My PhD courses trained me thoroughly in research design and in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. My internships added flavors of Rogerian, Gestalt and psychoanalytic therapy. At a non-profit family therapy center, I was steeped in systems theory and narrative therapy and learned how much more effective therapy could be within the context of relationships, than with the individual alone.

Since then I have taken training in most of the main schools of couple therapy (systems, short-term, emotionally-focused, feminist, imago, behavioral), and while there were useful take-aways from all these trainings, it still felt to me that something was missing. In 2012 I signed up for Relational Life Therapy training with Terry Real, and all the pieces came together.

Relational Life Therapy (RLT) incorporates the best aspects of other models of therapy within a strong theoretical framework and provides specific powerful interventions, some of which fly in the face of traditional therapeutic ways of thinking. In Relational Life Therapy we work both with the individual (often in the presence of the partner) and with the couple, because the hallmark of a mature relationship is the ability of each individual to hold themselves accountable and integrated. We also, when appropriate, take sides. Some behaviors and attitudes are simply not compatible with a mature, gratifying, intimate relationship, and RLT therapists will call out these behaviors and attitudes (with compassion, sensitivity, and, where appropriate, humor).