Larry Starr-Karlin, JD, MA, LMFT Psychotherapy - Couples Counseling - Group Therapy      MFC44427

 Individual Psychotherapy / Counseling:  Welcome to my psychotherapy practice.  My work is dedicated to helping people develop healthy relationships and productive, satisfying lives.  You may be experiencing depression, anxiety, a difficult situation, a sense that your life  is not working out as you'd like.  Patterns of behavior that  were once necessary for your survival may no longer be helpful.  Working together, our compassionate attention to who you really are, your felt experience in the world, will paradoxically begin the movement toward the changes you desire.   We will craft experiments in new ways of being.  New insights and experience will create new growth.  Our goals may include increasing your self-confidence and self-esteem,  freeing your creative spirit,  enhancing your career satisfaction and creating a fulfilling relationship.

My approach is primarily Relational Gestalt, which is broadly inclusive, with Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples.  I am informed by psychodynamic and other understandings as well, and use whatever methods may be helpful and compatable with my basic stance, which is non-judgemental, non-hierarchical, and respectful of your inherent wisdom.

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Marriage Therapy / Couples Counseling   If you are having difficulties, I will work hard to save and enhance your relationship.  Unless proven otherwise, I believe that two people who have been drawn together can create for each other the secure emotional home base that we all so desire.  In our couples counseling, we will identify and build on your own strengths.  We will enhance your connection through increased awareness and finding a voice for your deeply felt longings, fears and disappointments in a supportive, mutually empathic environment. We will create true dialogue and learn to appreciate your differences, the ways your strengths compliment each other and create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. 

As a couple, you may presently be fighting over certain issues, such as sex, money, personal habits, flirtation, household chores, parenting, in-laws, how much time to spend together.  But it is the fighting itself, and more accurately the way of fighting that may threaten your relationship.  When couples can still appreciate and respect each other, allow for each other’s point of view and accept some influence, they will have a strong relationship even though areas of disagreement remain and many issues are never completely resolved. 

I am Poly-friendly, which means I am friendly to polyamorous or open relationships.  The basic issues around intimacy transcend the form of the relationship, and I believe that neither I nor society should proscribe any form of relationship that meets the legitimate needs of consenting adults.

Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples ( EFT )

My practice with couples emphasizes this clinically-validated approach for long-lasting improvement in relational stress. See the "EFT" page for more information.

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Group Therapy 

I am currently offering two Mens’ Groups: "Second Act," and Men & Relationship.  See the “Group Therapy” page for more information.

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Whether I see you individually or as a couple, I can help you to better understand and relate to your  partner. So often, our sense of well-being in life has to do with our ability to maintain satisfying relationships. 

If you are involved in a divorce or other legal proceedings, see the "About Me" page for more information.