Emotionally Focused Therapists in Atlanta, GA

It’s a new day with endless possibilities, but you feel the dread in the pit of your stomach again. You feel the pressure to live the life you’ve been dreaming of, but you can’t quite figure out what is holding you back. Some areas of your life might feel right on track, while other areas are stressful or chaotic. You are longing to feel content and at peace with who you are. Or maybe you are searching for peace and understanding within your relationship and desiring to feel more connected and valued. You are feeling ready for a change - ready for therapy - ready to have someone who truly hears you and supports you. I am here.

Most clients I work with deal with relationship and performance-related stress, affecting their marriages/partnerships, friendships, family dynamics, work, and overall sense of fulfillment. I help individuals navigate sexual and gender diverse relationships, gain self-awareness, alleviate distress, and enhance well-being and relationships.

AMMC offers the highest quality couples counseling and dispute resolution services in Atlanta. We are highly trained and experienced in working with the leading models of therapy for relationship therapy, including Gottman Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Imago Therapy, and have proven results in improving marital satisfaction. We also work to resolve family disputes, including divorce mediation, coparenting coordination, and coparenting counseling. We do work frequently with attorneys, including child custody evaluations. We are proud to work regularly with Atlanta's LGBTQ+ community and work to make sure all feel welcome.

If you are struggling in your current relationship or have been unsuccessful in past attempts to develop healthy relationships, I'm here to help you identify what needs to change and take steps towards your goals. Whether it is difficulty with emotions, unhelpful beliefs, or destructive behavioral patterns, we will get to the root issues and develop a plan. I'm an especially good fit for people who appreciate a warm but direct approach to therapy and are motivated to change. I will carefully and empathically listen to your concerns, while also challenging you to lean into the difficult areas of your life as you change and grow.

Beginning therapy can be overwhelming and I aim to make the process feel authentic and comfortable. I welcome adult and adolescent clients, their families and significant others who are motivated to learn about themselves, improve their relationships and transform their lives. I am fat-positive and use a Health At Every Size (HAES) approach, am welcoming to all gender and sexual identities, races, religions, and cultural backgrounds and am an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. I work with clients going through a wide range of difficulties including addiction, grief/loss, eating disorders, negative body image and relationship problems.

Welcome to my practice! I work with adult individuals, couples, and families to address mood and behavior problems, grief and loss, life transitions, divorce, parenting/co-parenting, family conflict, intimacy problems, and other relationship difficulties. I also help clients address family-of-origin concerns, attachment issues, and personal development. In addition to my counseling and psychotherapy practice, I facilitate workshops for new and expecting parents through the Gottman Institute. I also have training in EFT couple therapy.

Welcome! I am so glad you are here! If you are seeking support on your journey through addiction recovery or feeling stuck in recurring patterns of conflict, I am here to help. My goal is to guide you in forming deeper connections with yourself, your partner, and your loved ones. Together, we'll unravel the patterns that keep you feeling stuck, make sense of them, and nurture a richer bond with yourself and your relationships. In our sessions, I strive to create a welcoming and accepting environment where you feel at ease exploring your thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

I provide a grounding environment for clients who have been in survival mode and are looking to find their authentic self. Many of my clients have learned to cope with challenging relationships, trauma, or stressors by trying to control the uncontrollable or by shutting themselves off from the world around them. I help individuals and couples build awareness and develop skills to help them experience their lives and relationships more fully so that they can feel more connected with themselves and others.

I work with adults seeking to optimize intimate relationships and embrace the vitality that comes when we express our full sexual selves. I believe in the healing power of authenticity, secure connection, and self-acceptance. My passion and focus is working with clients to strengthen emotional and physical intimacy and healthy engagement by improving communication, building or rebuilding trust, releasing shame, and embracing self-acceptance. I have experience working with neurodiverse clients as well as clients struggling with anxiety and depression. I am sex-positive, kink-, queer-, trans-, and consensual non-monogamy-friendly.

