In my years of experience as a therapist, I have learned that no matter what particular disorder, crisis, or psychological condition I am treating, there is one common and powerful factor that either promotes or influences the symptoms. We are all affected by relationships. Our relationship with ourselves, our relatives, our friends, coworkers, even strangers. Every human interaction is complex and challenging. Of all types, romantic relationships are the ones who trigger our innermost emotions, both good and bad. After many years of treating adults in different stages of relationships, I have formulated a treatment which is quite enlightening and successful in helping couples achieve happier and balanced relationships. My approach involves a combination of educational and psychological tools to help people identify unhealthy and destructive cycles and learn new and effective ways to communicate, bond, and attain individual growth as well as relationship fulfillment.           CouplezTroublez is a branch of Alternatives Counseling Center which focus on the education and counseling in the area of relationships and couples issues.   I founded Alternatives Counseling Center with the objective of creating a group of professionals with a variety of expertise and tools to serve different populations with unique challenges and needs.  I have been licensed by the state of Florida to practice psychotherapy since 1995. I am also certified as a Master Addiction Counselor and Substance Abuse Professional.   I have extensive experience and certified training to treat most psychological disorders including; mood disorders, anxiety, eating disorders and addiction disorders.  My formal academic training includes a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Indiana State University and a Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling from Nova University.           I treat Couples and Relationship issues with an individualized approach.  This means I focus on identifying and resolving individual issues rather than attempting to repair the relationship.  I believe we enter relationships with unresolved issues and baggage from childhood and previous relationships.  My slogan is “two unhappy people don’t make a happy couple”.  After the initial “honey Moon” period, once we feel safer in the relationship, all these individual issues start to come up and sabotage the healthy flow of the relationship.  Totally unaware of what’s going on, we blame our partner, we become guarded and defensive, we feel helpless and frustrated and conclude we once more, failed.

My therapeutic approach involves three major steps.  First is the Awareness Phase.  During this stage, I help clients identify these individual issues and their original sources.  On the second Phase, Responsibility Stage, I prompt clients to replace blaming by focusing on ownership and responsibility of their own individual baggage.  Once these two major steps have been accomplished, the couple will be guided to restructure unhealthy patterns of thinking and communicating, then learn new tools to relate and bond in a healthy, partnership fashion.  They are educated about the Basic Principles of a Healthy Relationship.           The tools used to achieve this treatment plan entail a combination of traditional Cognitive and Insight Therapy as well as a set of educational seminars/workshops which are offered on a regular basis at the center.  These workshops include topics such as; self esteem, boundaries, codependency, intimacy, communication, etc.              I have full confidence in this method of healing relationships as I have evidenced its effectiveness, practicality, and potential for lifelong success.