SPECIALTY

Relationship Issues

Connection: A Universal Human Need

The need for connection is universal. We all want meaningful, satisfying relationships that feel alive, secure, and deeply fulfilling. Yet it's remarkably common to experience frustration and struggle with those closest to us.

Intimate relationships have a way of bringing out both our best qualities and our deepest vulnerabilities. As someone once said, being in an intimate relationship is like pouring Miracle-Gro on all our issues—they become heightened and surface most intensely with the people we love most.

The desire for close, loving relationships remains constant, but past experiences of disappointment, shame, enmeshment, engulfment, rejection, and abandonment—can trap us in repetitive patterns that prevent genuine connection.

Common Relationship Issues:

Challenges in intimate relationships (marriage, partnerships, or dating)
Divorce, separation, or breakups
Infidelity, betrayal, and trust issues
Codependency and caretaking dynamics
Fear of abandonment or rejection
Fear of losing yourself in another’s needs (engulfment)
Difficulty setting and maintaining boundaries
The urge to rescue—or be rescued—in relationships
Conflict avoidance
Repeating painful patterns (such as choosing needy, emotionally unavailable, or avoidant partners)
Family estrangement or long-standing conflict in family of origin
Workplace relationship challenges (with supervisors, colleagues, or employees)

Who I Work With

I work with adults navigating a wide range of relationship challenges—from intimate and family relationships to complex dynamics at work.

Many people begin therapy during or after a breakup or divorce, while others seek support as they prepare for commitment, engagement, or marriage. Some want to understand why they keep choosing similar partners and repeating unfulfilling patterns. Some feel overly dependent on a partner, while others notice they rely only on themselves—having learned long ago that it feels safer to be independent than to depend on someone else. Still others recognize codependent dynamics—where they’re constantly giving, rescuing, or feeling responsible for others at their own expense.

I also work with people whose insecurity and anxiety tend to push partners away, creating the very outcome they’ve always feared. For others, the fear of being engulfed by another person’s needs triggers an overwhelming urge to flee. Many people oscillate between these two fears—the fear of abandonment and the fear of losing themselves in a relationship (engulfment). In response, they may become clingy and dependent, fiercely independent, or swing between both extremes.

How Therapy Can Help

Therapy offers a space to understand the story behind your relationship challenges, navigate the intricacies of close connections, and explore new ways of connecting that feel more genuine, reciprocal and enlivening.

While there are many approaches to therapy for relationship issues, I've found Psychodynamic Therapy and Relational Therapy especially effective. These approaches not only help uncover the origins of relational patterns but also transform painful or limiting dynamics that may be keeping you stuck.

In our work together, we’ll explore how past relational experiences may be influencing your current relationships. We’ll also explore what it means to be interdependent—not overly independent or dependent—and how to express your needs without fear, set healthy boundaries, and allow others to take responsibility for what they can do for themselves.

Therapy becomes a kind of laboratory—a supportive space where you can safely experiment with new ways of relating within the boundaries of a secure, therapeutic relationship.