INTER-CULTURAL COUPLES THERAPY
Honor Your Differences. Deepen Your Bond.Being part of an intercultural relationship means your relationship is uniquely enriched, but it can also mean navigating misunderstandings, differing expectations, and sometimes feeling emotionally disconnected or misunderstood.
I work with couples who are ready to break free from these cycles of conflict, disconnection, and hurt. I specialize in helping intercultural couples deepen their bonds by exploring and valuing their cultural differences through the lens of attachment.
Most intercultural couples aren’t fighting because they don’t love each other, they’re fighting because they do.
When emotional needs are filtered through different cultural lenses and feel unmet or misunderstood, it can trigger deep hurt.
This hurt can show up as frustration over differing values, withdrawal during disagreements about family roles, defensiveness about language barriers, or shutdowns when one partner feels invisible.
In our work together, we’ll slow things down and identify the negative cycle that keeps you disconnected. From there, we begin the work of rebuilding emotional safety, empathy, and connection.
In Couples Therapy, I help you:
Break painful cycles of recurring arguments and shutdown
Communicate emotions and needs openly, across cultural differences
Deepen emotional and sexual intimacy rooted in mutual respect and curiosity
Heal relational wounds created by cultural misunderstandings and disconnection
Strengthen your bond through vulnerability, empathy, and trust that honors both partners’ backgrounds
Why Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)?
EFT is a powerful, research-supported method that focuses on restoring secure emotional bonds between partners.
Identifies and Disrupts Painful Cycles: EFT helps couples recognize how cultural misunderstandings or differences fuel negative interaction patterns and emotional disconnection.
Deepens Emotional Understanding: Through EFT, you'll learn to better understand your partner’s emotional needs, influenced by their cultural background, leading to greater empathy and closeness.
Builds Secure Attachment: EFT guides couples toward creating a strong emotional bond that integrates both partners’ cultural perspectives into the relationship.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Week 1: Intake Session
80 minutes
We’ll review important paperwork and then begin exploring your relationship story — the moments that made you fall in love, the challenges you've faced, and what brings you into therapy now.
We’ll start mapping out the interactional patterns keeping you stuck.
Week 2: Individuals Sessions
50 minutes each
I’ll meet with each of you individually to understand your personal histories — your early attachment experiences, any past traumas, and your hopes for your relationship.
This helps me see the heart of what each of you brings into the partnership.
The Working Sessions
After the assessment phase, we move into deep, active work.
We’ll explore the emotional layers beneath conflict, uncover unmet needs, and practice new, vulnerable ways of reaching for each other.
The goal is to move from disconnection into secure, loving connection.
SPECIALTIES
Communication & Conflict
Struggling with communication in your relationship can lead to feelings of isolation, heartbreak, and frustration. In couple’s therapy, we’ll explore these challenges to bridge the communication gap and rebuild emotional intimacy.
Our sessions will delve into the core emotions and thoughts of each partner, fostering vulnerability and authenticity.
Together, we can pave the way for healthier, more meaningful communication patterns that strengthen the foundation of your relationship.
Relationship Growth
Many couples find themselves getting stuck in repetitive cycles of disconnection and miscommunication. These cycles make themselves particularly apparent when we deepen a relationship or experience relationship transitions like moving in together, merging finances, or having children.
Couples therapy, is a safe space to explore the relationship patterns, thoughts, and emotions that have developed in the relationship and left you feeling anxious, lonely, or isolated.
Through couples therapy, you and your relationship can begin to heal and continue your growth.
Healing Ruptures
Whether a rupture stemmed from unmet emotional needs, unresolved conflicts, or a sense of disconnection, the impact can be profound, leaving partners grappling with feelings of betrayal, mistrust, and despair.
In couples therapy, we create a supportive environment to delve into the complexities surrounding infidelity, exploring its roots and the emotional toll it has taken on both individuals.
By fostering open and honest dialogue, we work towards rebuilding trust, restoring intimacy, and ultimately, facilitating the healing process for the relationship to thrive once more.
Intimacy & Sexual Connection
Nearly every relationship experiences intimacy concerns at some point. Experiences like pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, exhaustion, stress, body image, and aging can impact your sex life, leaving you feeling guilty, ashamed, or hopeless.
Couples therapy includes the exploration of of your sex and intimacy concerns as well as how these concerns have impacted your relationship.
I aim to make couples therapy a place where you can feel safe to discuss sexual issues, so that you can regain connection.
MORE ABOUT EFT
“Learning to love and be loved is, in effect, about learning to tune into our emotions so that we know what we need from our partner and expressing those desires openly.”
— Sue Johnson