No. 1Couples & Marriage
What Marriage Counseling in Omaha Looks Like in My Office
A lot of people picture couples therapy as two people on a couch taking turns complaining while a therapist nods. That’s not how I work. I’m an interactive, solution-focused therapist, which means I ask pointed questions, slow down the moments where things go sideways, and tell you honestly what I’m seeing.
My office at 12305 Gold Street, just off West Center Road near 123rd, is a private practice, not a busy group clinic. It’s quiet and discreet. You won’t sit in a crowded waiting room hoping you don’t run into your kid’s soccer coach, and you’ll never feel like a number.
Couples come to me from Millard, Elkhorn, Papillion, Gretna, Council Bluffs and every corner of the metro. Some are newly married. Some have been together thirty years. What they share is that they’re tired of the way things are and ready to do something about it.
No. 2Couples & Marriage
The Patterns I Help Couples Break
Most couples don’t have a hundred problems. They have one or two patterns that show up in a hundred different places: the dishwasher, the in-laws, the credit card bill, whose turn it is to get up with the baby. Once we can name the pattern, we can change it. These are the ones I see most often:
- The pursue-and-withdraw dance. One of you pushes harder to be heard, the other retreats to keep the peace, and each move makes the other’s worse.
- Criticism and defensiveness. A complaint comes out as a character attack (“You never think about anyone but yourself”), and the answer is a counterattack instead of a conversation.
- Contempt. Sarcasm, eye-rolling and mockery feel minor in the moment, but research shows contempt is one of the most corrosive habits a couple can fall into.
- Stonewalling. Someone goes silent, scrolls the phone or leaves the room. Often it isn’t indifference. It’s overwhelm.
- Drifting. No big fights, just two busy people who stopped turning toward each other somewhere between work, kids and Saturday errands.
“Most couples don’t need a new partner. They need a new pattern, and that’s something two willing people can learn at any age and any stage.”
No. 4Couples & Marriage
Couples Counseling in Omaha for Long-Standing, Complicated Problems
Some couples arrive with one fresh problem. Many arrive with a pile of them: an old betrayal that never really healed, a blended family, a job move one partner never wanted, an aging parent moving in, years of resentment stacked up like old snow at the end of a Nebraska winter.
Difficult, long-standing issues are a specialty of mine. I won’t flinch at the hard stuff, and I won’t pretend a few communication tips will fix ten years of hurt. We’ll prioritize together: what needs attention first so the damage stops, and what can wait until there’s more goodwill in the bank.
If you’re facing a specific crisis, I have pages that go deeper on infidelity and affair recovery, chronic conflict, and couples where one partner is ready to walk away. And if you’re in crisis right now, call. I try to offer an appointment within 48 hours, schedule permitting.
No. 5Couples & Marriage
Coming In Together, Coming In Alone, and Other Practical Details
If you both want to work with me, we start together. Later, if one of you wants to continue in individual sessions, that’s fine. What I won’t do is move someone from individual therapy with me into couples therapy with me, because your partner deserves a therapist they can trust to be neutral.
If your partner isn’t ready to come in, you can still start on your own. Changing your half of a pattern changes the pattern. Just know that if you begin individually with me and your partner later wants couples work, I’ll help you find a colleague for that part.
I offer day and evening appointments. You can pay as you go, with a 90-minute first session and 60-minute sessions after that, or choose a structured package such as the Relationship Tackle Box or The Dynamic Duo, which pairs a written relationship assessment with nine sessions of communication-skills work.
