Couple’s Therapists
Erica Blystone, LCSW
Specific areas of couples therapy in which Erica works include improving communication, increasing understanding and empathy of one another, conflict management and resolution, setting boundaries with work and/or family members, balancing individual needs with the needs of the couple, increasing sexual and emotional intimacy, and moving past an affair or other breach of trust. She has worked with couples of many ages, as well as with couples in different stages of relationships, including: helping couples decide to get married and preparing for marriage; helping couples navigate careers and children; helping couples transition into retirement living; and helping couples on the brink of divorce in any stage figure out what went wrong. Her experience with couples includes bi-racial and gay and lesbian couples as well.
Kevin Metz, Psy.D
Dr. Kevin Metz has a genuine and profound interest in working with couples. His work includes improving and strengthening communication skills before entering into marriage and helping couples work through and take control of deep-seated patterns of behavior and communication styles that cause conflict after years of marriage or partnership. He has assisted couples confronted with a number of challenges, including diminished intimacy, aggressive behavior, commitment issues, stunted communication patterns, sexual challenges, and difficulties coping with circumstances outside the relationship. Dr. Metz is usually quite active at the onset of couples’ therapy as he assesses the couple’s way of interacting with one another, and collaboratively implements more effective ways of communicating. Typically, after this communication coaching, Dr. Metz becomes more of a facilitator, gently guiding the couple to work towards resolution in a safe, caring atmosphere. Dr. Metz acknowledges and honors the complex interplay between the needs and desires of each partner, and how those affect the needs of the bond itself.
Dr. Metz’s style in working with couples borrows heavily from the works of Don Baucum, Salvador Minuchin, and John and Julie Gottman. Clients often report that Dr. Metz has a creative way of helping each partner feel safe and understood, while not aligning with one partner or the other. Dr. Metz has worked with couples from an array of backgrounds, and welcomes same-sex couples into his practice. He enjoys challenging couples to work toward deeper and more fulfilling relationships.
Colette Segalla, Psy.D.
Working with couples is one of Dr. Segalla’s favorite forms of therapy. She helps couples learn better communication skills and how to experience a stronger sense of connection and intimacy within the relationship. Through our most intimate and committed relationships we experience a profound level of engagement with ourselves and our lives. In long-term relationships or marriages, she works with the Jungian concept of differentiation which enables each person to feel individually whole and complemented by his or her partner. Dr. Segalla helps couples work toward differentiation as well as increased, authentic intimacy which is what brings the most satisfaction to a relationship. Often the most difficult impasses in a relationship offer the most opportunity for growth and increased intimacy. She also works with new or young couples to establish a pattern of communication and interaction that is enduring and fulfilling for both partners.
Rhonda Karg, Ph.D.
As many people know all too well, being in a relationship is a risky business — the immutable 50% divorce rate attests to that. How do you merge two distinct personalities into a thriving partnership that works well for both individuals? How do couples survive the inevitable crises that accompany that journey? Dr. Karg agrees with the French writer André Maurois who once said, “A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.” Her goal is to help couples learn how to develop and maintain the skills that are used each day to develop and maintain a fulfilling relationship.
Dr. Karg offers innovative new strategies for strengthening good relationships and repairing troubled ones. Her approach to therapy is based on the scores of empirical research conducted by Dr. John Gottman (best known for his cutting-edge research on developing and maintaining happy marriages) and Dr. Marsha Linehan (best known for her unprecedented research on developing and maintaining skills for mindfulness, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance). Couples therapy with Dr. Karg is solution-focused. Therapy sessions and homework assignments are focused on developing and practicing new and different coping skills to help couples gain knowledge and skills for how to think, feel, and respond in difficult situations, and how to maintain effective relationships. Examples of skills that are developed in couples therapy include: balancing emotions and logic; practicing self-care (e.g., eating right, getting enough sleep, exercise); being objective; identifying, describing and allowing yourself to experience emotions; having a non-judgmental stance with yourself or others; focusing on the here and now; being assertive and negotiating; being gentle, courteous, validating, and respectful toward your partner; and practicing acceptance.
Tina Lepage, Psy.D.
Couples counseling/marriage therapy has been a primary specialty area for Dr. Lepage, and remains one of her favorite things to do. She has worked with young couples in their teens, early married couples, mid life couples with and without children, and retired couples in their 70s. Her approach to couple’s therapy is active, interactional, and problem-solving based while also being realistic and grounded in empathy. Using an active style, she listens intently to the communication content and patterns, and intervenes to help couples become aware of their unhealthy patterns and learn new ones. Building on this she uses an in-session interactional approach, prompting and guiding couples through difficult conversations and the practice of new skills. A scientific trial-and-error tact is taken to potential solutions, as ideas developed in-session are assigned for use between sessions to best determine what is effective for each unique couple. Having done couple’s counseling and marriage therapy for many years, Dr. Lepage understands and is empathetic to both male and female perspectives, and works to develop empathy between the couple, as well as realistic expectations of self and others. Lastly she aims to help each person regain a sense of contentment and happiness with self, the relationship, and life in general. At Lepage Associates, as a senior clinician in couple’s work, Dr. Lepage provides peer supervision to the other psychologists, and often even when working more directly with another clinician (all skilled at couple’s work in their own right!), you will also have Dr. Lepage’s mind on your case as well.