Hello and welcome! Looking for assistance from an outside professional can sometimes be overwhelming and a little bit uncomfortable so I want to affirm you on your decision to work on becoming your best self. I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself and I invite you to browse my website to learn more.

I’m Dr. Sonja Benson and I’ve been practicing as a psychologist since January 1997. In addition, I am a certified wellness coach, relationship and parenting coach. I am also certified in Simplified Emotion Freedom Technique (EFT-Tapping) and have been trained in yoga for social and emotional learning. While I have been trained as a divorce mediator, I only use that training within my role as a psychologist to help clients who are divorcing.  I have also received training with the Collaborative Divorce Alliance to participate as part of a collaborative divorce team.

Here is what I believe: everyone has innately within themselves the ability to be their very best self, and to bring that best self into their relationships of all kinds (personal, work, parenting, romantic, spiritual), to reach their highest potential. Sometimes you might need a guide to provide you some education, challenge you a bit, provide additional tools to tap into those abilities better and give feedback on what might be a blind spot or two. I believe we can work toward getting you back to your best self together.

I work with individuals from adolescent age upward but please note I am NOT a Medicare provider. Most of my individual clients are working on anxiety, work stress, relationship related issues or depression. I do sometimes work with younger children but typically within family therapy as opposed to individually.

My specialization is in marriage and family therapy and I was fortunate to have been trained by some of the best, including Dr. Bill Doherty, Dr. David Olson and Dr. Pauline Boss. I provide services ranging from pre-marital counseling to relationship enhancement (coaching) to resolving significant issues including infidelity all the way to discernment counseling or divorce counseling. I use Gottman methods and theory as my starting framework.

Within my work with couples I come from a pro-marriage perspective meaning that whenever it’s possible I prefer to help you save your relationship and make it stronger. I am also aware that not all relationships can (or even should) stay together. In those cases, particularly when there are children involved, I believe it is best for the couple to work together in ending the relationship in the best way possible for the children and I can help you do that.

Wherever possible, I really love to work on prevention of big relationship problems and so I added coaching to my therapy practice. I want to help you create happy, resilient relationships stock piled with a toolbox to use so happiness and connection bounce back quickly even when you hit normal bumps in the road. Resilient couples recognize that keeping a relationship strong and healthy is a lifelong process with daily attention given to it and I’d like to make sure you have a good toolbox.

Why are strong relationships important?

Although insurance companies may not recognize the importance of strong couple relationships, we know that when primary relationships are working well they free up creativity and productivity at work. In addition, strong primary relationships improve general physical and psychological health (well being) and they create the best environment for kids to grow in and flourish.

Couples who work with me, and really commit to making their own changes, experience more positivity in their relationship, a stronger friendship base and a greater sense of shared partnership. They understand that playing well together and having a thriving sex life are keys to resiliency and fun. Communication skills improve and conflicts are managed effectively. For those with kids, they approach parenting as a team and are often able to skip the typical dip in relationship satisfaction in the first 1-2 years after bringing home a baby.

Let me know how we can best work together. I look forward to meeting you.