring back what happened. Change needs rehearsal.
Start with a conversation