Even the best relationships will encounter challenges. I work with couples to help tackle difficult issues, decisions or patterns, utilizing each person’s love for both one’s self and each other to enhance and deepen connection.
Here are some excellent resources (each book description contains a live link to Amazon):
You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For by Richard Schwartz: The developer of the Internal Family Systems model addresses the topic of intimate relationships in an engaging, understandable, and personal style. Therapists and lay people alike will find this book to be an insightful exploration of how cultivating a relationship with the Self — the wise center of clarity, calmness, and compassion in each of us — creates the foundation for courageous love and resilient intimacy: the capacity to sustain and nourish a healthy intimate relationship.
Bring Yourself to Love by Mona Barbera: This book offers a wealth of practical advice and exercises you can apply right away: easy techniques to help you mend relationships not only with your spouse/partner, but also with friends and family members.
Hold Me Tight by Sue Johnson: "At last, a road map through Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with its creator. Dr. Johnson's superb science, humor, and clinical wisdom are finally accessible to all of us. I couldn't pick a smarter, warmer, and more real guide for this journey."―John Gottman, Ph.D., bestselling author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and coauthor of And Baby Makes Three
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert by John Gottman, Ph.D: Here is the culmination of John Gottman's unprecedented study of couples over a period of years has allowed him to observe the habits that can make—and break—a marriage. Here are seven principles that guide couples on a path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Straightforward yet profound, these principles teach partners new approaches for resolving conflicts, creating new common ground, and achieving greater levels of intimacy.
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman: If we express love in a language the other may not connect with, the message may be missed. With a little help from The 5 Love Languages®, you can learn to give and receive love in more meaningful ways, and grow closer than ever. Here’s a quiz to help you get started.