Couples Therapy

Relationships can be deeply rewarding, but they can also bring our histories, attachment patterns, and unresolved wounds into focus. Couples therapy offers a supportive space to understand these patterns, strengthen communication, and build healthier ways to connect.

We offer couples therapy through the Prepare/Enrich Assessment, a structured, evidence-informed tool that helps couples identify strengths, explore areas for growth, and build skills for healthier relationships.

I work with:

Dating or engaged couples

Married couples pursuing adoption or foster care

Parents who want to become more effective and connected caregivers

Wherever you are in your journey, couples therapy offers an opportunity to prepare, grow, and thrive together.

Prepare Together | Grow Together | Thrive Together

Schedule My Appointment

Experience & Qualifications

International Adoptee

As an adopted person myself, I understand that adoption can be more than a single event. Not only do I understand the complexity of adoption from the adoptee's perspective, but I also understand the challenges adoption brings to a family dynamic. Since my adoption, I have informally worked with numerous families who adopted internationally and assisted parents and the children with the transition into an adoptive family. 


My lived experience allows me to bring:

  • Firsthand understanding of adoption beyond what can be learned academically or professionally
  • Empathy for the complexity of the adoption decision, including the commitment, uncertainty, expectations, and the emotional investment
  • Awareness of the lifelong nature of adoption, rather than viewing adoption solely as an event or placement
  • Appreciation for multiple perspectives within an adoptive family, including the experiences and needs of parents and children
  • Understanding of the challenges that can arise in both successful and disrupted adoptions, allowing me to help couples explore expectations realistically
  • Sensitivity to issues of identity, attachment, belonging, loss, and family relationships that can emerge within adoptive families

While I bring a personal perspective to conversations about adoption and family, I also recognize that every adoption story is different, and I approach each family's expectations/experiences with curiosity rather than assumptions.

Concentration in Children, Youth, and Families

During my MSW studies, I concentrated in Children, Youth, and Families. I have a strong theoretical and clinical foundation for understanding individuals and relationships within the context of human development, families, and larger systems. 


My education allows me to bring knowledge in:

  • Child development and developmentally appropriate expectations for children
  • Family systems and family dynamics, including how changes in one family member can affect the entire family unit
  • Trauma and its impact on behavior, relationships, and development
  • Attachment and attachment styles, including the importance of secure relationships and the challenges that may arise when children have experienced disrupted caregiving
  • The unique experiences of foster and adoptive children and parents
  • Family transitions and adjustments, including the ways that fostering, adopting, and parenting can affect couples and family relationships
  • Social and environmental factors that influence family functioning and child well-being

Finally, I pursue continuing education to sharpen my knowledge and skills related to how parenting, trauma, attachment, child development, and family dynamics intersect with relationships.

Working in the Child Welfare System

For over six years, my clinical work has focused exclusively on supporting individuals and families affected by foster care and domestic adoption, giving me substantial practical experience with the realities children and families face in this journey. 


My practice experience allows me to bring:

  • Direct professional experience working with foster and adoptive families, rather than relying solely on academic knowledge
  • Experience helping parents interact and discipline children with complex trauma histories
  • Knowledge of trauma-informed parenting approaches and how trauma can influence children's behaviors, emotions, relationships, and responses to caregivers
  • Understanding of the challenges foster and adoptive parents may encounter, including expectations, parenting stress, attachment difficulties, behavioral challenges, and family bonding
  • Experience helping parents understand children's behaviors through a trauma-informed lens
  • Experience teaching social work students and residential program staff how to work with children and families affected by foster care and adoption

I also provide clinical supervision to LCSW-A's who are currently working with the child welfare system and are actively engaged in providing therapeutic services to foster/adoptive families. 

Prepare/Enrich Certified Facilitator

Becoming a certified Prepare/Enrich Facilitator provides me with specific training in using a structured, research-informed relationship assessment and feedback process with couples. 


My certification allows me to bring: 

  • Specific training in administering and interpreting the Prepare/Enrich Assessment
  • A framework for helping couples develop shared understanding and practical goals
  • The ability to integrate relationship assessment with my existing knowledge of family systems, child development, trauma, attachment, and foster/adoptive family dynamics
  • Structured framework for helping couples identify strengths and growth areas within their relationship
  • Tools for facilitating conversations around areas such as communication, conflict, expectations, roles, intimacy, finances, parenting, and relationship dynamics
See How We Can Help

Are you a dating or engaged couple who wants to…

Better understand your backgrounds, expectations, communication styles, and attachment patterns?

Build a strong foundation before marriage?

Prepare/Enrich Assessment gives couples an opportunity…

Slow down and look beneath everyday interactions

Gain insight into how your individual histories, beliefs, and relational experiences influence the way you connect with one another

Understand the relationship you are building and make intentional choices about its future

Your relationship does not have to be headed toward marriage to benefit from this work.

Get Started Today

Are you a married couple who wants to grow your family through fostering or adoption?

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Adoption/Fostering Considerations

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Examine a variety of important pre-adoption/fostering issues and measures your readiness and commitment to the adoption/foster process

02

Adoption/Fostering Expectations

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Assesses how realistic and aware you and your partner are about the natural challenges faced throughout the adoption/foster process

03

Adoption/Fostering Parenting

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Measures agreement on issues related to adoption/fostering and parenting a child while concurrently maintaining a vibrant couple relationship

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Whether you are looking for insight as a couple or as part of your foster parent or home study application, Prepare/Enrich can help you assess your readiness to grow your family.

Get Started Today

Are you a parenting couple who want to…

Become more aligned in parenting styles?

Be able to manage parenting stress better?

Become more effective & connected parents?

Growing as a parent shows care and commitment, not inadequacy. You don’t have to be a bad parent to want to become a better one.

Prepare/Enrich: Parenting Assessment

Can Help You Understand...

Yourself as a Parent

  • How your own experiences influence your parenting expectations
  • How your own trauma can influence your parenting
  • How attachment affects parent-child relationship

Your Relationship as Parents

  • How your communication affects your parenting
  • How you handle disagreements about parenting
  • How to develop consistent, collaborative parenting partnership
  • How parenting stress can affect the couple relationship
  • How couples can maintain their relationship while meeting the needs of their children

Your Child

  • How your child's trauma can influence their behavior
  • How to respond to challenging behavior without losing connection
  • How to understand your child's individual needs and temperament

You don’t have to do it alone!

Get Started Today