Couples Therapy in the Bay Area
At my Bay Area couples therapy practice in Menlo Park, I offer an advanced, experiential approach grounded in Attachment Theory, the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) and Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP), somatic awareness, and neuroscience-informed care. My work focuses on helping couples strengthen emotional safety, regulate their nervous systems, and build secure-functioning relationships that foster deep connection, trust, and lasting intimacy.
Whether you are navigating conflict, emotional distance, trust repair, or major life transitions, therapy provides a warm, supportive space where meaningful relational change can unfold.
Serving Silicon Valley & the Bay Area
I work with couples across Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area, including Palo Alto, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Los Altos, and Atherton with in-person and secure online sessions available.
Somatic Therapy Approach
Somatic therapy is a cutting-edge, attachment-based model that emphasizes moment-to-moment emotional awareness, nonverbal communication, and nervous system regulation between partners. By integrating somatic-based interventions, experiential exercises, and attachment science, I help couples move beyond insight alone creating embodied change that transforms how partners experience and respond to one another.
My work supports couples in:
- Strengthening emotional safety and secure attachment
- Improving communication through attunement and emotional presence
- Regulating stress responses and relational reactivity
- Repairing trust and rebuilding emotional intimacy
- Developing deeper relational awareness and connection
In Practical Solutions
Why Experiential and Somatic-Based Couples Therapy?
This approach offers more than traditional talk therapy. By working directly with the nervous system and relational patterns as they happen in session, couples experience faster insight, deeper emotional shifts, and lasting relational growth. In my work, I offer:
- Experiential, In-the-Moment Interventions : Real-time guidance to shift patterns as they arise
- Nervous System Regulation :Tools to calm reactivity and increase emotional safety
- Attachment-Based Healing : Strengthening secure bonding and trust
- Somatic Awareness : Integrating body-based insight for deeper emotional connection
- Culturally Attuned Care : Multicultural sensitivity and global perspective
Deepening Emotional & Physical Intimacy
Emotional and physical intimacy are deeply connected to nervous system safety and relational trust. Through a somatic-based therapy, I help couples learn how to co-regulate, express vulnerability, and remain emotionally present with one another, creating space for renewed closeness, deeper emotional bonds, and authentic intimacy. You can read more about intimacy and sex therapy, or start with 10 essential skills to build intimacy in marriage.
Strengthening Communication & Repairing Conflict
Rather than relying solely on scripted communication techniques, my work focuses on building moment-to-moment awareness, attunement, and emotional responsiveness. Couples learn how to recognize early signs of disconnection, repair relational ruptures quickly, and engage in conflict in ways that strengthen, not weaken, their bond. For more, read how to improve your communication, or 3 ways to repair damage after a misunderstanding.
Multicultural & Cross-Cultural Relationships
Cultural values, identity, and lived experience deeply shape how partners relate, express emotion, and experience intimacy. My work honors these differences and integrates cultural awareness into somatic and attachment-based interventions, supporting couples in navigating complexity with respect, empathy, and understanding. Read more about cross cultural marriage counseling.
How My Approach to Couples Therapy Creates Lasting Change
Identifying the Root Cause
Every relationship challenge has deeper layers beneath the surface. I help couples gently explore past experiences, emotional patterns, and core beliefs that shape their interactions creating clarity, insight, and meaningful opportunities for lasting change.
Developing Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is essential for meaningful change. I guide couples in reflecting on their emotions, behaviors, and triggers, helping them understand their role in the relationship dynamic and creating space for personal growth and deeper connection.
Gaining a New Perspective on Yourself and Your Relationship
How you perceive yourself, your partner, and your relationship shapes the way you communicate, navigate conflict, and connect emotionally. I help couples gain clarity on these perceptions, uncovering patterns and insights that foster deeper understanding, healthier interactions, and stronger relational bonds.
Forming Insights for Positive Change
Once awareness is established, I help couples develop new insights into their relationship patterns. This process allows you to recognize unhelpful cycles, shift mindset, and cultivate healthier, more intentional ways of interacting with your partner.
Replacing Old Behaviors with New, Intentional Actions
Change happens when new understanding becomes new action. I help you practice a different response in the moment, so calmer, kinder habits replace the old cycle, and you leave each session with something to try at home.
The Relationship Comes First
In my work, it’s never about who is right or who “wins.” What matters most is the health, connection, and longevity of your relationship. I encourage collaboration, compassion, and shared goals so that both partners feel valued, heard, and supported on their journey together.
Does marriage counseling actually work?
Many couples find it helps them reconnect, rebuild trust, or see clearly what they want next. A 2020 meta-analysis in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found a large improvement in relationship satisfaction after couple therapy, compared with couples on waitlists. What I offer is nearly 30 years of experience, an experiential way of working as a PACT Level 1 trained therapist, and four additional years of advanced training in Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP). You can read more about marriage counseling in the Bay Area.
Couples therapy or marriage counseling: what is the difference?
In practice the two names describe the same work: helping partners communicate, repair what hurts and find closeness again. You can choose either label, and you can begin at any stage of your relationship. What matters is the approach and whether you both feel comfortable with the person. If you are engaged, premarital counseling is another way to begin.
Is it too late for us?
If you are asking, there is usually something worth working with. Couples come to me after years of distance, after a betrayal, or when every conversation turns into an argument. A 2021 study in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy found that couples waited about 2.7 years on average between serious problems starting and beginning therapy. Beginning at any point can bring new understanding of each other.
How is this different from just talking about our problems?
Instead of only retelling what went wrong, we pay attention to what happens between you in the room: tone, body language, the moment a conversation tightens. Noticing that as it happens is what makes change possible. It is an experiential, attachment focused way of working, drawing on PACT and IBP, and many couples find it lands deeper than advice.
Can we meet online?
Yes. I see couples in person in Menlo Park and online across California. Some couples mix both, depending on travel and schedules. Book a free 20-minute consultation on the Silicon Valley consultation page or call (650) 206-9973.