Chaela Stewart, LMFT, Connecting Couples Therapy

I work with couples and individuals in various degrees of relationship distress and help them create more secure attachment relationships. I love helping clients find real ways of connecting more deeply and authentically in order to live a more fulfilling and satisfying life.

During times of stress, unmet needs can bring out the best or the worst in a person. I help couples to recognize the root of relational insecurity and to develop security both internally and interpersonally. I also work with couples on the brink of, or in the process of, divorce to create secure coparenting practices.

My style is most influenced by the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). I use attachment-based therapies, to get at the root of couple problems, usually based in an insecure attachment style. I work experientially to create lasting, deeper emotional connection.
I am a Level 2 PACT Clinician with Stan Tatkin, author of "Wired for Love" in his Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy. I also have trained with Gordon Neufeld, author of "Hold onto your Kids" in his attachment based, developmental model of working with ADHD and anxious kids.

My style is present and empathetic. I care deeply for each client that I work with and I honor each person's story, both the strengths and challenges. From a place of compassion I tune in to the experience of my clients and I help them access somatic experiences that the body is holding as well as confront learned ways of defending that are no longer working. Prioritizing a strong therapeutic relationship with my clients, I walk the line between lovingly drawing out feelings, fears, and somatic experiences in the body that need healing, and gently confronting defenses and reactions that are no longer serving. I help clients address what is holding them back from potential growth and intimacy. I deeply see my clients for who they are, and I call them to greater capacity both within themselves and within their relationship. I do this safely and through modeling an authentic relationship with clients in the room.