San Francisco Relationship Therapy
Traditional and Alternative Relationships

Are you experiencing anger or conflict in your relationship? An inability to resolve differences? Difficulty recovering from an affair? Sexual problems? Concern that the relationship is not what is used to be? Feelings that your needs are not being met?

You may feel stuck and are having difficulty with hearing your each other’s perspective, negotiating differences, navigating life transitions (parenting, infertility, illness, loss, financial, career), facing sexual problems, managing intense negative emotions, identifying who you want to be in your relationship, or addressing guilt or worry about particular behaviors.

Therapy provides a space to safely explore difficulties in your relationship, where a better understanding of each partner’s desires, feelings, and behaviors will help to identify the ways to make changes. It takes time to sift through and discover the many ways you relate to each other, and the impact this has on yourself and your relationship. In the process of exploration, a deeper awareness of what does and doesn’t work in your relationship will emerge, so that the goals of therapy can be defined more clearly.

Kirsten works with people in straight, LGBTQ, and alternative relationships to understand what may be causing the difficulties, and find ways to improve or address these issues. Her style is interactive, direct, and practical. She will collaborate with you to create a safe, non-judgmental space to explore the issues that affect your relationship, work towards understanding your experience and needs, and help you to practice new ways to manage your emotions to reduce conflict and increase intimacy. In developing your goals for therapy, she will respectfully ask thoughtful questions while observing how you relate to your partner(s) in order to find ways to deal honestly with what is not working. The goal is to increase your understanding of each other’s perspective and promote a deeper understanding of what may be hindering the development of a more satisfying relationship.