Christine Petrik, LCSW
Relationship Psychotherapy
APPOINTMENTS BY REFERRAL ONLY
ALL SESSIONS ARE VIA TELE-HEALTH
Certified Tele-Health Provider
Licensed in NY & NJ
Private Intensives for Couples
Private intensives for couples are designed to deeply explore, discover, and compassionately address the specific obstacles you and your partner repeatedly encounter in one of the most efficient and effective ways. Using the Imago Relationship approach, we spend a few back-to-back extended sessions together taking a deep dive into clarifying what hasn’t been working, how to repair it, and also what has been working, and how to maximize it. You and your partner will be asked to courageously unpack your OWN baggage that you’ve brought to the relationship. You will then compassionately start clearing out any left-over wreckage from your past. Letting go of what you don’t need any more and gently exploring how you can create a mutually supportive space to heal and grow.
Even if you’ve already “done couple’s therapy” or attended another intensive relationship programs, this customized intensive will be different, and it may be right for you.
Couple Therapy
When your relationship is "stuck" it can be hard to listen and feel impossible to be heard. But whether you’re just beginning to sense a problem or considering ending your romantic partnership, good couple’s therapy can help. If you’re caught in repetitive negative patterns of relating and can't seem to find a way out, I can help.
Imago Relationship Therapy is the approach I use when working with couples. This technique allows you and your partner to discover what really lies underneath your relationship conflict and how resolve it - together.
The main difference between Imago therapy and traditional couple's counseling is that Imago therapists believe individuals heal from the wounding of early development and other painful relationships by creating emotional safety in their current relationship. By focusing on relationship as a process for healing, the emphasis is not on negotiating disputes but instead developing your own expertise in deep communication, acquire the tools you both need for repairing ruptures, creating safety, and keeping your love alive. As a couple, together, you can deepen your understanding of yourself and each other, improve your communication, repair trust, and develop deeper intimacy. You can feel again, or for the first time, truly connected and happy.
Individual Therapy
Helping to create a safe structured space for individuals to openly and honestly explore why particular patterns of behavior seem to repeat is my honor and privilege. As your individual therapist I will guide you through a comprehensive exploration of your past and present relationships to help you increase greater insight into why you think, feel, and behave as you do which will allow you to gain even deeper understanding as to why others treat you as they do.
Not only is it important to understand how and why maladaptive behaviors occur in the first place, stopping or reducing them is critical for your continued wellbeing. Together we purposefully address your concerns to help you find solutions.
When appropriate, I recommend specific homework and exercises to help you develop or increase your ability to modify negative patterns. All recommended tools and techniques are supported by the most current brain research.
I am comfortable with, and welcome, you bringing your spiritual faith and practice to the treatment process.