Mary Bruce-Owenby

Mary Bruce-Owenby (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LGBTQIA-affirmative couples therapist

I offer a supportive, interactive approach to help you and your partner move from disconnection to the joy and intimacy of a secure bond.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

503-205-0604

205 SE Spokane Street

Portland, 97202

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $200

Provides free initial consultation

Provides telehealth services

Practicing Since: 2009

Languages: English

Services

  • Relationship

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket

My Ideal Client

I work with all types of couples at every stage of their relationship. From current, arising, emergent issues to longstanding ones, I am here to help and support you on your journey. I bring more than fifteen years of specialized training to couples work, and and I enjoy taking the two of you through a dynamic process where you build the skills, understandings, and experiences that grow and strengthen your bond toward secure functioning and relationship longevity.

My Approach to Helping

I have a BA from Wellesley College, an MA in clinical psychology from Antioch University, couples certifications from the Developmental Couples Institute and the PACT Institute, and a deep interest in helping couples thrive. Together, through a flexible but structured process, we identify pain points in the relationship and work through them using focused experiments and experiences that are similar to the difficulties you are experiencing. Throughout the process, we are strengthening emotional safety and the couple bond.

My Approach to Helping

My approach is experiential. I am well versed in attachment, developmental, phenomenological, and psychoanalytic theory, and I believe that each person's earliest relational dynamics with their first caregiver makes a deep, formative impression on them that shows up in their relationships later in life. Buddhist Psychology, Gestalt Psychotherapy, and the psychobiological model (PACT) inform my somatic approach, which focuses couples on an awareness of their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions, without judgement.

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Couples Counseling External link

    Gaining a deeper understanding of yourself and your partner, learning how to co-regulate, practicing how to listen differently and respond more effectively, collaborating, cooperating, and relating through experiments that mirror your struggles and challenge your patterns--are just some of what you will actively work on.

  • Psychodynamic  External link

    This approach explores the impacts that early relational patterns with first caregivers have on later life, when they show up in the couple. I have completed five years of specific training in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theoretical frameworks (Object Relations) under the supervision of contemporary psychoanalysts and psychologists.

  • Gestalt External link

    I have trained in Gestalt therapy, a strengths-based, non-pathologizing approach, for the past eight years with the Gestalt Therapy Training Center Northwest (GTTCNW). Gestalt's emphasis on the importance of being aware of and accepting your current emotions without judgement and paying attention to here-and-now experience lays the groundwork for co-regulation and interactive regulation, a process we focus on in couples work that helps partners stay attuned and connected.

  • Somatic Therapy (Body Centered) External link

    An important part of our work together is somatic (relating to the body) in its focus, and we explore what happens when big emotions, like anger, frustration, or sadness come up. During these moments, it can be extremely difficult to regulate feelings, pay attention, and stay connected to each other. We often act out of our survival instincts, with automatic, lightning-fast reactions, which make it hard to stay present, understand, or empathize.

  • Attachment Theory External link

    I use the PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy), a model that incorporates attachment theory as it relates to couples. Attachment theory focuses on our human need to form close, emotional bonds, and the impact of our first experiences of closeness with our caregiver on future relationships. There are attachment styles that emerge from this early experience that show up in our later relationships, and understanding them is key for becoming even more knowledgeable about your partner.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Relationship / Marriage Issues External link

    I help with understanding and navigating conflict, learning how to reconnect after disconnection, betrayals and repairs, issues coming up around commitment, and resolving historical anger, among many other issues.

  • Premarital Counseling External link

    I help couples work through and resolve struggles coming up that they want to resolve before deepening their commitment.

Contact Mary

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