As a marriage and family therapist I offer skilled and insightful couples and relationship counseling in San Francisco, CA for all stages and phases of your relationship. My specialty is working with couples who desire to feel close again, need to regain trust after the crisis of an affair or loss, or need help with a specific issue such as sex, money, or children. We will locate where communication breaks down, explore the underlying feelings, and emphasize the resources and positive feelings that are sometimes withheld. The result of this work will be an improved capacity to collaborate together around the common challenges of relationships. I have trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which is based on attachment theory and recognized as an empirically-validated couples therapy.
A satisfying relationship where we feel supported and inspired helps bring out our best, whereas a relationship with distance, criticism, contempt, and resentment is toxic to our overall mental and physical health. Though it is the nature of relationships to have challenges, couples often hesitate to begin therapy. I want more couples to know that even a few counseling sessions around a particular topic can make a remarkable difference. A skilled couples therapist can help you unlock the few underlying patterns that are driving the many surface level complaints. You will have the ability to face other challenges more easily, and will feel proud of the maturity required to stay open and connected while feeling hurt and misunderstood. When couples choose to continue therapy after their immediate goals are met, they may discover an unexpected freedom and joy that can grow from a strong, loving bond.
I’ve seen that many therapists are not adequately trained to help couples. The state of California requires only a single couples therapy class as part of the education requirement for an MFT license. Generally, more training equals more effectiveness. Couples counseling is my passion and my specialty. In the last few years, I’ve participated in over 50 consultation group sessions where the most current and successful couples therapy models are taught through close examination of videotaped sessions. I continue to devote much of my professional development to training programs for helping couples, in addition to drawing from my own experience in couples counseling.
I also have experience working with a diversity of clients in couples therapy, including transgender, gay, and lesbian couples. My honesty, sincerity, and openness is refreshing and helps create feelings of ease and safety. I also have plenty of experience working with couples exploring ethical non-monogamy and polyamory, which is a particular interest of mine. Overall, I enjoy the dynamics of couples counseling for a wide range of clients and issues because it is always exciting to see the growth experienced by each person and the newly co-created feelings of clarity and joy.
Call today for your free consultation to begin the path toward a better relationship.
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Couples Resources
The Gottman Institute
www.gottman.com
Provides research-based tools for relationships and also provides training to therapists
The Couples Institute
www.couplesinstitute.com
Menlo Park-based resource providing therapy for couples and training for therapists since 1984
Poly-Friendly Professionals
www.polychromatic.com/pfp
A list of professionals who have identified themselves as open-minded about polyamory
San Francisco Sex Information
www.sfsi.org
(415) 989-7374
They provide free, confidential, accurate, non-judgmental information about sex
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Intimate relationships today are more fulfilling than perhaps at any other time in human history, yet they are also more fragile. As we demand more from long-term relationships than we have in the past, satisfaction and trust can be hard to come by. I believe it is crucial for therapists to have an integral, that is, a cultural and psychological view of modern relationships, because we are increasingly seeking meaning and fulfillment, for better or worse, through relationships, an arena poised to provide fulfillment yet often generating frustration.
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Jacob Art, MFT 459 Fulton St. #107 San Francisco, CA 94102 415-255-2558