Building Bridges to Healthy Relationships

San Francisco Bay Area

Psychotherapy for Couples, Individuals, and Families

Couples

The COVID pandemic has been a challenge for all of us. Over the past year and a half, we have been tested in ways that we couldn’t have previously imagined. Being confined to home, learning to navigate relationships in new ways and finding effective ways to work remotely have taught us new things about ourselves and those we live with. There have been positives and negatives that have come from these experiences.

Relationships can be the greatest source of comfort and safety in our lives. Most of us have discovered that we have yearned for closeness and the friendship of others. We have been able to deepen some relationships while others have met barriers that have been difficult to navigate. When relationships feel aligned we are filled with great joy. On the other hand, they can also be a source of tremendous unhappiness and hopelessness leading to depression, anxiety, and splintered families.

Do you feel caught in an endless cycle of arguments and distress? Do you miss the close, intimate relationship that you once had? Are you concerned about how you will navigate life as we begin to get back to normal? Now is the time to get the help that you need for your relationship.

It’s possible to turn your relationship around more quickly than you ever imagined.

Since communication is a feedback loop, patterns can develop that have you and your partner feeling caught in a painful, negative cycle. This cycle may have led you away from trust, intimacy, and respect. Using Emotionally Focused Therapy, a highly effective, and researched model, I will help you to reshape these cycles and build an atmosphere of love, trust, and openness so that you can have the great relationship you desire.

You will learn how to:

• Understand the pattern of repetitive arguments that have caught you and your partner or family members
• Respond effectively when you’ve been triggered
• Ask the right questions to understand each other’s intentions
• Successfully work together to resolve the problems that arise between you
• Resolve conflict and create harmony
• Communicate with love, care and respect so that each of you feels heard
• Learn how to ask for your needs to be met
• Understand your differences and enhance the areas you have in common
• Re-establish love and deepen intimacy
• Regain a secure, safe attachment with your partner or family members

I can help you to rekindle your relationship – even when you have all but given up hope!

Once you choose me as your therapist, I will guide you to develop healthy ways of communicating when you feel hurt or angry. Together, we will work to resolve the rigid patterns and negative cycles that have developed. You and your partner or family members don’t need to remain stuck in these patterns — you can put an end to the distance that has grown between you.

Find out more about Couples Therapy

Individuals and Families

I also have a proven track record of helping individuals and families. During the pandemic we became aware of our great need for community. Being away from family and friends was one of the most difficult things that people struggled with during this unprecedented time in our lives. My work with individuals has allowed them to create more meaningful and happier relationships. Individuals have also been able to develop greater self-esteem and the ability to speak up for themselves in a healthier way as well as building relationships that are satisfying to all involved.

You will understand and find ways of managing or resolving:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Work/life balance

Find out more about Individual Therapy

I enjoy the challenge of working with families of all kinds. I have been able to help siblings, parents and adult children, and extended family members find ways to create the family dynamics they have always hoped for. Communication within a family unit can be tricky. Building trust and truly understanding what a family member means when they say something has been an important skill to help people develop. Assumptions about what we think a family member means or wants when they speak can often create negative interactions. Family members learn to de-code both the meaning and unspoken message under what is said which allows for more meaningful interactions between family members.

You will understand and learn to heal:

• Distance and unhappiness in a family
• Deep disconnections between family members
• Old hurts and upsets that cause distance or arguments

Find out more about Family Therapy

 

Email me at Catherine@catherine-morris.com to schedule a brief phone consultation so that I can learn about what is troubling you or your relationship. You will have a chance to ask me any questions you might have about my practice or Emotionally Focused Therapy. We can then schedule an appointment and get started creating the relationship that you have been yearning for.

I work remotely with clients in the Bay Area, Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto and surrounding Mid Peninsula cities. I use Zoom to connect with clients.