Jan Vitek, Clinical Psychologist, Couples and Individuals Counseling

Couples Therapy

Because people change as they move through their lives, intimate relationships need to change and grow as well. When partners remain open and accepting, intimate relationships can be a source of great pleasure, comfort, and vitality. But just as intimate relationships stir our greatest longings, they can also awaken our greatest fears and spark intense feelings of disappointment and hurt or resentment and betrayal. Sometimes avoidance, defensiveness, or even destructiveness take hold as each partner struggles to protect their vulnerabilities and maintain their balance. Couples therapy can help intimate relationships get back on track and transform the confusion and pain of relationship gridlock into opportunities for growth and intimate connectedness.

I continually strive to establish a climate of emotional safety in which openness to and curiosity in one's own and one's partner's experience can flourish. I practice a relationship-based approach to couples therapy which is exploratory and insight-oriented. This approach is designed to:

  • help each partner articulate their view and experience of the relationship
  • help each partner understand, relate to, and more fully appreciate the other's experience
  • identify patterns of behavior, thinking, and feeling which contribute to difficulties
  • clarify the underlying meaning and significance of entrenched conflict
  • improve listening and communication skills
  • identify how individual issues interact in the relationship to create conflict, misunderstandings, repetitive dynamics, and impasses to greater intimacy and connectedness.
  • clarify the impact past significant relationships are having on the current relationship
  • increase trust and lessen defensiveness
  • increase the couple's ability to resolve conflicts on their own through increased awareness of self and other.

Common Reasons For Seeking Couple Therapy


  • frequent misunderstandings and constant fighting
  • lack of warmth and closeness
  • lack of sexual intimacy
  • lack of communication and a sense of connection
  • conflicts over parenting, in-laws, money, etc.
  • a "walking on eggshells" feeling
  • infidelity
  • past abuse/trauma
  • feelings of alienation, defensiveness, and lack of trust within the relationship
  • changes to the relationship following the birth of a child
oakland CA couples therapy

“I continually strive to establish a climate of emotional safety in which openness to and curiosity in one's own and one's partner's experience can flourish.”

Serving: Individuals & Couples

Address:
445 Bellevue Ave, Suite 203
Oakland, CA 94610

Phone: 510.381.3090

Email: Vitek-deleteme[at]-deleteme-sonic [dot] net