I love doing therapy, but my passion is couples! Couple or intimate relationships have the potential for the greatest joy, but also the greatest pain. If we experience intimacy, we’ll also experience pain. Those we are closest to know us best, which makes us vulnerable to being hurt as well as hurting back. The good news is that intimacy also has the greatest potential for healing. Even childhood pain has the potential for healing through intimacy.
Professionally, I have a solid basis for believing in the power of intimacy. I've been a therapist for over thirty years in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, specializing in couple therapy and trauma. In fact, it was my long-held interest in couple relationships that drove me to pursue a Ph.D. in Marriage & Family Therapy. I taught marriage and family therapy students for over twenty years, and was lead researcher for the Minnesota Family Strengths Project. I’ve published in the family area, spoken at local and national conferences, and have been a resource for media inquiries regarding couple relationships.
A later-life second marriage brought me to Little Rock, Arkansas, where my professional life has shifted to writing and consultations. My most recent work, Invitation to Intimacy: What the marriage of two therapists reveals about risk, transformation, and the astonishing healing power of intimacy, published by Et Alia Press, has received praise as a powerful page turner, both riveting and moving.
Perhaps you’re thinking that intimacy can be perplexing. Indeed! Much more than “just sex,” true intimacy flows from invitations to be deeply known to another. But with that, we risk pain, loneliness, and betrayal. Is intimacy worth the risk? It’s a question only you can answer for yourself, but it’s a worthy exploration.
For more about the topic of intimacy and the possibility of a consultation, visit my website at https://judytieseljensen.com/
