Individual Therapy
Individual Therapy

Reducing anxiety, relieving depression, and concrete steps towards a more fulfilling life experience

Couples Therapy
Couples Therapy

Improving communication and enhancing relational intimacy

Emotional Growth
Emotional Growth

Developing skills to build stronger, happier, more intimate relationships

Pre-Marital Counseling
Pre-Marital Counseling

We suggest resources so that the therapy is happening not just in our office, but outside of the office, in your lives

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How We Can Help

Navigating the Path to Healthy Relationships: A Comprehensive Guide to Personal and Professional Growth

  • 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

What We Do

Close-up of black adolescent on therapy session with psychologist.

Help You Improve Your Relationships

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.

Help You Achieve Your Goals

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.

park bench in spring

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 why a Therapist Professional Will is so important and Economic Well Being.

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.

Spencer in the Media

Spencer spoke with the Huffington Post about Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) for romantic partners. He also spoke with the Huffington Post 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

In March, Elisabeth 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. In 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

Kimberly Akimbo

By Elisabeth LaMotte | January 10, 2024

Kimberly Akimbo, the most awarded musical of the 2023 Tony Awards, announced that it will hold its final Broadway performance…

The Holdovers

By Elisabeth LaMotte | December 25, 2023

If your young adult children are home for the holidays, consider bonding while viewing The Holdovers which is available to…

Terms of Endearment

By Elisabeth LaMotte | November 28, 2023

I came across this moving review of multiple Oscar winner Terms of Endearment and memories of Emma, Aurora, Flap and…

Therapy Jam Sessions

Spencer’s “Witch-Pop” Playlist 2023

By Spencer Northey | November 1, 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

By Spencer Northey | July 22, 2023

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

By Spencer Northey | July 13, 2023

  “Be Kind,” by Halsey and Marshmello, makes me think of parents who struggle to be kind to their children.…

Questions of the Month

How Can We Help Communities Deal with Environmental Challenges?

By Elisabeth LaMotte | January 10, 2024

Rachel Forbes, MSW, and Kelly Smith, DSW, collaborated to create the NASW Press publication EcoSocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy.…

Spencer’s “Witch-Pop” Playlist 2023

By Spencer Northey | November 1, 2023

So much is going on in the world that it makes sense to all but crawl under a rock between…

What is EMDR Therapy?

By Elisabeth LaMotte | September 7, 2023

I completed the level one EMDR training in 1998 and this groundbreaking way of healing has evolved deeply over time.…

Our Team

Elisabeth LaMotte LMFT
Sarah Spencer Northey LMFT: Clinical Supervisor & Content Editor
Michele Martini LMFT
Erin Katz LICSW