Interracial Couples Therapist Los Angeles County
Takeaway: Learning to speak the same language.
"It often feels like we are speaking different languages!" This is a common sentiment in interracial and intercultural relationships because you are both coming from different worlds as well as different ways of being treated by the world. This increases the differences to work through as you build a relationship together and explore each other's lives. So while all romantic relationship comes with challenges, there are unique challenges for interracial couples.
In this article, I will explain who couples therapy is for, common issues in couples therapy, what kind of couples therapy I provide, as well as frequently asked questions for couples thinking about beginning couples therapy.
Is couples therapy for us?
Choosing to enter couples therapy is scary and many people enter with caution and distrust often because there is still a stigma that therapy is only for "crazy" people or could signal the beginning of the end of the relationship. In addition, choosing to trust another person with the most intimate and vulnerable part of your life is intimidating. Relationships are hard, and in an increasingly fragmented world where our social support communities are spread out over the country or the world, it can be hard to get a supportive environment to help you work through these relationship challenges. Couples therapy can be helpful when you both feel like you keep having the same arguments but are no closer to resolving them. Couples therapy can also be helpful in a crisis whether that be a betrayal within the relationship or an external traumatic event outside the relationship. Couples therapy can also be helpful when one or both of you have noticed you feel emotionally or relationally separated from each other and do not know how to find your way back. In any of these situations, you may not be able to even see a path forward. This is where receiving professional help in the form of a relationship therapist or marriage counselor can help.
How couples counseling in Los Angeles can help
While there are many approaches to couples therapy many couples therapists work to create a safe environment where each of you feels heard and seen. This will help reset your nervous systems, promote a sense of safety, create connection, and increase each of your capacities to be reflective and communicate. Often a couples therapist will map out your relationship’s unique patterns: naming your strengths, learning where you get stuck, seeing how you trigger each other, and gaining capacities to communicate and connect in deeper ways.
Interracial couples counseling may specifically start with digging in and understanding each of your life stories and how your childhood and then adult experiences formed expectations and stories about the world, love, communication, conflict, and gender roles to just name a few. This will help us gain insight and a deep understanding of who each of you is which ultimately deepens empathy and connection. When we as people feel seen and understood it is easier to have effective communication with each other and cultivate deep affection for one another.
Meet Dr. Noah Lau Branson | Los Angeles Couples Therapist
My name is Dr. Noah Lau Branson and I am a biracial licensed clinical psychologist providing therapy and counseling services in Pasadena, California. I was born and raised in California. I identify as Hapa (half Chinese/half Caucasian), heterosexual, male, and go by the pronouns he, him, his. I have spent my life in multicultural and diverse communities and thus working to integrate the various worlds I was a part of or came into contact with. I have degrees in music and theology in addition to my degrees in psychology and when applicable bring that experience and knowledge into my work with my clients.
My approach to therapy pulls on Relational Psychodynamic Theory, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Internal Family Systems Theory. It is focused on healing versus just symptom management. While modern medicalized Western psychology has made significant contributions to our understanding of mental health, it often is too focused on the individual over the systemic, it doesn't pay attention to other sources of wisdom and meaning-making, and it has regularly missed BIPOC communities. In therapy, I work to decrease symptoms and lessen the suffering that comes with diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, or trauma. However, I also collaborate with you both to understand and heal the roots of each of your pain. This means sifting through things such as generational trauma, the immigration history of each of your family, how race/ethnicity/culture shaped both of your identities and experiences, and how spirituality and religion impacted each of you in both positive and harmful ways. For example, understanding how love and anger were expressed in your family or how your family repaired after conflict, among many other things. We work to hold a holistic picture of each of your stories and the story of your relationship so you can embrace all of who each of you is both the pain and the joy.
I have worked with couples in all different stages of relationships from dating to providing premarital counseling during engagement, marriage, crisis after infidelity, or even working through a separation and divorce. I bring my experience and knowledge as a seasoned couples therapist to our sessions to create a safe environment to help you both move forward well.
Why choose Mixed Roots Psychotherapy for Couples Counseling?
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At Mixed Roots Psychotherapy we work to hold the whole person and relationship. We cannot just fit you and your partner into a box or a theory. We don't just give you some random relationship-building exercises and hope that they make you like each other more. We work to understand the strengths and the growing edges of each of you as people as well as the relationship to create a therapy that works for both of you.
An example of how couples therapy may start is by first meeting both of you together for our first session and hearing more about your relationship. This may be things like what brought each of you individually to therapy, what were some of the things that attracted you to each other in the first place, what would I see if I watched you both fight, among some other questions. The next two sessions would be dedicated to getting to know each of you as individuals, while the other person listens and watches me understand the story of their partner. We would then together decide on the goals of therapy, the places you both are getting stuck, and the frequency of the couples therapy sessions moving forward.
I use an integrative approach that pulls on lots of different tools both from personal experience, supervisors, training I received, and books I have read to help us navigate your relationship dynamic. There are therapeutic modalities that I pull from to help us navigate these often painful conversations and interactions. I have explained a few below to help you get an idea.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is a research-based approach that focuses on restructuring negative patterns of interaction and fostering emotional connection between partners. Grounded in attachment theory, EFT helps couples identify and express their underlying emotions and needs, leading to greater intimacy and relationship satisfaction. By promoting a secure emotional bond, EFT equips couples with the skills to navigate conflicts and challenges while deepening their emotional connection. This is at the core of how I conduct therapy, and I have seen amazing results as we work at the deeper emotional and relational bonding.
