From Loneliness to Connection

“We are all wired for connection.”

~ Sue Johnson

If you’re here, you may be questioning the quality of your relationships.  

Maybe you moved, and it’s been hard to make new friends.  

Maybe you have friends but you wonder why you don’t feel supported by them.  In fact, sometimes, you feel criticized.  You ask yourself how to bring this up with them, but then you change your mind and just let it drop.  Or, maybe you’ve tried to bring it up, and you got waved off.  

It’s okay to want more, to seek connections that feel kind, loving, understanding and supportive.  

People struggle with relationships of all sorts:  Relationships with parents, spouses, friends, co-workers.  

In some cases, it makes sense to address this in individual therapy, because there may not be an option to work on this, in therapy, with the other person.  

And, in some cases, it is really best to do this work with the person that you want to work things out with.  If there is an opportunity to work on this with your spouse / friend / parent, you might consider doing counseling with that person.     

Wouldn’t it be nice to be authentically yourself with people who appreciate that version of you?

How does therapy help?

In therapy, I would encourage you to explore what is working and what is not working in your relationship.  

Here are some questions we might talk through: 

  • If something is not working, what keeps you in this relationship?  What do you value about it? 

  • What have you tried to do already to address the issues?  And what were the results?  

  • If there are other options that you have not tried, what is keeping you from trying them?  

  • Is there an underlying belief that is keeping you from being proactive about meeting people or that is keeping you from speaking up about your needs? 

  • Are you able to identify your boundaries and enforce them? (this can be hard!)

My hope is that you will come to recognize your value and worth in a relationship.

I help you work on validation…getting it from within instead of from other people’s approval.

I want to empower you to look out for yourself and find people who appreciate you and treat you well.  

Additionally, we (as humans) sometimes get into unconscious patterns in our relationships.  And these patterns may not be helpful.  I help you become more aware of the patterns you might be repeating, and I help you to change those patterns if they are getting in the way of you finding a satisfying relationship.