Couples Counseling in Hoboken

Licensed Psychotherapist
More than 10 Years Experience
Near Hoboken PATH & Light Rail Station

Finding a counselor can feel like an overwhelming task. A couple’s counselor needs to be a good fit with both partners and needs to have an outlook that works for the couple.

Beginning with the first session, I seek to help both partners feel comfortable and emotionally safe enough to explore the difficult issues that bring people to couples counseling. I use a “systems” approach which basically assumes that each partner shares in the problem and also in its solution. In this approach there are no victims and no villains. I serve as the therapist to the relationship, rather than as a therapist to either individual; so my role is to help coach each partner to discover new ways of relating, to make it more likely that each one can get his/her emotional needs met in a healthy, sustainable way.

Common problems that couples seek help with are: Excessive arguing, feeling “stuck” on certain issues that they believe they can not resolve, and specific concerns such as infidelity.

I help couples with these difficulties by working with them to explore the emotional meaning of the conflict, that is, helping them become aware of influences from the past that have lead to this present situation, clarifying each partner’s perception of the present situation, and finally by illuminating each partner’s goals for the future. We then work to move toward those goals by helping to enhance communication, problem solving and conflict resolution skills.

Please feel free to contact me with any specific concerns you
have and to discuss ways I can help you work toward
your goals for a happier, healthier relationship.

Lani Sommer-Padilla, MSW, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker