Imago Relationship Therapy was developed in 1980 by relationship experts and New York Times best-selling authors Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., and Helen LaKelly Hunt Ph.D. and is a form of relationship and couples therapy that focuses on transforming conflict into healing and growth through relational connection.

Imago Relationship Therapy is practiced by thousands of therapists in nearly 50 countries.

I have had the pleasure of learning/training in Imago Relationship Therapy w/ Dr. Tammy Nelson, PhD, CST-S, CST and Gail Guttman, LCSW, CST, and CST-S through Integrative Sex Therapy Institute.

An integrative approach to couples therapy created by distinguished therapist Terry Real that equips people with the lifelong skills to forge more authentic, honest, and intimate connections. It teaches couples passionate connection, fierce intimacy and deep empathy. 

You can’t connect to a relationship if you can’t connect to a person, and you can’t connect to a person if you can’t connect to yourself.

RLT first reconnects people to themselves—their feelings, desires, and needs—and then reconnects them to their relationships.

​RLT is recommended for high conflict couples, grandiosity & narcissistic behaviors

​RLT uses loving confrontation to wake clients up to their negative behaviors in a direct but compassionate way. We show clients the difficult truths about how they are harming their relationships in a way that builds trust rather than resistance.

​RLT swiftly gets to the root of negative behaviors, understand them, and overcome them. Unique to RLT, deep trauma and inner child work is done in the presence of the partner. This allows individuals to go deeper and couples to grow closer to expand intimacy & empathy.

​RLT equips people with the powerful tools they need to continue building authentic, healthy relationships long after their time in therapy is over—the key to creating change that lasts.

I am Level 2 RLT trained.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a unique and highly effective form of therapy that helps people understand and improve their emotional connection with themselves and others.

Developed in the 1980s, EFT is based on the principle that our emotions are central to our experiences and relationships. It suggests that we are naturally designed to have a secure sense of who we are and a sense of self we can trust and rely on. This solid base allows for strong, supportive bonds with others, and when these bonds are secure, we tend to be happier and healthier.

I have had the pleasure of learning/training with Dr. Tammy Nelson, PhD, CST, CST-S and Wendy Miller, LPC-S in Emotionally Focused Therapy.

Developed by Dr. Stan Tatkin, PACT is a fusion of attachment theory, developmental neuroscience, and arousal regulation. PACT has a reputation for effectively treating the most challenging couples. 

​PACT incorporates neuroscience, attachment theory, and the biology of human arousal.

Internal Family Systems is a transformative tool that conceives every human being as a system of protective and wounded inner parts lead by a core Self.

We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Just like members of a family, inner parts are forced from their valuable states into extreme roles within us. Self is in everyone. It can’t be damaged. It knows how to heal. 

Internal Family Systems is frequently used as an evidence-based psychotherapy, helping people heal by accessing and healing their protective and wounded inner parts. IFS creates inner and outer connectedness by helping people first access their Self and, from that core, come to understand and heal their parts.  

But Internal Family Systems is much more than a non-pathologizing evidence-based psychotherapy to be used in a clinical setting. It is also a way of understanding personal and intimate relationships and stepping into life with the 8 Cs: confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity, and connectedness.

I have had the pleasure of learning/training with Dr. Frank Anderson, Dr. Richard Schwartz, and Patricia Rich.

Sex Education

Sexual History

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Imago
RLT
PACT
EFT

PLISSIT
Sensate Focus

Erotic Recovery
Pleasure Constellation Map
Erotic Blueprints

Sexual Conversation Starters
Tantra/BDSM/Kink

Spontaneous & Responsive Desire

Painful Sex
Vulvodynia
Vaginismus
Pelvic pain
Erectile Dysfunction
Premature Ejaculation

Anorgasmia

Out of control sexual behavior
(Non-addiction model/Strength based approach)

Sex after sexual trauma

I work with Dr. Tammy Nelson's approach to Infidelity & Erotic Recovery.

