My name is Rob, and I’m honored to walk alongside each client in their journey. My approach to therapy is to create a comfortable and collaborative space for growth and clarity. If our problems were simple, we would have solved them already. My goal is to offer a safe space where clients move at their own pace while gaining greater clarity and self-understanding. I currently offer counseling for couples and adults, college-aged and up.I have completed my Level 2 certification in Internal Family Systems and support adults working through anxiety, depression, life transitions, and trauma. What I want to bring into therapy is a deep appreciation for each person’s story, with empathy and curiosity. During times of stress, our brains don’t fully process everything we’re experiencing, which can lead to the formation of core beliefs that are protective but outdated. Together, we explore those beliefs and the moments that shaped them. When clients finish therapy, they often describe feeling more self-compassion, clarity, and confidence in how they show up in their lives.
I received my Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, and I spent two years in a couples counseling program, working with communication struggles, infidelity, and emotional disengagement. Couples often tell me they feel stuck in the same fights over and over again. Disagreements can feel like a recurring episode of Friends. What is the fight that keeps happening for you? Sometimes one of us is reaching out and our partner doesn’t recognize it. Or, we need space to process while our partner feels frustrated that we aren’t communicating. Together, we slow down these moments to understand the patterns beneath the conflict and what each person is really trying to express, helping you find greater understanding, deeper connection, and a sense of peace.
Internal Family Systems therapy focuses on the different emotions or “parts” of ourselves. We have different emotions living inside of us. If you’ve seen the movie Inside Out—it’s just like that! To put it into perspective, you may ask, why is it that I am really confident and relaxed amongst my peers, but when I am with my family, I easily get annoyed or frustrated? Why do I feel pulled in two completely different directions? Each of these different emotions we call “parts.” Parts therapy helps us to navigate places of incongruence inside ourselves. We work to understand those parts, have compassion for those parts of ourselves, and help us work through areas of incongruence in our lives.
When we have a life-changing event, our brain is wired to make meaning of it. The way I think about the brain is a series of pathways. You can have a well-traveled path or a little path in the woods. Each pathway sends messages about ourselves and the people around us. As children, our brains are the most flexible, so that is the time that we form the most beliefs about ourselves and the world. We can spend time understanding these beliefs to create meaningful change in how we see ourselves or our loved ones with greater compassion and understanding.
Couples often tell me they feel stuck in the same fights over and over again. Sometimes we are reaching out and our partner doesn’t recognize it. Or we need space to process, while our partner feels frustrated that we aren’t communicating. This cycle is called pursuing vs. withdrawing—one person leans in to communicate while the other partner leans out, feeling overwhelmed. In Emotionally Focused Therapy, I focus on understanding the needs of each partner and learning about underlying attachment styles, helping you build deeper connection with more peace.