Restoration Therapy emphasizes the importance of repairing emotional injuries and restoring relational health through empathetic understanding and attuned responsiveness. Restoration Therapy uses experiential exercises, guided interventions, understanding neurobiology, and mapping out your relational cycles to empower couples with the tools for resilient and fulfilling relationships.
I hope this just gives you a snapshot of how we practice couples therapy at Mixed Roots.
Who my relationship therapy services are for
I work with couples from all different stages of relationships, walks of life, races, ethnic backgrounds, SES, sexual orientations, and religions. There are some key commonalities in the couples I see as well as some areas of specialty that I tend to work with.
Interracial/Intercultural Couples
Interracial/intercultural couples therapy addresses the unique challenges and dynamics that arise from differing cultural backgrounds and experiences within the relationship. We work to foster empathy, and effective communication between partners, helping them navigate issues such as cultural differences, societal biases, and family expectations. This may include exploring identity issues, creating mutual respect for their cultural heritage, and developing strategies to manage internal and societal stressors.
Dicernment Counseling
This covers a wide range of situations that involve making a major decision about the state of the relationship. This may be working with a married couple to decide whether to separate or divorce and if so how to go about that in a way that limits the pain and damage especially for potential children involved. This may be working with a dating couple who have some doubts or hesitations about taking getting engaged or moving in together. I help couples explore their underlying motivations, fears, and hopes, aiding them in gaining clarity and confidence in their decision-making.
Premarital counseling
Engagement and marriage provide amazing opportunities for learning, growth, and transformation. People come to this type of therapy for many different reasons. Some are asking questions about whether a relationship is right for them and want help figuring that out. Some have committed to each other but want to gain insights into various factors that come with weaving their worlds together. Some come because people around them have told them it’s a good idea. For any of these reasons, pre-engagement or premarital therapy can help you engage these questions.
Depth Work
Many of the couples I work with have a desire to become more psychological and emotionally healthy as individuals as well as a couple. They are often highly motivated, often engaging in their own individual therapy in addition to couples counseling. This creates space to look at the unconscious and underlying patterns within the relationship that cause couples to get stuck and have the same fight over and over. This depth work frees people from the stories and pain of their past in order to live into a new shared story.
FAQs about Couples Counseling Los Angeles
Here are some frequently asked questions that couples have when seeking out couples therapy or relationship counseling for the first time. If you have any other questions that are not answered here feel free to reach out to me personally.
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Couples therapy is a dynamic field with various modalities tailored to address specific relationship challenges. Among the most effective approaches is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which focuses on identifying and restructuring negative patterns of interaction, and fostering emotional connection and responsiveness between partners. Another valuable modality is the Gottman Method Couples Therapy, which emphasizes building communication skills, managing conflicts constructively, and nurturing intimacy through shared meaning. The modality is just one part of the process, ultimately it is about finding a therapist that you both connect with and putting in the work to build healing, understanding, and trust.
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There are many different types of couples therapists or marriage counselors with different specialties and degrees. Psychologists and Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are the most common couples therapists. Psychologists hold doctorates often having in-depth training in clinical psychological issues while often specializing in a few areas. MFTs have masters degrees and specialize in working with family and couples therapy while often also working with individuals. In addition, Licensed Professional Counselors and Licensed Clinical Social Workers who both have master's degrees, do at times see couples after receiving additional certifications and training. One thing to remember is while the degree, experience, and certifications in a specific type of couples therapy can be good information to gather when looking for couples therapists, it is only one part of the puzzle. The most important part is finding a therapist that you both feel connected to and that you feel understands your situation. The relationship between you and your therapist is one of the most important parts of successful couples counseling.
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Couples therapy continues to be an effective tool in enhancing relationship satisfaction, increasing resilience, and addressing relational challenges. Recent studies underscore its positive impact on diverse couples and issues. For instance, a meta-analysis by Lebow et al. (2012) found that couples therapy yielded significant improvements in relationship distress, with effect sizes ranging from moderate to large. Moreover, research by Halford et al. (2019) highlighted the long-term efficacy of couples therapy in maintaining gains and preventing relationship deterioration over a five-year follow-up period. Additionally, the founders of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) have garnered empirical support for their effectiveness in fostering secure attachment bonds and promoting relationship resilience (Johnson & Brubacher, 2020). Overall, recent findings reinforce the value of couples therapy as a powerful intervention for cultivating healthier relationships and individual well-being in today's diverse relational landscape.
Remember building a healthy and strong relationship doesn't just stop when you finish couples therapy. It is something that you continue to engage, work on, and grow in long after you finish with couples therapy.
Start rebuilding authentic connection in your relationship with couples therapy in Los Angeles
Romantic relationships can be exhilarating, healing, fun, and beautiful but it also takes work to cultivate and create space for joining to worlds and building a life together. Couples therapy can help provide the support for you and your partner to increase intimacy, heal wounds, improve communication, identify underlying patterns, navigate conflict, and ultimately foster resilience, happiness, and fulfillment for both you and your partner. Please reach out for a free consultation or with any questions that you may have.
References
Lebow, J. L., Chambers, A. L., Christensen, A., & Johnson, S. M. (2012). Research on the treatment of couple distress. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38(1), 145–168.
Halford, W. K., Bodenmann, G., Harris, S. M., Behrens, K. Y., & Wilson, K. L. (2019). The efficacy of Couple CARE for Parents of Toddlers: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(3), 347–357.
Johnson, S. M., & Brubacher, L. L. (2020). Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy: Empiricism and art. In J. L. Lebow, D. K. Snyder, & D. C. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of couple and family therapy. Springer.