Couples come to my office who are newly married, been married for years, or just beginning their journey and want premarital counseling. Some of the couples come because it is their second or third marriage and need help in the transition with blended family and working together as a new family system. I enjoy helping all couples with all kinds of different issues and situations. One of the main areas we target early on is how to effectively communicate as I find many couples have not learned how to do this as effectively as they could and suffer in their relationship with their spouse as a result of lack of effectively communicating. However, communication is only one area I address. I am eclectic in my therapy approach as I like to provide the needed tools that are appropriate and helpful for each couple's specific needs and situation. There are times when each one is in need of a few individual sessions, which will be determined when I see them. This is because my theory is "the whole is only as good as the parts" and there are times when one or both spouses will bring in their preconceived perspective and paradigm into the new relationship which may not be the best perspective for the new relationship. There are also past hurts of one or both which are not resolved or healed, therefore a few individual sessions may be needed in addition to the couples sessions together. Areas many couples want to discuss are finances, intimacy, emotional closeness, spiritual closeness, goals and parenting issues. Working with couples and seeing the connection between the two improve and grow stronger is one of the most rewarding areas of counseling I have the opportunity to do!