Helping Couples Reconnect and Individuals Find Their Way Forward

 

Relationships aren't meant to feel like you're constantly walking on eggshells, having the same argument on repeat, or wondering how you became so disconnected from someone you love.

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Whether you're coming to therapy as a couple or working through something largely on your own, we'll work together to understand what's really getting in the way of the connection, peace, and confidence you're looking for — and start building it back.

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For Couples

 

I work with couples at every stage — newly together and figuring out how to build something solid, engaged and preparing for marriage, long together and feeling more like roommates than partners, or working through a specific rupture like an affair, a big life change, or the adjustment to becoming parents. Couples come to our work together with things like:

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•  Communication that keeps breaking down, or turns into the same fight on repeat

• Feeling disconnected, distant, or more like co-parents or roommates than partners

• Rebuilding trust and emotional connection after a betrayal or breach of trust

• Navigating conflict in healthier, less reactive ways

• Adjusting to a major life transition together — a new baby, a move, a career change, blending families, or caring for aging parents

• Wanting to strengthen an already-good relationship before things get harder

 

For Individuals​​​

 

I also work individually with clients navigating anxiety, stress, and life transitions — often alongside, or in support of, the relational work above. This includes:

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• Chronic worry, overthinking, or anxiety that shows up in the body

• Anxiety that flares up in relationships or around conflict

• Life transitions — career changes, becoming a parent, breakups, grief, big moves

• Perfectionism and the pressure to hold it all together

• Stress or anxiety that's spilling over into a relationship or marriage

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My Approach

 

My work is grounded in attachment theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) — an approach with strong research support for helping couples, and individuals, understand the patterns that keep them stuck and build more secure, trusting connection. In practice, that means we slow down enough to notice what's really happening underneath an argument or a shutdown — the fear, the hurt, the longing to matter to each other — instead of just replaying the surface-level fight. I draw from other evidence-based approaches as needed, so the work fits your specific goals rather than a one-size-fits-all model.​

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Sessions are collaborative. I'll ask questions, offer reflection and structure, and give you concrete things to practice between sessions — but you set the pace. For couples, that often means both partners leaving session with a clearer sense of what's underneath the conflict, not just what happened in it.
 

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Why I do this work

 

​Therapy has been a deeply formative part of my own life. I know how lonely it can feel to manage a lot of internal noise while feeling like you have to hold it all in — and I also know the relief that comes from finally slowing down and returning to a more grounded, compassionate relationship with yourself and the people you love. That's exactly what I want for the couples and individuals I work with: less bracing for the next fight or the next wave of anxiety, more steadiness and connection.
 

Clinical Background

 

Before private practice, I worked across outpatient substance use treatment, residential treatment, eating disorder programs, county behavioral health, and crisis intervention. That range of settings shaped how I show up for clients today — steady, direct, and attentive to what's happening both in the relationship and underneath it.

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• M.A. in Clinical Psychology, Antioch University, Santa Barbara

• Experience across outpatient, residential, county behavioral health, and crisis intervention settings​

• Work integrates attachment theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for both couples and individuals

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A Good Fit If You're​

 

• A couple who wants a therapist who won't just referee — someone who'll help you both understand what's underneath the conflict

• Ready to do some of the work between sessions, not just during them

• New to couples therapy and not sure where to start, or you've tried it before and want a different approach

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Taking the first step toward therapy can feel overwhelming, but you don't have to have everything figured out before you begin.

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Book an Appointment directly on my calendar or email me at shannon.bruckbauer@beholdcounseling,com

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*I accept insurance including Optum, United Healthcare (UHC), UHC EAP, Cigna Evernorth, and Aetna. ​​

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