This work applies to BOTH monogamous & non-monogamous/polycule dynamics.

Infidelity/Erotic Recovery is treated in phases. Every couple that finds themselves in this place has a unique circumstance and it’s a different process for each couple.

​Phase One: Crisis/Discovery
- Work to establish safety
- Stabilize family / relationship
- Normalize trauma
- Make an agreement to make
NO - DECISIONS for at least 6 months
- Close exit(s) for a finite period
- Begin to process previous unhealed trauma​

Phase Two: Renegotiate/Renew

- Tell the story of the infidelity
- Dialogue about the MEANING of the infidelity
- Figure out what it meant for the person that reached outside of the partnership/marriage
- Figure out what it meant for the person that was betrayed
- Figure out what it meant about YOUR partnership/marriage​

Phase Three: Re-evaluate​

- Assess for permanence
- Create a NEW VISION for the relationship
- Grieve the old meaning
- Acknowledge fluidity
- Integrate meaning of the infidelity w/ self, other, US
- What did you BOTH learn from the infidelity

Phase Four: Erotic Recovery​

- Erotic Recovery
- Re-evalute relationship to your sexual selves/sexuality
- Define needs for your new relationship
- Pleasure Constellation Map
- Erotic Blueprints
- Erotic Recovery Protocol

​Discernment Counseling IS NOT Couples Therapy. It is short, brief counseling that helps couples gain confidence and clarity on making a decision about their marriage/relationship.

The outcomes are framed in terms of three paths:

Path One - Status Quo (stay married)

Path Two - Separation/Divorce

Path Three - Six month commitment to couples/sex therapy, with a clear agenda for personal change -- with divorce off the table during this time.

The initial commitment for the couple is simply the first 2-hour session. During this session, each person decides separately if they would like one more session, up to a maximum of five. The goals are clarity and confidence in a direction for the marriage/realtionship, based on a deeper understanding of what has happened to the marriage and each person's contributions to the problems.

The sessions are carefully designed to take each partner where they are, with an emphasis on individual conversations and carefully structured couple sharing. The sessions do not look like traditional couples therapy because this IS NOT Couples Therapy 

There is a big emphasis on what each partner can learn about self from the problems that have befallen the marriage.

Psycho-education

Internal Family Systems
Attachment Repair
EMDR
Griefwork
Somatic Experiencing
Walk & Talk Therapy
Boundaries Training
Assertiveness Training
Parallel parenting
Re-evaluating Relationship Values

--- PLUS ---

Online course & workbook created by Malia

Resources

Horses are prey animals and they depend on flight as primary means for survival.

When horses and humans work together, the horse provides an opportunity to see and work with verbal and nonverbal communication.

EAP is ground-based, meaning there is no riding of the horses. This approach allows the horses to act naturally and make their own choices, making them integral members of the therapeutic team. This dynamic is what makes Eagala sessions so powerful.

While our primary reason for staying ground-based is to maximize the therapeutic benefits for clients, it also makes Eagala accessible to clients who have no equine background or experience.

Our goal is not to teach riding or horsemanship but to provide an opportunity for the client’s life stories to unfold metaphorically. The horses play powerful characters in this narrative by revealing relationship dynamics or other symbolic aspects of life.

Because horses are free to move, they can create shifts in the client’s stories and bring about awareness and change. Their freedom to move allows them to influence clients’ stories, fostering awareness and facilitating change.

Safety and security are addressed when working with couples and teaches partners to regulate the nervous system and increase trust-building while lowering defense responses and mechanisms.

Horse brains have no prefrontal cortex and allocates space to perception, fear, rapid movement and associative learning. 

Their behavioral responses reflect their level of interest (or disinterest), stress, or attraction to human verbal and nonverbal behavior. 

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is helpful for:

Relationship Issues

Grief

Anxiety

Depression

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Behavioral problems

Addiction

Eating disorders

Watch the video