Dr. Kathryn Williams (she/her/hers)

It is common in a relationship to have a phase when you and your partner may be in conflict or may not be connecting in the way that you would like to connect. Therapy can be helpful in identifying your needs in the relationship, finding ways to communicate your needs, and addressing any difficulties getting those needs met. This can include developing communication strategies, coping strategies, and new ways of connecting with your partner.

Sometimes things happen in our lives that shift the way we exist in the world. Sometimes it’s a singular event or a collection of experiences that are really scary or overwhelm our sense of being safe. These events could be trauma—with a big T or a little t—and they have long lasting effects which ripple through your soul and impact how you feel safe within the world. When trauma occurs, your nervous system gets hijacked into the stress response and stuck in a moment that it cannot get out of.

Anxiety can be described as fear, nervousness, worry, and dread. It can occur related to past experiences, current situations, or future events, and often includes anxious thoughts and physical sensations in the body, such as tightness in the chest, racing heart, shortness of breath, stomach pains, and sweaty palms. The most common signs of anxiety are racing thoughts, inability to control anxious thoughts, disruptions in sleep, and physical signals of anxiety.

IPT is a time-limited, focused, evidence-based approach to treat mood disorders and relationship difficulties. The main goal of IPT is to improve the quality of a client's interpersonal relationships and social functioning to help reduce their distress. IPT provides strategies to resolve problems within four key areas including social difficulties, grief/loss, role transitions, and conflict/disputes in relationships.

EMDR uses the brain's adaptive information processing system to help an individual move towards healing by removing blocks in the system that stop healing from occurring and activate the brain’s natural healing processes. EMDR uses “bilateral stimulation” whether that is eye movements or tapping, to increase a sense of calm and integrate information. The approach has been shown to help decrease negative emotions and beliefs and increase adaptive beliefs and positive emotions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the best validated forms of therapy, and is a useful tool to address multiple emotional challenges and may help to: Learn techniques for coping with stressful life situations, identify ways to manage emotions, resolve relationship conflicts and learn better ways to communicate, cope with grief or loss, overcome emotional trauma related to abuse or violence, and manage chronic physical symptoms.

Attachment theory explores the inner working model of how you relate to yourself, others, and the world. When you are aware of your attachment style, you can understand the reasons you feel the way you do and act the way you do in relationships. Working from an attachment lens in therapy gives you the power to understand the core beliefs influencing your experiences in relationships and shift those beliefs and experiences to being more secure.