Adult & Couples Therapy
Counseling Specialty & Philosophy
In therapy sessions, couples will detail their individual roles and responsibilities in the relationship: (house management, parenting, finances, etc..) and process the impact this has on their resentment towards their partner. Couples will make amends with their sense of frustration surrounding how much of themselves they have given up to make the relationship work and make intentional choices about their roles within a newfound culture of compromise.
I compassionately challenge couples to develop insight about themselves and help couples rekindle the spirit of expecting the best of one another and giving the best of themselves. As a result of our work together, couples practice habits that restore their connection. Once trust is reestablished and a validating space for self disclosure has occurred, couples will have developed the foundation to build their optimal sex life. Here, I assist couples in exploring their history of shame and trauma in sex, and achieving a mutually satisfying intimate life.
For coparents, we will explore and make amends with the unresolved conflict that impede upon their ability to make cohesive decisions in parenting. Learning and practicing compassionate listening skills is a significant part of the process. Coparents will detail their sense of dissatisfaction surrounding the parenting duties/schedules and come up with a lifestyle that provides stability for their children and provides equity between the parents.
Audrey specializes in:
Audrey is a firm believer that good therapy is not always comfortable, but it is always safe. With strong rapport building at the foundation her clients set the pace while she challenges her client’s existing narratives so that they may develop the insight necessary to active long-lasting behavioral change.
Areas of Expertise:
- High Conflict/ineffective problem-solving skills
- Resentment surrounding shared roles and responsibilities in housework, child raising, and finances
- Differences in parenting decisions (specially as it relates to “behavioral” young kids and adolescents struggling with truancy, substance use, or labeled by the system with ODD)
- Misalignment of cultural expectations
- Betrayal/infidelity history
- Ineffective boundaries with in-laws (especially as it relates to cultural norms)
- Diminished sex life
- Disconnection caused from lack of quality time
- Blended family concerns
Clinical Approach
Gottman Therapy – Couple’s therapy approach backed by over 40 years of research that facilitates “dyadic” communication in session (Couple will communicate with one another with clinician stepping in as necessary as opposed to 3 way conversation directed towards the clinician). Audrey will draw from the Sound Relationship House model to educate couples on their strengths and opportunities for growth, while using dyadic communication style as a barometer to measure couple’s increased skill in conflict resolution.
Gestalt Therapy – Approach that focuses on finding solutions for problems as they occur in the present rather than the unresolved past. Audrey will draw from a client’s body language, the 5 senses, and the communication style to increase client’s self awareness surrounding resentment, hidden desires, and self direction.
Pursuer/Withdrawer Cycle – A lesser known concept that lives in the shadows of attachment styles, this model focuses on the push and pull dynamics that people experience. Audrey believes that people do not have an inherent attachment style, but rather that every dynamic elicits pursuing or withdrawing cycles. She will assist clients and couples in identifying where they fall in this cycle and how to establish an equilibrium between themselves and their loved ones.