Therapy for Dating and Relationships in Washington, D.C.
A repeated, frustrating conflict in a relationship.
Jealousy or low self-esteem.
Overanalyzing every text, silence, or shift in tone from the person you're dating.
Trusting people, setting boundaries, or believing you deserve to be treated well.
Coping with a breakup.
Are you struggling with…
Common Relationship Challenges
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Feeling unheard, misunderstood, or unable to express what you actually need from your partner.
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Disagreements that escalate quickly, repeat without resolution, or leave you feeling shut down or unheard.
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Trust
Difficulty believing your partner, letting your guard down, or moving past something that broke your trust.
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Feeling distant or disconnected from a partner, physically or emotionally, even when nothing is "wrong."
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Mismatched expectations around the future, exclusivity, or how serious the relationship is.
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Struggling to say no, speak up for your needs, or maintain a sense of self within the relationship.
Every relationship runs into rough patches. Some of the most common challenges clients bring to therapy include:
Many people come to therapy single, freshly heartbroken, newly partnered, or somewhere in between. The goal isn't to find "the one." It's to understand yourself well enough to build relationships that actually feel good.
Attachment Styles and Relationships
Secure
Engages in healthy relationships with good intimacy, communication, and autonomy. Expresses needs well, trusts their partner, and finds the relationship fulfilling.
committed to relationship, but independent
attentive, affectionate, and accepting
able to handle and resolve conflict
Insecure
Anxious: Worries about their partner’s availability and commitment. Often feels incomplete without their partner and may seek excessive reassurance or struggle with jealousy.
distrustful of partner and relationship
afraid of abandonment, rejection, & conflict
sensitive to criticism & hungry for approval
Avoidant: Can come across as aloof and emotionally detached. Tends to avoid intimacy, vulnerability, and commitment, often spending time away from their partner.
overly rigid, guarded, and distant
uncomfortable with emotions and conflict
difficulty expressing needs and wants
Anxious-Avoidant: Alternates between anxious and avoidant attachment. Simultaneously desires and distrusts intimacy with their partner, resulting in contradictory,
inconsistent behavior.
tendency toward emotional extremes
difficulty maintaining healthy boundaries
prone to high-conflict relationships
Understanding the 5 Love Languages
Love languages are the ways people show and receive love. When you and your partner use different languages, it can be difficult to communicate your feelings. By learning your partner’s love language and helping them learn yours you will be better able to share positive feelings.
Words of Affirmation
Stating your feelings (e.g. “I love you”), giving encouragement, giving compliments, or sharing positive thoughts.
Quality Time
Sharing a meal, having a nice conversation, going on a date, or simply being present with your partner.
Gifts
Giving a present, buying flowers, or creating something for your partner (e.g. artwork).
Acts of service
Completing chores, caring for children, working to provide for the family, or other tasks that benefit the couple.
Physical Touch
Holding hands, spending intimate time together, cuddling, or other affectionate touching.
Coping with a Breakup
Breakups can bring up grief, identity loss, anger, relief, and confusion. Whether the relationship ended suddenly or had been unraveling for a while, it's common to feel stuck in a loop of replaying what happened, questioning your judgment, or struggling to picture life on the other side of it.
Therapy after a breakup can help you:
Process the loss without rushing yourself to "just get over it"
Make sense of what happened, including your own role in the relationship
Rebuild your sense of identity outside of the relationship
Work through the urge to reach out, check up, or get back together
Learn what you want to carry forward (and what you don't) into future relationships
There's no "right" timeline for healing from a breakup. Therapy meets you wherever you are in that process.
Even healthy, loving relationships can bring up anxiety, insecurity, or old wounds you didn't expect. Being close to someone can stir up fears of abandonment, not being enough, or losing yourself in the relationship, even when your partner hasn't done anything wrong.
Therapy can help you:
Understand where these anxieties come from, including patterns from past relationships or your family growing up
Recognize them as they show up in real time, instead of after the fact
Respond to triggers in ways that bring you closer to your partner instead of pulling you apart
Feel more secure in the relationship, without needing constant reassurance
Build a stronger sense of self that doesn't get lost in closeness with another person
Relationship Difficulties
You Don’t Have to Keep Feeling This Way
Therapy can help you understand the patterns shaping your relationships and build the tools to change them. My clients often leave therapy feeling more secure, more able to communicate what they need, and less defined by old wounds or fears.
In therapy, you can learn:
Why you're drawn to certain relationship dynamics, and how to shift them
How to set and hold boundaries without guilt
How depression and anxiety manifest themselves in relationships
How to process a breakup or ongoing conflict without getting stuck in it
How to understand your own and your partner's love language, and use that understanding to reduce friction and miscommunication
How to feel secure in yourself, whether you're single, dating, or partnered
I’m a therapist who specializes in working with dating and relationships.
I have clinical expertise in boundary setting, relationship issues, and anxiety and depression.
Mental Health Book Recommendations for Relationships
Attached by Amir Levine, M.D. and Rachel Heller, M.A.
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.
Therapy is a valuable resource that can help you develop more fulfilling relationships.
You deserve to invest time and energy into yourself and your relationships.
Emotional intelligence is the next skill to exceed in.