Couples Therapy — A Trauma-Informed Approach

You want closeness—but find yourself guarded, defended, or bracing instead. Maybe it’s not that you’ve stopped caring. It’s that somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling safe to be vulnerable.

I work with couples who feel stuck in cycles of disconnection, not because their relationship is broken—but because that’s how they’ve learned to protect themselves. Criticism, contempt, and silence are often just self-protection in disguise. I help couples who typically armor up in their relationships, begin to soften, reach for each other, and feel supported instead of alone.

As a trauma-informed couples therapist, I pay close attention to how each partner’s past relationships shape their current patterns. I don’t just focus on the surface-level conflict—I look for what’s underneath. I see the strategies people developed when vulnerability felt dangerous, and I help make sense of those strategies with compassion, not shame. This lens allows me to see through defenses and connect with the fears, longings, and emotional truths that often go unspoken. My goal is to help you feel deeply seen for who you really are—not just the version of you that’s learned to survive in relationships.

My presence in the therapy room is often described as warm, collaborative, and deeply intentional. I draw from Compassionate Inquiry, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, and EMDR to help clients explore the deeper layers of their experience. I strive to create a space that feels emotionally safe, gently challenging, and honoring of every part of you—even the ones that feel hard to share. One of my strengths is knowing how to hold emotional depth while also bringing lightness and levity into the therapy room—using humor, sarcasm, and creativity to help heavy moments feel more human and bearable.

Relationships aren’t about being perfect—they’re about being safe enough to be real. If your relationship is feeling more painful than supportive lately, I’d be honored to help you find your way back to each other. There’s room here for all the messy, guarded, sensitive layers of you. I’d love to help you tend to them with care.

I am an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) and Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC), and I received my M.S. in Counseling with a Marriage and Family Therapy Concentration from California State University, Fullerton.

Let’s work together to create the connection you both deserve.