Whether you are seeking help as a couple or individual, I want to work with you in exploring what you feel and think so that you can better understand yourself and feel better. Couples often have communication problems that seem to repeat without resolution. Understanding the reasons for these cycles can help you develop the ability to get unstuck. Individual therapy can help you deal with depression and anxiety. This can include coping with such issues as difficult life transitions, lack of meaning, low self-esteem, shame, or surviving child abuse.

I am honored to help individuals struggling with fears and challenges that hinder their growth and exploration of life. My commitment to reach those who are experiencing great sadness and a lack of motivation in their lives helps me to understand my clients' alienation and pain. I take it as my duty to foster a relationship with those in need and reach them on their level. With couples, I use emotionally focused therapy (EFT) to help clients change their negative patterns and move to a new music where they yearn to support each other.

Do you find yourself wishing your relationships with others were deeper? Do you crave intimacy, to feel known, listened to, and valued? In our world today, this deep sense of connection can be difficult to attain. As a therapist, I prioritize relationship, offer therapeutic connection, and facilitate intrapersonal and relational growth. I work with individuals to explore identity, sexuality, and the difficulties that may come along with attempting to know one’s self deeply and live authentically, such as anxiety, depression, grief, and family conflict. I particularly enjoy and specialize in working with queer and bisexual women.

When you’re struggling, as a couple or individually, it can feel overwhelming, lonely and sometimes downright debilitating. Do you get stuck in the same, old patterns, worry about the future, regret or re-live the past? Do you wonder if you can ever truly, be happy? Do you think that, “relationships and life are just hard”. It doesn’t HAVE to be this way! As a therapist whose been working in the field for over 25 years I’ve guided both individuals and couples to grow, change and live lives they love, over and over!

Thank you for viewing my profile. You also may visit my websites: www.erikapluhar.com and www.wholeheartpsychotherapy.net. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Certified Sex Therapist and Supervisor. I work with adult individuals and couples who have difficulties with relationships and sexuality. My approach supports the integration of the mind, body, and spirit. I take into consideration each individual's background as well as the dynamics in the relationship. My treatment philosophy combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with deeper emotional process and attachment/EFT work.

The journey to wholeness and intimacy is not always an easy path but it is one that can rebuild confidence, repair trust and intimacy, and create transformational growth. Having someone who is compassionate, affirming, and experienced in healing, restoration, and transformation can lead to healing, deeper intimacy, and authentic self and relationships.

If you are struggling with stress, worry/anxiety/fear, health and wellness issues, cancer diagnosis/recovery, grief, life changes, workplace challenges, relationship issues or personal growth, I am here to support and guide you in feeling your best and performing at your best. My Master's degree is in Counseling Psychology. As a Coach of forty (40) years, I have learned strategies that tend to create lasting changes. My commitment to you is to listen non-judgmentally and guide you with ideas and practices that I have seen work successfully over many years. You deserve to feel your best and live at your best!

Are you ready to integrate loving kindness and compassion into the relationship you have with yourself and others? This may seem an impossible healing for those who have endured relational betrayal, death, loss, hurt or trauma. However, shifting focus towards meaning, resilience, and possibility can liberate you from your past and present suffering. What does this mean for you and your loved ones? It means here is an invitation to sit with a non-judgmental human being while you recover, connect, and heal in new ways. It means you may shed old roles, affirm new strengths, and learn others with vulnerability and without guard.

My commitment is to facilitate your growth and healing in a supportive and collaborative relationship designed to meet your unique needs. As a seasoned therapist I listen and seek to understand your world using technical skills as well as the wisdom and intuitive knowing that I bring from over four decades of experience in private practice and agency settings. I have a passion for my work and I function with compassion and caring. I continue to pursue learning and skill building including cutting edge research on the brain and tools to generate healing and change.

Reaching out to a therapist is hard. So first, take a moment to commend yourself for prioritizing your wellbeing - it is difficult, even for me as a therapist! I believe that we all have a desire for genuine relational connection. However, our past experiences (eg. oppression, trauma, relational disconnections) inform our strategies of survival (eg. perfectionism, addiction, avoidance), which paradoxically leave us feeling dysregulated, isolated, or stuck in painful relationships. I see therapy as a space where you and I can co-create an open & authentic relationship, which will help us explore and heal your current life stressors.