How I Work + What Happens in Therapy

Relationship Therapy

Who I work with

Queer Couples
Poly + Non-Monogamous Couples
Non-Traditional Families
Couples in Transition
People Who Have Experienced Trauma
Non-Romantic Partners, Friends, Family

What issues I work with

Gridlocked Conflict
Increasing Trust
Building Intimacy
Communication Breakdown
Emotional Reactivity
Making Decisions

How I work

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Relational Life Therapy
The Gottman Method
Psychobiological Approach to Couple's Therapy (PACT)

Looking for a couples therapist in Oakland, CA?
Looking for a queer couples therapist in Oakland, CA?

Wanna know a little more? Let me break it down...

I work with families, friends, and partners looking for a therapist who “gets it.” Queer, poly, kinky, and non-traditional folks welcome! I hold our therapeutic relationship with deep respect and care, making room for your story and your experiences without judgment. You are not too intense, too much, too sensitive, too “out there.” The whole of you is welcome with me. I take your experiences of marginalization, your upbringing, and your identities seriously and come from a social justice, anti-racist, trauma-informed lens informed by my clinical training at Pacific Center for Human Growth, the oldest LGBTQ+ center in the Bay Area.

I integrate attachment theory and am informed by Emotionally Focused Therapy, Psychobiological Approach to Couple's Therapy (PACT), Relational Life Therapy, and the Gottman Method .

More than help with communication. A focus on how your past effects your present, depth of connection, and your personal definition of partnership and family.

But yeah, we will work on communication, too.

My job is to collaborate with you, uncovering your own personal toolkit and strategies to help you grow in and heal your relationships.

Relationship therapy can include things like:

Identifying your wants, needs, and fears are and how to communicate that and connect to your partner.
Learning about your and your partner attachment style and attachment history and how that impacts you now.
Finding ways to identify and rework patterns you find yourself stuck in that increase conflict and frustration and decrease intimacy.
In identifying and moving out of the frustrating loops of conflict, helping you regulate your and your partner's nervous system.
Exploring your sexual connection.
Discovering how to exist as a differentiated person while living interdependently with your partner(s), family, and community.

I will be there with you to support you, guide you, and most importantly to me, hold your story as precious and listen with a non-judgmental, affirming ear as we build trust and safety in the therapy room and in your partnership.

Relationship Therapy Training Highlights:

Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy, a 4-Day Immersive Training with Dr. Sam Jinich and Ali Barbosa, LMFT

Emotionally Focused Therapy: Attachment-Based Interventions for Couples in Crisis with Dr. Sue Johnson

Helping Couples and Families Heal Trauma Using Internal Family Systems with Dr. Richard Schwartz

Multi-generational Trauma: Healing the Past to Heal the Present in Couples Therapy with Terry Real, LICSW

Stephanie Bain -- trauma therapy and couples therapy in Oakland, CA

Offering in-person therapy in Oakland, CA and virtual therapy for clients residing anywhere in California.

Stephanie Bain (she/her/hers)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT #137288
stephaniebaintherapy@gmail.com | 1-510-545-9329
445 Bellevue Ave, #6B, Oakland, 94610

Trauma Therapist in Oakland, CA
Queer Couples Therapist in Oakland, CA

Trauma therapy in Oakland, CA -- Couples therapy in Oakland, CA