Couples Counseling

Couple In Trouble

Why Choose Faith-Based Couples Therapy?

I am  a Catholic Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. My approach honors your spiritual beliefs while addressing emotional and relational challenges. Couples leave therapy with improved communication, restored intimacy, and stronger alignment in faith and life goals.

Couples Therapy

Relationships can be our greatest source of connection—and our deepest source of pain. When communication breaks down, conflict becomes repetitive, or emotional distance grows, couples therapy offers a structured, supportive space to heal and reconnect.

I work with couples on issues such as:

  • Communication breakdown and communication challenges
  • Repetitive negative conflict cycles
  • Conflict resolution and healthy boundaries
  • Emotional distance and disconnection
  • Intimacy challenges
  • Trauma impacting the relationship
  • Blending faith and relationship growth
  • Life transitions and stress
  • Trust and infidelity recovery

When your Relationship isn’t working, it can feel like everything in your life is more difficult.

loving middle aged couple hugging with eyes closed closeup portr

An Integrative Approach

I specialize in an integrative couple’s therapy, blending evidence-based approaches including Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Relational Life Therapy (RLT), Somatic Experiencing (SE), and Internal Family Systems (IFS), Family Systems Theory (FST), and Attachment Focused therapy to address both emotional and relational dynamics at their root.

Every couple is unique. I tailor therapy to your relationship’s needs—using a blend of different therapy modalities  to assist the couple to discover where they are getting stuck in their relationship.  I am a trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Relational Life Therapy.  I also draw upon Somatic Therapies, Somatic Experiencing ®, Attachment Theory, Post Induction Theory, and Polyvagal Theory to assist the couple/partners to notice reactive automatic stuck patterns (fight, flight, and/or freeze).

The goal is not just to reduce conflict, but to create a relationship where both partners feel seen, respected, and securely connected in order to work with relationship issues.

What is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) strengthen emotional bonds and attachment connection.  EFT is an Attachment-Focused Therapy which help Heal past relational wounds and foster secure connections.

EFT is a research-backed approach that helps couples:

  • Identify and interrupt negative interaction cycles
  • Deepen emotional responsiveness
  • Strengthen attachment and security
  • Rebuild trust after hurt or betrayal

Rather than focusing only on surface conflict, EFT works with the attachment needs and emotional bonds underneath it. Couples learn how to express needs safely and respond to one another with empathy and care.

What is Relational Life Therapy (RLT)?

What is Relational Life Therapy (RLT) integrates psychodynamic principles, family systems theory, trauma work, and attachment work empowering both partners to make meaningful, sustainable changes.

RLT provides a direct, practical framework for change. It helps couples:

  • Recognize unhealthy relational patterns
  • Move out of blame, control, or avoidance
  • Develop accountability and relational integrity
  • Build skills for collaborative partnership

What is Somatic Experiencing (SE)?

When past trauma, chronic stress, or nervous system dysregulation impacts a relationship, insight alone may not be enough. Somatic Experiencing (SE) helps couples:

  • Regulate emotional reactivity
  • Reduce fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown responses
  • Build nervous system resilience
  • Create safety in moments of conflict

By working with the body’s stress responses, couples can shift from survival mode into connection.

What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

Instead of seeing thoughts or emotions as problems to eliminate, What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS) assumes every part has a positive intention, even if its behavior is unhelpful.

IFS says we all have different inner “parts,” like:

  • A worrier that tries to prevent problems
  • A critic that pushes you to improve
  • A protector that avoids pain
  • A hurt part carrying past wounds

These are not disorders—they are normal and human.

The goal of therapy is to help these parts work together under the guidance of the Self, which represents your core qualities like calmness, curiosity, compassion, clarity and relational connectedness.

Family Systems Theory

Family Systems Theory (FST) is a psychological approach that views the family as an interconnected system rather than a group of individuals. It suggests that each person’s behavior affects—and is affected by—others in the family.

Family Systems Theory (FST)

  • Promotes empathy (less blame on individuals)
  • Helps identify root causes of behavior
  • Supports healthier relationship patterns

Family Systems Theory (FST)  helps to change relationship dynamics, identifying negative relationship patterns and change them to more positive patterns, and improves healthy communication.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Attachment-Based Therapy is a form of psychotherapy rooted in Attachment Theory which focuses on how your early relationships—especially with caregivers—shape the way you relate to others throughout life.

Attachment is based on the idea that early attachment patterns (secure or insecure) influence:

  • How you handle emotions
  • How you trust others
  • How you behave in relationships

You’ll often hear about four main styles:

  • Secure – comfortable with closeness and independence
  • Anxious – fears abandonment, seeks reassurance
  • Avoidant – avoids emotional closeness
  • Disorganized – mixed patterns, often linked to trauma

Attachment-based therapy helps you recognize and reshape these patterns by:

  • Explore early relationships and experiences
  • Identify current relationship patterns
  • Build healthier emotional responses
  • Develop more secure attachments

Begin Your Journey Together

In a safe environment, I will help you and your partner renew and strengthen your relationship to move toward the relationship that you desire.

What does couple therapy look like?  To maximize our time together, the first session (intake session/90 minutes) is with the couple/partners.  The next session, I meet individually with each person for a 60 minute session.  The subsequent sessions, I meet with the couple for a 90 minute sessions.

Couple Intensives

Stacy offers Couple Intensive sessions (weekend sessions) for couples who have been working with a couples therapist or a somatic therapist who want to deepen their attachment and emotional connection.  Stacy uses Somatic approaches and a blend of couples therapy modalities.  Couples Weekend Intensives are a focused, condensed form of couples counseling.   Sessions are on Friday-Sunday and we meet for 3-4 hours per day.   Couples Weekend Intensives allow couples to dive deeply into their issues without the frustration of the “start and stop” feeling of weekly sessions.

Take the First Step Toward Healing

Finding the right therapist is so important.  Contact me to set up a Free-30 minute No-Obligation Consultation/Visit to make sure we are a fit.  During this Consultation/Visit, you will be able to tell me a bit about your story and your needs for therapy and ask any questions you may have.  I will share more about how I work and what our work together will look like.

To set up a free 30-minute No-Obligation Consultation/Visit; fill out the contact information or call me at 952-215-5208. or email me direct at info@hopeinhealing.org

Contact Stacy today to schedule a session and start your path toward healing.