Couples Therapy

Couples therapy is for two people who need clarity about what is actually happening in their relationship and what each person needs in order to move forward responsibly.

Types of Groups Offered:

Some couples come wanting repair. Some come unsure whether repair is possible. Some couples come because they know the relationship cannot continue as it is, and they need help deciding whether that means repair or separation.

This work is not about assigning fault or preserving a relationship at all costs. It is about honesty, responsibility, and integrity.

How I Approach Couples Work:
At the core of my work is helping what is unspoken become spoken. Most relational distress does not come from a lack of care. It comes from a lack of clarity, skill, and safety in how needs, limits, and fears are expressed and
received.

Couples therapy is a space to:
• understand what is actually happening between you
• identify needs that have gone unnamed
• clarify boundaries that have been blurred or ignored
• restore a sense of safety where it has been lost or compromised

Being in a committed relationship does not erase individuality. Needs, limits, values, and personal integrity still matter.

Safety is central to this work. Not only physical safety, but emotional, psychological, financial, and spiritual safety. Part of couples therapy is helping partners reassess what safety truly looks like in their relationship and what must change for it to exist.

I am guided by three core principles throughout the work:

Clarity –  telling the truth about what is actually happening
Connection –  supporting honest and respectful engagement
Congruence –  helping choices align with safety, values, and integrity

A Lens for Understanding Your Relationship
I use a simple lens to help clarify what kind of relationship you are in: whether it is disappointing, difficult, or destructive.

This distinction is informed by the work of therapist and author Leslie Vernick and is used here only as a way of naming what is happening more clearly. It is a framework for orientation, not a model that dictates the work.

Once there is clarity about where the relationship actually sits, the focus of therapy becomes clearer.

Disappointing Relationships
A disappointing relationship is one where things still function, but something meaningful has faded.

There is usually no active harm, but there may be emotional distance, loss of intimacy, unmet expectations, resignation, or quiet grief. In these relationships, therapy often involves:

• naming disappointment and loss
• working with grief
• challenging false beliefs about love, commitment, or marriage
• strengthening communication
• exploring whether renewal is possible

Difficult Relationships
A difficult relationship is shaped by strain, stress, and limited capacity.

Common factors include parenting demands, financial pressure, health challenges, blended family stress, and exhaustion.

In these relationships, therapy often involves:
• boundary clarification
• responsibility-sharing
• reducing reactivity
• conflict resolution skills
• restoring balance and fairness

Destructive Relationships
A destructive relationship is one where harm is present. This may include emotional, psychological, sexual, financial, or spiritual abuse, control or coercion, fear or intimidation, erosion of dignity or autonomy, and lack of accountability or safety.

In these situations, therapy is not about maintaining the relationship. It is about truth, protection, and restoring personal integrity.

Couples work may not be appropriate when harm is active. Individual support, safety planning, and clarity often come first.

How the Work Is Shaped
I draw from multiple therapeutic approaches and evidence-based models when helpful, including trauma-informed work, communication and conflict-resolution frameworks, boundary-based work, and practical skill-building.

Methods and models are tools. They serve clarity, safety, and responsibility—not the other way around.

What we work on depends on what the relationship actually needs once it is understood.

What Couples Therapy Is Really About
Couples therapy is not about saving a relationship. It is about understanding it honestly.

Sometimes the work leads to repair, reconnection, and renewed commitment.
Sometimes it leads to clearer boundaries, discernment, and separation that respects dignity and truth.

Both outcomes can be responsible and necessary.

Practice Details
Format: Virtual sessions

Clients: Adults in committed relationships
Location: Alberta & across Canada
Session Length:
– 50-minute sessions
– 90-minute sessions (with approximately 10 minutes reserved for clinical documentation) but open for 2 hours sessions too
Fees & Coverage: Please see the Fees & Coverage page for current rates and insurance information.

Next Step:
You do not need to know the outcome before beginning. You only need to be willing to look honestly at what is happening.