The same argument. Different people.
Seeing the pattern clearly doesn't change it. What changes it is a different experience — in real time, in relationship. That's what this work provides.
How I Work ↓"It is a joy to be hidden, and disaster not to be found."
— D.W. Winnicott
What happens between us in session — how I respond, how you respond, where contact is made and where it's avoided — is real data about how you move in relationships. The relational templates formed in early experience activate in intimate relationships. What is legible can change.
Understanding the internal models you bring to every relationship — not to assign blame, but to understand what has been organizing your relational life.
Attending to the contact between us in real time. The present moment contains everything we need to understand the pattern.
The relational patterns often connect to deeper material: grief, the need for recognition, the fear of abandonment or engulfment. We follow where the work goes.
The moment before the habitual response — the pause in which something different becomes possible — gradually widens.
Intimacy becomes less threatening when you have more access to your own ground. You can be fully present without disappearing.
When the relational template becomes visible — not just as a pattern but as a story — its grip loosens.
What becomes available in the therapeutic relationship often becomes available in relationships outside it.
A real conversation — not a form, not a questionnaire. No commitment required.
An unhurried intake. Your history, what brings you here, how you make sense of things.
Regular 50-minute sessions. In-person in Palo Alto or telehealth throughout California.
A Good Place Therapy · Palo Alto · Supervised by Christina Miller-Martinez, LMFT #105663
I trained at CIIS, the California Institute of Integral Studies, in depth psychology, relational Gestalt, and object relations. The relational pattern is always present in the room — which means the room is where we work with it.
Full biography →Yes. Individual therapy is often the most effective route. Your internal model of relationship is present and available regardless of who else is in the room.
Intellectual understanding rarely changes an established relational pattern. What changes it is a different experience — in real time, in relationship.
That awareness is itself significant — and a reason to begin rather than a reason for shame. The patterns you're carrying are older than your current relationships. Working with them is one of the most meaningful things you can do.
Yes — in-network with. Superbills available for other PPO plans.
Relational patterns are often well-established and take time to shift durably. Many clients work for a year or more, though meaningful movement often begins much sooner.
15 minutes. You ask your questions. I ask mine.
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