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What happens when a couple focuses on potholes and neglects where the road is going?
My job as a therapist is to receive information (all kinds of information) without reacting to it. I’m supposed to respond as if what I’m...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


What is your relationship costing you? And, are you willing to pay the price?
From time to time it is useful to assess your relationship…deliberately. This is different from those moments when you find yourself...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


When sexual desire and performance meet.
For the most part, sexual performance is straightforward. While there are variations on the theme, performance itself is relatively...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


Dancing with your daemon.
David, like most people who take their relationship seriously and want to be a good partner, has had his share of unpleasant...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


Coming to terms with yourself.
It’s one thing to look at a relationship and wonder about its health. It’s quite another thing to look at the individual who’s in the...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


Sometimes you just need to do something that feels unnatural.
Imagine for a moment that you are afraid of spiders. (If you are actually afraid of spiders, this will come easily.) You walk into the...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


Maybe it's time to read the owner's manual.
Each of us has an internal document that details how we operate. It gives information on how to turn the "engine" on and off, how to...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


An invitation to the "intimacy" dance...
At its core, a healthy intimate relationship is fluid. Its fluidity is what makes it stable. This works a bit like riding a bicycle. If...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read


Four Features of a Healthy Relationship. Love isn't one of them...
When asked to identify the basic feature of a lasting relationship, most people will say “love.” Defined in the broadest way, perhaps...
Jake Thiessen
3 min read


Saving the world one couple at a time.... Or, how I came to become a couples therapist...
As I recall it, (with a nod to the unreliability of memory) when I was about 15 (it was the mid-1960’s) my Mom asked if I thought she and...
Jake Thiessen
2 min read
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