James Creighton PsyD

When I use the term "divorce," I include shared meaningful relationships of people bonding together with the hope of an intimate future and having lectured and completed mediation training in Advanced Family Dynamics that explores the individual, attachment to a partner, the cycles in marriage, and the dynamics involved in divorce, with and without children, I feel well-qualified to intervene in this area.

Relationships that are developing or stuck are what I think of here and involve more than one other person. Having trained in Gottman methods, studied relational dynamics, been involved in group psychotherapy, engaged in positive and destructive relationships, and trained in psychological theories and practices, I am well-qualified to identify and facilitate relationship growth and personal awareness of the dynamics in relationships brought into my office.

The dynamics of families are intense - cultural influences and personal beliefs can help and sometimes compromise a family as a whole. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" applies to most families, especially when a family is in conflict. While we do not get to choose our family, they are typically the ones with us at the end, but when conflicts run so deep a person is willing to abandon everything, I try to help families affect a critical change.

Motivational interviewing is a therapy model that helps clients increase their motivation to change. It focuses on exploring your reasons for wanting to change and developing a more effective plan. We effect change for the purpose you defined and anticipate the obstacles that might stand in your way. We work together to overcome your resistance to making and sustaining change.

Gottman therapy techniques for relationship and personal counseling interventions are used as well. The Gottman techniques are effective in helping couples and families improve their communication, resolve conflicts, and strengthen their relationships. The ideas from this model are based on many years of research and practice. It can be prescriptive and onerous at first, but it provides a "role model" of behavior where none may have existed previously.

Existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning—often centering on the individual rather than their symptoms or family/marital system. The approach emphasizes a person's capacity to make rational choices and to develop to their maximum potential. While it may not have specific forms of intervention, it allows for a general underlying theory that you can decide to change or not. Still, the underlying ideas are responsibility and choice.