Emotion-focused therapy for couples
A partnership is one of the closest forms of relationship we have, and consistently saying ‘yes’ every day to a life together takes work. Each of us is growing and evolving in our ways, and sometimes, it can be challenging to grow together. Couples therapy can help you strengthen your partnership and be happier together.
No relationship is conflict-free, but couple’s therapy can help you through some of the more significant conflicts that come up repeatedly in your partnership, such as communication problems, intimacy issues, or unresolved injuries from the past, such as infidelity or absence during a time of need.
Conflict stems from our efforts to get particular needs met. These could be attachment needs, such as the sense of security and closeness, or identity needs, such as the feeling of being valued and seen.
People do different things to get their needs met, and also to protect themselves when they’re in conflict, including attacking or criticizing or stone-walling from their partner, or shutting down. We fall into a particular pattern or feedback loop where it doesn’t matter what we’re arguing about, we’re in a stalemate because we haven’t addressed what’s underneath the surface. In other words, what we’re arguing about is not actually what we’re arguing about. It’s our way of managing the pain that comes from the sadness at disconnection, or the sense of feeling unimportant or inferior in our partner’s eyes.
"What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility."
- Leo Tolstoy
What to expect
What to expect
As an EFT couple therapist, I feel that long-lasting change doesn’t come from simply talking through challenges or coaching partners to do things differently. Instead, it comes through the expression of deeper, underlying feelings that we have difficulty sharing. Once both partners can acknowledge and express their more vulnerable, softer feelings and respond empathically to each other, a new way of being together can emerge.
The focus of couple therapy isn’t to change each partner as an individual. It’s about changing the interaction—changing what happens between each partner in the container of the relationship.
Sessions are 60 minutes, and are covered by the basic health insurance (LaMal) in Switzerland.I work with different-sex and same-sex couples in committed relationships in English, Spanish, and French. I specialize in working with ex-patriate couples, (including the challenges of “trailing spouses”, and raising third culture kids). I also have extensive experience and have co-authored a book on working with couple seeking to overcome emotional injuries, including infidelity, or deception.
The focus of couple therapy isn’t to change each partner as an individual. It’s about changing the interaction—changing what happens between each partner in the container of the relationship.
Sessions are 60 minutes, and are covered by the basic health insurance (LaMal) in Switzerland.I work with different-sex and same-sex couples in committed relationships in English, Spanish, and French. I specialize in working with ex-patriate couples, (including the challenges of “trailing spouses”, and raising third culture kids). I also have extensive experience and have co-authored a book on working with couple seeking to overcome emotional injuries, including infidelity, or deception.
