Terri Burns

My heart is for families and reconnecting couples who have struggled with affairs, trauma, or complications from sexual betrayal. My training is in grief and trauma counseling. I am Gottman trained through Level 3. My further certification is through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist who is skilled working with couples. My women’s groups help them feel community rather than isolation during a crisis. The 3 phases include Safety and Stabilization, Grief and Mourning, and Revitalization. Please reach out to me if I can help.

I work with individuals, couples, and families who need support through crisis. For individuals who are experiencing a change in life it can be lonely. Sometimes having an attuned therapist to listen to their grief and help them find a new meaning promotes post traumatic growth. Couples who are raising kids, often find it difficult to connect for surface level conversations much less intimacy. This is where opportunities for affairs, infidelity, or meeting need in other places could occur. I help couples find truth, honesty, and if they are ready the ability to transform.

My background in Gottman therapy often includes an assessment to help me pinpoint areas to work with couples who are misattuned. If it is a problematic sexual behavior or infidelity, I work with them to prepare for a full disclosure or the truth. Then we write impact letters and ammends letters. The old couple is dead and they stand over the grave together. I encourage couples to make new meanings and memories as the past was not the authentic truth. It is important that both people are ready for deep work. It is transformational and a priviledge to witness their vulnerability and honesty.

I wake up everyday feeling like I won the lottery to be a small part of helping people, couples, and marriages create connection. It is devasting when individuals experience betrayal trauma or pain of not being chosen as our deepest needs are to matter to our loved ones. I was a teacher in my former life and I thought, I can do more to help these families who are suffering by helping couples. When couples can talk honestly, hear each other and their underlying hearts, then they learn how to remove walls to understand how to be safe, seen, soothed, and secure in our connections.