The people closest to us have an uncanny ability to bring out both our best and worst qualities, sometimes within the same conversation. Whether you’re navigating the early stages of dating, working through challenges in a long-term partnership, or trying to figure out how to co-parent effectively after a separation, relationships require skills that nobody really teaches us.
Therapy can help you understand the patterns that show up in your closest connections—why certain conversations always seem to derail, what you’re really asking for when you’re feeling frustrated, and how to create the kind of relationships that actually feel good to be in.
Working on relationships, with or without your partner
You don’t need your partner to sit next to you on the couch for relationship work to be effective. Sometimes individual therapy is exactly what’s needed to understand your own patterns, figure out what you actually want, or develop the skills to communicate more clearly. Other times, couples therapy provides the structure and neutral ground that allows both people to be heard without the conversation dissolving into familiar arguments.
Both approaches can be extremely productive, and sometimes people move between individual and couples work as their needs change. The goal isn’t to fix what’s broken—it’s to understand how relationships actually work and develop the tools to navigate them with more skill and less frustration.
Dating: Building connections that last
Why do I keep ending up with the same type of person? And why does dating feel so exhausting?
Dating in Los Angeles can feel particularly surreal—the sheer number of options, the uncertainty about what people are actually looking for, the way apps have changed how we meet and connect. If you find yourself stuck in patterns that aren’t serving you, therapy can help you understand what’s driving your choices and how to approach dating with more clarity about what you actually want.
This isn’t about changing who you are to be more appealing to others. It’s about understanding your own patterns, communicating more directly about what you’re looking for, and recognizing the difference between chemistry and compatibility.
Couples therapy: Getting unstuck
Most couples don’t come to therapy because everything is terrible. They come because they’re stuck—having the same arguments, feeling like they’re not really hearing each other, or sensing that they’ve drifted apart without knowing how to reconnect.
Couples therapy provides a structured way to have conversations that are hard to navigate on your own. We work on understanding what’s really happening underneath the surface arguments, developing better ways to communicate when you’re frustrated, and rebuilding the connection that brought you together in the first place.
Pre-marital counseling: Starting strong
We love each other, but we’ve never really talked about money, kids, or what happens when life gets hard. Should we figure this out now or just see what happens?
Pre-marital counseling isn’t crisis intervention—it’s preparation. You’re taking time to have important conversations before you’re in the middle of stress about them. We explore how you handle conflict, what your expectations are about major life decisions, and how to maintain your connection when life inevitably gets complicated.
This work often prevents the kinds of issues that bring couples to therapy years later. You’re building skills and understanding while you’re still feeling good about each other, which makes navigating future challenges much more manageable.
Marriage counseling: Rebuilding what matters
Long-term partnerships go through seasons—periods of closeness and distance, times when everything flows easily and times when you feel like roommates who happen to share expenses. Marriage counseling helps you understand these natural rhythms while addressing the specific issues that are creating distance or conflict.
Whether you’re dealing with trust issues, major life transitions, differences in parenting styles, or just feeling like you’ve lost the connection that used to come easily, therapy can help you rebuild what matters most while letting go of patterns that no longer serve your relationship.
Parenting: Finding your way
I thought I’d instinctively know how to handle this, but parenting is so much harder than I expected. Am I messing this up?
Parenting brings up everything—your own childhood experiences, fears about doing it wrong, the challenge of staying calm when a small person is having very big feelings. Therapy can help you develop the skills to parent from your values rather than your fears, understand your child’s temperament and needs, and take care of yourself in the process.
This isn’t about perfect parenting—it’s about good enough parenting that helps your child feel secure and helps you feel more confident in your choices.
Co-parenting: Working together after separation
When a romantic relationship ends but the parenting relationship continues, you’re faced with the challenge of working together with someone you may have complicated feelings about. Effective co-parenting requires clear boundaries, consistent communication, and the ability to separate your feelings about your ex-partner from what your children need.
Therapy can help you develop strategies for managing conflict, creating consistency between homes, and protecting your children from adult issues while still acknowledging that this situation has real challenges for everyone involved.
Coping with divorce: Moving forward
Divorce represents the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, often when you’re not sure you’re ready for that transition. The practical aspects—dividing assets, arranging custody, establishing new living situations—happen alongside the emotional work of grieving what you hoped your life would look like and figuring out who you are outside of this relationship.
Therapy provides support for both the practical and emotional aspects of this transition. We work on processing the complex feelings that come with major life changes, developing coping strategies for the immediate challenges, and creating a vision for what you want your life to look like moving forward.
Getting started
Relationship work often feels vulnerable because it involves the people and dynamics that matter most to us. Whether you’re coming in on your own to work on relationship patterns, bringing your partner to address specific issues, or trying to figure out how to navigate a major transition, therapy provides a space to be honest about what’s really happening and develop skills that actually make a difference.
Contact me at will@willbaum.com or (323) 610-0112 to discuss how therapy might help with what you’re going through.