Areas of Expertise
Individual Therapy and Life Coaching
My clients seek individual therapy and coaching when they want to feel better but can't, given all of the pain and instability in life. We are living through difficult times and many of us feel a sense of overwhelm greater than we have ever known. You may know you need change, but If you knew what to do, you would have done so. Feelings like depression and anxiety are often debilitating. Intrusive thoughts and emotional pain can hinder the ability to be the best version of yourself. Working together, we will understand why these feelings exist and help free you of this pain that has been inside way too long. We create solutions to alleviate feelings of hopelessness and helplessness as we explore your hurdles and uncover the patterns that continue to repeat themselves within your life and relationships. It is possible to feel better, but you will need to take the first step. If you choose to partner with me, you will no longer have to navigate these issues by yourself. Make today the last day you feel alone on your personal journey.
Marriage Counseling and Relationship Coaching
My uncle, a notorious serial monogamous, says that marital vows were written when the life expectancy was thirty-five years old. And while he was cynical (and I think joking), he wasn’t far off. Our fairytale images of marriage and of two people coming together and living “til death do us part” are no longer that simple. Maybe, our expectations about committed relationships and our own personal responsibilities within them need to be examined and discussed.
Our modern romantic expectation is that our spouse is our best friend, most incredible lover, as well as an aligned business partner and parent. We expect to agree on all of the areas of our lives and negotiate our lives in agreement for decades. We hope that we will change and our partner will change with us. And while we are likely to grow, without relationship consciousness, we are likely to grow differently and potentially drift apart. Fighting, poor communication, parenting, financial stressors, and difference in our intimacy needs are just some of the differences that cause two people who were once in love to grow apart. We may look at our partners and feel like we don’t even know them anymore and we may feel completely unknown by them. If we are completely at odds, we may feel like intimate enemies. We may remember a time when love was all we needed, but now we wonder where that love has gone.
Working together, I will help you rekindle your love, find ways to have productive conversations about your needs and wants within your relationship and family, and rebuild your friendship. We will explore conflict. Every couple faces both solvable and perpetual problems. For solvable problems, you will learn how to compromise. For the perpetual issues, recognizable as that same fight you have, again and again, we will learn strategies to allow you to make space for differing perspectives.
Oftentimes, years of marital conflict or drift result in betrayal. Indiscretions, deceit, addiction, and infidelity. While this adds complexity to marriage counseling, it doesn’t always result in divorce. If both of you are willing to navigate the very difficult terrain of recovery, healing is possible. Trust can be rebuilt with transparency and patience. Together, we will uncover the reason the betrayals occurred and discover how we can forgive. There is evidence that a relationship shaken to its core, regardless of whether by your own behavior or by your partner’s choices, can become stronger with hard work and understanding.
Therapeutic Divorce
Sometimes, divorce is unavoidable. I know many individuals and couples who have tried very hard to make their marriage work. Despite the desire to keep the family together, there is just not enough love or commonality to be healthy and happy together. Don’t let anyone tell you that divorce is easy. It is not. But it does not need to be ugly. It also does not need to be a legal battle fought in a courthouse. In fact, there is about as much need for lawyers in your divorce as there was the day you got married. Divorce is a financial process and an emotional process, it is not a legal process.
Rather than pitting spouse against spouse, our process utilizes tools for effective communication and problem-solving. We address the topics you will need to file for divorce including co-parenting your children, dividing your assets and liabilities, spousal support, and child support. We then go beyond the traditional divorce process, helping you to co-parent effectively with your former spouse and move forward as a single adult. While the Florida courts require some legal paperwork and a final hearing in front of a judge in order to get a divorce, lawyers are not a mandatory part of the process. In addition to being expensive, they often make things more complicated than they need to be. As licensed therapists and certified divorce professionals, we have the knowledge and skills necessary to help you handle complex emotions, navigate difficult conversations, and assist you in making the important decisions inherent in the divorce process. Unlike attorneys and the legal system, we will not impose assumptions or arbitrary guidelines on your family. Therapeutic Mediation is based upon the principle that each marriage and family is unique. Even though your marriage is ending, we believe you and your soon-to-be former spouse are the most knowledgeable and competent decision-makers for your family’s new future.
Personal Development and Lifebook
My clients know I adore learning and growing beside them. There is rarely a week that I am not reading a new book from thought leaders focused on personal growth. What I have found, however, is that I am often excited, motivated, and energized after attending a seminar or reading a book, but I often struggle to implement their strategies to create sustainable change. What I have realized is that what works for one person does not work for all people.
During the pandemic, I found Lifebook. Lifebook is a personal development program unique in that it is not focused on one person’s expertise or belief system. Instead, it is a process that is written by you, for you. In this course, you will delve deep into your health and fitness, intellect, emotions, character, spirituality, parenting, love relationship, social life, finances, career, and quality of life in order to create a life vision. This comprehensive document will be your Lifebook, a one hundred-page book that covers what you believe, what you want, why you want what you want and how you plan to achieve your goals in all twelve categories.
Just writing your book will drastically change how you view your life. But to make change happen, you need to carry out your strategies. The second phase of your Lifebook journey will be the implementation of your overriding goal working toward achieving your Life Vision.
I am launching four different ways that you can create your Lifebook. We can incorporate it into your own individual coaching, we can begin individually during or after your therapeutic divorce, you can join a Lifebook accountability group, or attend a weekend-intensive Lifebook retreat.