Mindfulness-based

Couples Therapy

and

Marriage Counseling

in Oregon ,Washington, and Illinois

 
 
 
 
Couple ignoring each other on a couch. Struggling to maintain a healthy relationship? Couples counseling in Portland, OR can help you reconnect with online couples therapy in Oregon, Washington, and Illinois..

Helping you navigate your relationship struggles, so you can regain the connection and feel good together.

book a session

 
Young black couple embracing outdoors.  Struggling to maintain a healthy relationship? Couples counseling in Portland, OR can help you reconnect.
 

Do We Need Marriage Counseling or Couples Therapy?

You are fighting a lot. Even simple conversation seems to be difficult. You are short with each other and feeling frustrated. It is like you just can’t understand each other. Maybe you’ve tried talking through it on your own but it feels like a mediocre result at best and nothing truly gets resolved. When you don’t talk, it feels like you are drifting apart. You feel unheard and unseen, you feel disconnected. You are wondering: Where did it go wrong? Sometimes there are even moments where you are unsure if you should stay in this relationship. You feel overwhelmed, stuck, and lost.

With Mindfulness-based Relational Couples therapy, I will help you break the detrimental relationship dynamic and rebuild a healthy foundation so that you can enjoy your relationship and be each other’s best friend again.

 

Specialties:

  • Conflict resolution

  • Emotional connection

  • Making decisions together

  • Intimacy& Desire

  • Non-traditional couples

  • Dealing with trust issues

Hello, I am May.

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and I specialized in working with couples from all walks of life &identities on issues around communication, connection, and intimacy.

Through mindfulness-based relational therapy, I will help you stop fighting, rebuild trust, and feel truly heard and seen by your partner so that you can feel confident and connected in your relationship.

 

Spark Relational Counseling’s Approach to Couples Therapy

At Spark Relational Counseling, we use therapeutic techniques that are proven to help couples transform their relationships. When working with me, we start by fostering a welcoming, trustworthy space. From this safe space, we begin to work on your relationship. After a thorough inquiry about what you hope to accomplish, we begin our work right away.

Goals of Marriage Counseling

In addition to being an empathetic listener, I engage myself actively in the process offering encouragement, support, and guidance towards exploration and transformation. I do so by teaching you effective communication skills at the first session and helping you practice them right away so that you can leave the first session feeling a bit better and more hopeful.

In addition to skills teaching, I will provide helpful psycho-education to help you gain more knowledge around how to make your relationship stronger. Our work together also includes me slowing you down and inviting you to attune to your wants and needs. By talking about some of the events/things in your relationship that bring difficulties, I invite us to take a closer look at how you show up at those moments and make sense of how your behavior impacts each other in the process. From that inviting space, I will help you talk about your experience in a non-attacking, non-demanding way so that you can begin to relate to each other in a nurturing and heartfelt way.

Positive Change

Together, we walk on the path to a long-lasting change by empowering you to shift from defensiveness to openness and teaching you important techniques to engage in important conversations that help you feel connected and seen, or to decide if it is time to move on.

 
A couple holding hands in the sunlight. Reconect with your partner in a healthy way through online couples counseling in Oregon, Washington and Illinois.
 
  • Step 1.

    Fill out the contact form and choose a good call-back time.

  • Step 2.

    Hear back from us within 24-48 hours (except for weekends and holidays).

  • Step 3.

    Begin improving your communication and find your way back to each other.

What Past Clients Say:

“My partner and I worked with May for about a year and a half. She was a terrific therapist straight from the jump. She demonstrated tremendous empathy, thoughtfulness, and patience during our sessions. May was able to help my girlfriend and I sift through conflicts and address their root causes. She had great instinct for knowing when to push and when to hold back, always allowing us to arrive at our own discovery. Also showed great professionalism when it was time to take the training wheels off and try things without her. Would definitely recommend!”

——Shaun & Alli

 

 Frequently Asked Questions

 
  • We understand that sometimes, circumstances prevent people from both joining couples counseling. If your relationship needs help but only one of you can join couples counseling, no problem, we are experienced in helping individuals navigating their relationship concerns. We will provide you with the skills you need to maximize the effectiveness of your communication and help you feel more prepared in navigating your relationship difficulties.

  • Perhaps you have been through many therapy websites and wave through quite a few profiles. Searching for a therapist can be a complicated process. I honor and understand the frustration, hope, and worry in starting your therapy work. Therefore, I offer a free 15 mins phone consultation to help discuss your needs and answer any questions you may have. My hope is by the end of the call, you will have a better sense of the service I provide and make a more informed decision. 

  • Based on how the current insurance system is set up, in order to use your in-network insurance benefits, the insurance company requires me to give you a mental illness diagnosis. This diagnosis becomes part of your permanent medical record and may negatively impact your future life choices ( adoption, life insurance, employment, etc.). In addition, therapy under an in-network insurance panel is not confidential. Insurance companies and managed care panels essentially become another person in your treatment, as they require reports about our meetings to authorize sessions. They also have the power to decide how many sessions you will receive. I believe that those crucial decisions should be made between you and your therapist, not a stranger from the insurance office.

    For these concerns on in-network insurances benefits, I choose to accept only out-of-network benefits for insurances purposes. If you would like to use your insurance, I will assist by providing you with a "superbill" (An itemized receipt) for you to take advantage of any out-of-network benefits that your plan offers. Depending on your plan, your insurance company may reimburse your session cost up to a percentage. Please note that a diagnosis is still required, but we will have confidentiality and control over your course of treatment.

  • The timeline largely depends on the fluctuation of your therapist's schedule. Usually, sessions are available to be scheduled as soon as 5-7 days from the initial contact. If you are ready now, click here to skip the wait and request a session.  

  • If this is your first time going to therapy, I imagine it may be both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. I know what that feeling feels like, and congratulations on taking this crucial first step. To help you better prepare, I found this article provides some helpful information about what will happen during our first session. 

    Before arriving for your first appointment, it could also be helpful to take a moment and think about what you would like to accomplish through therapy. How have you been feeling lately? How would you like to feel? You do not have to feel obligated to tell your therapist "everything" during your first session. Instead, it is simply an opportunity to share enough and check-in with yourself on how you feel sitting with your therapist. It may also be helpful to think about what questions you might have for your therapist during your first session. You will know that a therapist is a good fit for you when you feel at ease, heard, and confident in their ability to help you during your first session.  

For a complete list of FAQs, including rates and our COVID practice, Please visit our FAQs section.

 

Experience a New Way of Relating & Rebuild Your Connection Now

Other mental health services offered at Spark Relational Counseling

Couples therapy can be a valuable resource for your relationship need. In addition, we understand your needs for support don’t usually fit into one box. At Spark Relational Counseling, we offer a variety of mental health services. For individuals with struggles in anxiety, we offer anxiety treatment at our Portland anxiety clinic. For individuals with immigrant parents, and/or trans-racially adopted adults, we offer culturally sensitive individual counseling helping you address issues around identity and culture. For professionals, working women with concerns around dating and intimacy, we offer individual therapy for loneliness (dating therapy, for example) that helps you feel more confident in building a strong romantic relationship. Additionally, we specialize in premarital counseling and affair recovery therapy. Whatever your mental health needs may be, we are here to help.