I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 14 years experience working with individuals, couples, families and children. I bring a gentle quality to my work, and believe deep healing can come through relationships. I have worked with a wide range of clients and issues, and have found my strengths to lie in working with people who want to address issues in relationships in order to create the life you choose to live. This can include relationships with other people, with your environment, or with yourself. Our beliefs greatly effect our behaviors and how we feel. When we can calmly and honestly access our most deeply held beliefs and accept them for what they are, we can then work to change those beliefs that may be holding us back in our lives. Developing non-judgmental awareness of ourselves and our lives is a first step toward making changes and experiencing the healing we want in our lives. The beginning of change is becoming aware of what is happening in our lives and within ourselves. Learning to become aware of our lives without judgement is an important skill. This skill allows us to look at where we are without condemning ourselves for it, or those around us. We can make more effective as well as more compassionate choices about how we will transform ourselves and our lives when we can assess our situation from a non-judgmental perspective. This can be difficult, deep work, and vastly rewarding. It allows us access to the truth about who we are and who we want to become. You are invited to work with me individually or as a couple. We can work on any relationship you are having whether with yourself or another, or on a relationship you hope to have in the future.

Issues that may be addressed: · Communication Styles and Skills · Anger/conflict · Transitions/Transformation · Money · Keeping Relationship Vital · Parenting · Grief	· Processing Old Pain · Drug Use/Abuse · Trust · Intimacy · Crisis · Work · Sexual Choices and Orientation
Diverse sexual and lifestyle orientations are welcome.

Communication is vital to any relationship. It is also important to notice there are different styles of communication. One may not be better than another, but it can be helpful to understand your own style and the style of the person you are dealing with to better facilitate your communication.

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Anger and Conflict are realities in relationships and do not need to be regarded as unhealthy. How we manage anger and conflict within our relationships is what is healthy or not healthy. It is also within our control to choose how to handle our anger and how to engage in conflict when we experience it in a relationship.

Times of transition can be transformational if we know how to approach them. Transitions occur around normal life situations such as marriage, birth, job change or loss, moving... anything where there is an element of change in our lives. We can meet these challenges with a focus on transformation rather than fear and overwhelm. In our work together I will help make this option available to you.

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Grief is a process of acknowledging our pain and letting it go. There are different stages to the grieving process, and we may experience them differently. It is important to acknowledge our grief and move through it. Shutting ourselves away from these painful feelings does not help us cope with them. We can come to a place of peace, even with the most painful losses. We can grieve the loss of a relationship, someone who has died or is in the process of dying, or grieving may be part of coming to terms with our own ageing or dying process.

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Money can be a stressful issue for people both individually and within our relationships. It can be useful to explore how you relate to money, what it means to you, what old beliefs (possibly from you family of origin) are lurking there still, and what role it currently plays in your life.

Drug use and abuse can affect every aspect of our lives. I offer a harm reduction model. We can work together on what role drugs may be playing in your life and how you want to handle a shift in this role. I do expect clients not to imbibe prior to our sessions as it tends to cloud the process of therapy.

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Keeping a relationship/partnership vital and feeling alive is an artform. Continually consider what you bring to enhance the relationship. You can let go of the mentality of blaming, and embrace looking at what you can do to make your relationship what you want it to be. Partnerships are ongoing entities that need nurturing to continually grow and flourish. This can be very powerful work to focus on in counseling.

Couples often come in for counseling with many of the issues I've listed above. When we choose to share our lives within the context of a couple, how we each manage our lives individually will affect the partner's life as well. One of the greatest challenges I've seen in partnership is finding a healthy balance between the desire to be a complete individual person, and the desire to be connected in an intimate meaningful way with another human being. This creates a pull for being separate as well as connected. The healthy navigation of this issue can be greatly healing for both individuals and the partnership.

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Most of us work in some capacity many hours each day and throughout our lives. We have a relationship with work and also with those whom we work with. Jobs offer financial and other personal rewards and stresses. Jobs can become interlaced with our sense of who we are as people; our identity. We can find the best jobs stressful, or it can be stressful to be in transition around changing jobs or not having a job. All of this can be brought to our counseling sessions to gain an understanding of ourselves and to explore our purpose in life.

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Old wounds, traumatic experiences can continue to affect our current daily life. Does it hurt so much inside you can't let anyone see? It can be beneficial to have someone share your journey toward healing. I can help bring you through a process toward better understanding and healing around old wounds and traumas. You may need to forgive some old pains, or your road may lead you to acceptance and integration so you can move on. Whatever it is, I can be a present guide and journey with you, lending support, guidance, and containment for whatever may come up during your journey.

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I suspect parenting is the most difficult job we undertake. There are no required courses, certificates, or promotions to hold the position of "parent". Most of what we learn about parenting is from the way we were parented. This may not be a sufficient model for you. There is no shame in looking to other sources for more information on this important topic. People can have very different parenting styles. Learning what works for you and your family can have a profoundly positive affect on your life and your personal happiness.

When couples who have children separate they still must find a way to co-parent their children. One option is to come together in a neutral, contained environment and have a third party help with the process of how you will go about co-parenting once you have agreed to dissolve the other aspects of your prior partnership. I can create this place for you and assist you forge a new way to relate as parents.

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People often first seek therapy when feeling in crisis . Together we can manage the crisis and move past it to create changes that enhance your life far beyond the end of the crisis.

Trust is an essential element in any relationship. It must be earned, and is harder to earn once broken. Whether you have lost trust between yourself and another or lack trust in yourself, we can work to build trust within you and in your close relationships.

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We humans seek intimacy in our relationships. We can learn to deepen and enhance our intimacy. We can enjoy an intimate relationship with ourselves whether we are involved in a partnership or not. Intimacy involves risk of being known, and sharing who we are. This can enrich our lives as we learn and grow through intimate relationship with another human being.

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I welcome people of every sexual orientation and lifestyle. We are each extraordinary and beautiful human beings with the ability to blossom. I have done much work with people in the gay, heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. I can provide a safe and judgement-free environment for you to explore your own preferences, and make your own decisions on how you choose to live your life.

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Copyright © 2002-2018 Julie Armer, MA, LMFT / PersonalChange.org