- Perhaps you are planning to marry, looking to improve your marriage, or trying to decide whether or not to remain in your current romantic relationship.
- We have had the honor of helping many people work through these and other challenges in order to build happier, healthier lives.
- Our specialties include couples therapy, addressing infidelity, adjusting to break-ups, relationship skill-building, communication enhancement, navigating divorce, self-esteem building, and pre-marital counseling.
- Elisabeth also works with family businesses and closely held corporations to improve workplace dynamics, enhance communication skills and optimize performance.
— Elisabeth Joy LaMotte, founder
We teach concrete relationship skills that help clients build stronger, happier, more intimate relationships with family, friends and romantic partners.
If you are experiencing a difficult break-up, a divorce, or the painful discovery of infidelity, we will help you work through the many levels of loss that are common to such challenges. We help our clients find opportunities for growth in spite of these painful scenarios.
If you want to improve your marriage or seek pre-marital counseling, our approach considers each partner as an essential player in the relationship’s strengths and challenges. We teach relevant psychological theories to help you work on both yourself and your relationships.
Whether you are looking to build self-esteem, become a better communicator, manage anxiety or relieve depression, we work with clients to set concrete goals and take clear steps to achieve them. In addition, we help clients gain insights necessary to improve their lives.
We suggest resources so that the therapy is happening not just in our office, but outside of the office, in your lives. To this end, specific books, films, web sites and articles are suggested and tailored to the needs and interests of each client.
One of the signature aspects of our practice is our emphasis on cinema-therapy and biblio-therapy. For many years, we have integrated these resources into our approach, and our clinical experience has been that the use of appropriate films and books enhances the effectiveness of therapy. Research has more recently validated the clinical benefits of our approach. You can find out more in this report from the New York Times. In February, 2016, 2017, and 2018, Elisabeth was honored to have the opportunity to present strategies for this approach at the annual conference of the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
In the News...
Chair
Elisabeth was appointed as the Chair of the Private Practice Committee of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).
Honored
She is honored to accept this appointment which runs through June, 2025. She is also a host of NASW Social Work Talks podcast. Recent episodes include a discussion about Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, a conversation about why It's Never Too Late to Become a Therapist and an interview with legendary couples therapist Terry Real.
Active Media Contributor
Elisabeth has been published in numerous publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Elisabeth’s article in The Washington Post about how films can be used in therapy as a change is supplemented by a comprehensive cinema therapy blog accessible below. In October 2024, she spoke with Axios about election-related anxiety.
Spencer in the Media
In November 2024 Spencer spoke with Huffington Post about the differences between gentle parenting and gentle partnering. Spencer also spoke with the Huffington Post about Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) for romantic partners and about Prince Harry's new book Spare. In July 2022, Spencer spoke with Huffington Post and gave thoughtful commentary about patterns rarely seen in healthy relationships and about working through marital challenges. Spencer also writes about the therapeutic value of music in the therapy jam sessions blog below.
Romantic Partnerships
Elisabeth appeared on Fox News to discuss strategies for improving connections on World Mental Health Day. She was quoted in Buzzfeed about the unfortunate dating strategy of cushioning - lining up potential future romantic partners while dating someone who thinks the relationship is exclusive. She also spoke with Huffington Post about how an anchoring bias can play out in romantic partnerships and Spencer spoke with Huffington Post about Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) for romantic partners. Last January, Elisabeth spoke with Huffington Post about division of household labor.
Elisabeth also spoke with WFLA in Tampa about fidelity and cushioning one romantic relationship with the next. And Spencer gave compelling commentary to Huffington Post and then to Care.com about the concept of "weaponized incompetence".
Taylor’s Version
Spencer spoke with Huffington Post about Taylor’s Swifts amazing re-recordings. In Defense Of Still Feeling Sad About A 3-Month Relationship. huffpost.com
Latest Posts
Cinematherapy/Bibliotherapy Blog
Tell Me Everything
If only we therapists could concoct a reliable strategy to help our clients prevent affairs. If only we could convincingly…
Illinoise
Early adulthood is a rich psychological time when personalities develop more deeply, and individuals begin to cultivate what systems therapists…
Stereophonic
A friend recently introduced me to Bandle – an app that invites users to play name that tune with a…
Therapy Jam Sessions
Spencer’s “Witch-Pop” Playlist 2023
So much is going on in the world that it makes sense to all but crawl under a rock between…
Ciara Gives Us a DOSE of Happiness
Ciara’s 2018 hit single, “Dose,” is a high energy pep-rally style song that may increase some happy chemicals as you…
Why Parents Need to “Be Kind” to the Ones That They Love
“Be Kind,” by Halsey and Marshmello, makes me think of parents who struggle to be kind to their children.…
Questions of the Month
What’s the difference between gentle parenting and gentle partnering?
Spencer Northey spoke with HuffPost about whether the popular approach of gentle parenting can also be an effect relational strategy…
How can we enjoy Thanksgiving without politics getting in the way?
As a therapist who works with folks from a variety of backgrounds and political perspectives, this is an important question…
What couples therapy book helps couples transform their connection?
I’ve admired social worker Terry Real for many years. He held an impromptu virtual meeting in mid-March 2020 and invited…
Our Team
