You may still love each other deeply, yet find yourselves caught in the same painful cycle: arguing, withdrawing, feeling misunderstood, or slowly losing the intimacy you once shared. Couples therapy can help you understand what is happening beneath the conflict, heal the wounds that keep getting activated, and learn a more loving way to communicate and reconnect.

Couples therapy has been one of my greatest professional passions and primary specialties for nearly two decades. I work with couples across the spectrum, from highly sensitive partners who struggle to express their needs to couples experiencing intense conflict, betrayal, disconnection, or recurring patterns they have been unable to resolve on their own.

I understand that couples therapy is a meaningful investment of time, energy, and finances. Because the quality of your relationship affects your emotional well-being, and often the well-being of your entire family, many couples find that this work has benefits that extend far beyond the therapy room. Limited sliding-scale spaces may occasionally be available. You may also be able to use HSA funds or receive out-of-network reimbursement from your insurance provider.

Couples Therapy May Help If You Are Experiencing:

• Recurring arguments or communication breakdowns
• Emotional distance or loss of intimacy
• Anxious-avoidant relationship patterns
• Resentment and unresolved hurts
• Trust ruptures or recovery after an affair
• Differences involving sex, parenting, finances, or life priorities
• Addiction or compulsive behavior affecting the relationship
• Difficulty setting healthy boundaries
• Uncertainty about whether to remain together
• A desire to create a more conscious or spiritual partnership

My Role as Your Couples Therapist

• I will work collaboratively with you to help you overcome the relationship patterns that have left you feeling stuck or powerless.
• I will help both partners recognize the blind spots and unconscious patterns that perpetuate suffering, while also identifying your individual and relationship strengths.
• I will assist you and your partner in moving toward Conscious Love.

The Conscious Love Process

Conscious Love is a beautiful and deeply transformative couples process that I have honed over nearly two decades. Couples often tell me that the process feels as though they are receiving both individual healing and couples counseling. It is sacred work, and I am deeply passionate about it. I am grateful to have found this soul calling.

My approach incorporates attachment theory, somatic and mindfulness practices, Nurturing Talks, forgiveness work, attachment-wound healing, trust repair, intimacy-building exercises, and affair recovery and prevention.

Together, we will identify the patterns, protective behaviors, addictions, attachment wounds, or core wounds that may be disrupting the flow of love between you. You will learn to set healthy boundaries in a loving way, clear resentments, repair emotional ruptures, and become a better nurturer to yourself and your partner.

This process balances getting to the heart of the issues with a positive, heart-based approach. It is rooted in attachment theory and informed by spiritual and mindfulness-based perspectives.

Attachment Wounds and Core Wounds

Attachment wounds often originate in childhood but may also develop through painful experiences in adult relationships. These wounds can contribute to anxious, avoidant, or mixed attachment patterns.

Core wounds are the deeper emotional wounds and beliefs we may carry outside our conscious awareness. In relationships, they can appear as fears such as “I am not lovable,” “I will be abandoned,” “My needs do not matter,” or “I cannot trust anyone.”

When these wounds are activated, partners may criticize, withdraw, become defensive, cling, or shut down. Couples therapy can help you understand these reactions with greater compassion and learn to respond from awareness rather than fear.

Nurturing Talks

A key part of my process is an intimacy-building communication practice I call Nurturing Talks. Through Nurturing Talks, we move beyond blame so that the two of you can become a team working together to transform the patterns blocking the flow of love between you.

Nurturing Talks allow both partners to express their feelings, perspectives, needs, appreciation, frustrations, and unresolved hurts in a healthy and loving way. Each partner has an opportunity to feel heard and validated while developing a greater understanding of the other’s experience.

Learning this practice typically requires coaching, somatic preparation, and a commitment to practicing it at home. My goal is for you to complete therapy with the tools and confidence to have successful Nurturing Talks on your own instead of returning to painful or frustrating fights.

Couples who commit to weekly Nurturing Talks often find that the practice becomes a cornerstone for deepening love, verbal intimacy, and spiritual partnership.

I offer a free 20 minute phone call for couples inquiring about working with me.

And if you are interested in a deeper, (longer session) dive into Conscious Love, check out the link on my website about my Conscious Love Couples Intensives.

Christine Dufond, MA
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #53645
(707) 483-8232
[email protected]
www.mindfuljourneycounseling.com

Please note: Mindfuljourneycounseling.com is a domain name and does not represent the name of a business.