"The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives."

Whether I am working with individuals, couples or families, I place a great emphasis on relationships. My approach to therapy involves these main factors: 

•  Even when working with individuals, I conceptualize presenting problems in relational terms. 

This means that I do not believe our arise "within a person." In simpler terms, if I were asked about where I stand in the nature vs nurture debate, I would lean a bit more towards "nurture." Of course, I do not deny biological impacts. I consider the complex connections between the issues & symptoms clients present with and possible external influences on these issues - placing a large emphasis on the influences of our relationships. 

• When working with couples or families, I do not blame any one individual for the issues occurring in the relationship. 

Instead, I see the problem as whatever unhelpful cycles are occurring in the relationship. This cycle (or, often, multiple cycles interconnected) is what I focus on as the issue, not one individual person. The couple or family subsystem is my client. The relationship itself is my client, not one individual. And, I do not take sides - even when it comes to issues like infidelity.