1555 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite B, Orlando, FL 32814

Relationship Skills for Individuals

Relationship Conflict Counseling

Are your relationships making you crazy? Do attempts at calm and effective communication with loved ones quickly escalate into screaming matches? Do you find yourself losing your cool way too often due to issues with your family?

There is nothing quite as challenging as trying to cultivate peaceful relationships with those around us. Partners, friends, family and neighbors present a wide range of personalities which can make it difficult to live in harmony.

There is compelling and mounting evidence that relationships are the most important thing in life. Current research reflects that the quality of our personal relationships correlates very strongly with our overall level of satisfaction in life. Often, when people on their deathbeds are asked what they would do differently in life, they express regret at not giving more time and attention to relationships with people that were important to them. So, in essence, relationships with those around us are what indeed matter most.

Despite the undeniable importance of relationships, the vast majority of us have never been trained on the skills that make a relationship last. There is no class in school that teaches us how to best relate to others in the most loving and considerate manner. Most of us just do what was ingrained in us while growing up in our family of origin without giving it much thought. Relationship counseling gives us an opportunity to learn these valuable skills. Relationships (particularly intimate relationships) are fertile ground for enormous personal growth. Intimate relationships give us an opportunity to tend to our deepest wounds, which frequently rise to the surface when attempting to blend our life with the life of our significant other.

Relationships are my passion. I have watched my client’s lives transform as they learn new skills and begin to show up differently in their relationships. I strive to provide a safe place free of judgement for you to examine the dynamics in your relationship with a spirit of curiosity. My goal as a relationship counselor is to empower you with more effective tools for dealing with communication issues in your relationships. Often, when we learn a new possibility, old rigid and inflexible patterns of interacting fall by the wayside and we are empowered and energized by the obvious changes our new skills are bringing about. Gaining an understanding of the emotional forces at play underneath a repetitive communication dynamic can break the cycle and free us to relate in brand new ways to form new and supportive patterns instead.

Navigating the unpredictable world of dating can feel quite torturous to many of us, yet it is a necessary process if we seek to share our lives with another. Working with dating issues is one of my favorite things to focus on. We can learn so much about ourselves by the experience of meeting new people.

As a relationship counselor, my role is to help you learn to be more empathetic and responsive to your partner’s emotional needs.
During our sessions, we will focus on:

Turning toward your partner (instead of turning away) during their moments of need

How to recover more quickly from disagreements instead of having them drag out forever

How to realize when you are too overwhelmed and upset to problem solve

How to self-soothe to calm yourself down in moments of stress

Identifying patterns in your relationship that lead down the road to arguments

How to use your emotions as information for improving your relationship

Changing the dance of words between you and your partner

GOOD relationships allow us to

Be healthier

Live longer

Deal more effectively with life stressors

View ourselves in a more positive light

BAD relationships burden us with:

Poor physical health

Decreased immune function

Sadness, depression, despair

OBJECTIONS

Will it really help for me to come to “relationship counseling” alone?

Absolutely. You are the only person on this earth that you can control and change. Significant progress in your relationship with others is possible if you focus on your role and perspective of your relationship challenges, even if you believe that you are not the main problem. I find that I am most effective at helping individuals gain an improved understanding of the dynamics in their relationship, which is often enough to promote significant and lasting change. Individual counseling on relationship issues can also help you get a sense of clarity about what is really going on in your relationship. It can also help you decide whether or not this relationship is a place that you truly want to invest your energy. If, during our work together, I feel that you could benefit from couple’s therapy in addition to the individual work we are doing, I will be happy to provide an excellent referral for you and your partner.

What if it’s too expensive?

We prioritize and find a way to pay for the things that we believe are most important in life. I believe that there is no greater investment than money spent learning how to improve our relationships, especially if there are children involved. Providing a stable and peaceful environment for your family goes a long way towards ensuring that your children grow up to be happy and productive members of society. If my session rates are not affordable for you, I am happy to provide a referral to a more affordable option, just ask.