SERVICES

Couples counseling

Couple’s counseling helps build strong more resilient relationships. Learn to manage conflict, improve communication skills, and increase intimacy. Our therapist offer tools to help couples understand and change destructive patterns and promote healthier connections.

SPECIALTIES

Anxiety and Depression
Trauma and PTSD
Social Justice Issues & Power dynamics (Patriarchy, Feminism, Gender, Race, Income, & Equality)
Intimacy loss
Sex Issues
High conflict (chronic fighting and arguments)
Infidelity and broken trust
Polyamory
Pre-Marital Counseling or decision about getting married
Addiction & Co-dependency
Separation and Divorce

OUR APPROACH

Our Center applies client-centered approach to therapy because every client is different with their own unique history. Many of our therapist have been trained in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy for Couples (AEDP), Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT), Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), and Depth Psychoanalytic psychotherapy treatment to help couples improve their relationship.

These modern approaches have been researched and proven to help facilitate fundamental transformation in 70 percent of all couples.

How does couples counseling work?

Treatment starts with an intake in which your therapist will ask you about your history as a couple and what brings you to therapy. In the first couple of sessions, you will begin to develop a relationship with your therapist and see if they are a good fit for both of you. During the early phase of treatment, your couples therapist will ask you questions and get to know what you both are needing. In this initial process, you will set goals, create a plan, talk about whether you will need individual counseling in conjunction with couples therapy. Clients usually set the pace and length of treatment (short-term or long-term) with suggestions from the therapist.

As treatment progresses, a trained couples therapist navigates the process of understanding the cycles couples get stuck in and identifies what needs to change to have a more effective and positive connection. In this stage, our goal is to assist couples learn how to communicate empathically, to communicate feelings more effectively, and to respond to their partner's needs. The couple’s therapist will try to navigate this process successfully and always intervene if the communication becomes escalated rather than effective. Emotionally focused interventions have the power to re-establish supportive secure attachments among couples.

In the final stages of couple therapy, the couple will be able to safely share their needs, past experiences and hurts and be validated, heard and tended to by their partner. In this stage, couples will be able to explore conflicts and problematic relationship patterns without slipping into their typical negative patterns of relating. At this point, couples will be able to slow down and make healthier relationship choices: to be vulnerable instead of defensive, to be receptive instead of closed and to be curious instead of withdrawing.

Develop skills with your partner

Learning how to have better outcomes from arguments
Learning about your nervous system when triggered & how to calm yourself
Identifying the negative patterns and cycles
Discovering communication tools that can help increase positive patterns
Learn how to communicate vulnerable emotions and feel more connected

Managing conflict and engaging in repairs that feel restorative and rejuvenating
Accessing the strengths of the relationship that can help leverage the couple into transformation.
Develop skillful means of relating that can help the couple move from insecurity to security.
Re-Building safety and trust
Meditation, Yoga, and Qigong (learn how to activate the para sympathetic nervous system)

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Our Center has top-rated therapists in the Bay Area

We have carefully selected a team of experts in the field. Our therapists are trained in the newest modalities and cutting edge treatments for couples. In addition to a rigorous academic background (doctorate and masters level), our therapists have been through further advanced trainings in to optimize success of treatment.

Our team of therapists value personal development, strengthening skills, and staying current on progressive treatment for mental health. We participate in yearly trainings and workshops, as well as weekly consultation groups so we can provide you the best couples counseling San Francisco and East Bay has to offer.

Current research shows that emotionally fulfilling relationships are important components of mood and emotional stability. This is one reason why we hold in high regard staying current on progressive and cutting edge treatments for couples. We work constantly to assure we are bringing you the best the field has to offer.

Let’s Begin

Step 1

Schedule a 20-30 minute phone call. This gives us a chance to discuss what is going on, what you're looking for, and find a great fit. Either schedule an appointment in our online calendar, fill out our form or call us at (415) 494-7074.

Step 2

Speak to our trained, master’s level therapists who offer a 30-minute confidential consultation.

During your phone consultation ask questions, get direct feedback about how we work and assess whether our therapists are the right fit for you.

Step 3

Receive personalized matches from a therapist who takes your goals and finds you a qualified therapist. No surveys and no algorithms. Trained staff find and review each match.

Step 4

Choose the therapist you like best to fit your needs, availability, and goals. Then start scheduling your weekly online teletherapy sessions within the same day.

Book an Appointment