Money & Relationships Therapy

In Santa Ana, CA and virtually across California

You can be responsible with money and still feel anxious about it. You might earn a comfortable living but never feel financially secure. Maybe conversations about spending with your partner turn into arguments, or you feel responsible for supporting family members even when it's taking a toll on you.

Our relationship with money is shaped by more than what we earn or spend. It's also influenced by our experiences with trust, security, responsibility, and the relationships we grew up in.

Therapy can help you understand why money brings up the feelings it does and how those patterns affect your relationships today.

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Consultation

When Money Becomes a Source of Stress or Conflict

You don't have to be struggling financially to have a complicated relationship with money. Sometimes the challenges are more emotional or relational than practical.

You might recognize yourself in some of these experiences:

Financial anxiety: Constantly worrying about money, even when you're financially stable.
Money shame and self-worth: Feeling guilty about spending, earning, needing help, or not being where you think you should be.
Financial secrecy or infidelity: Hiding debt, purchases, or financial information from a partner, or struggling to rebuild trust after discovering it.
Conflict with a partner: Recurring disagreements about spending, saving, financial priorities, or shared responsibilities.
Family expectations and obligations: Feeling responsible for financially supporting family members or struggling to establish boundaries.
Control and independence: Difficulty depending on someone else financially, accepting support, or sharing financial decisions.
Overresponsibility: Feeling like everyone's financial security depends on you.

These concerns can exist alongside real financial pressures, and sometimes those pressures are a significant part of the problem. Therapy isn't a substitute for practical financial support, but it can help you better understand the emotional and relational challenges involved.

Understanding Your Relationship With Money

The way we experience money often has roots in our earliest relationships.

Maybe you grew up in a family where money was a source of conflict, where asking for help came with strings attached, or where financial success was closely tied to your worth.

Those experiences can shape how you approach security, independence, responsibility, and trust long into adulthood.

My approach is relational, attachment-focused, and psychodynamic. Rather than focusing only on financial behaviors, we'll explore the emotions, beliefs, and relationship patterns underneath them.

I'm interested in the things you might already recognize about yourself, but haven't quite figured out how to change.

The goal isn't to become perfectly rational about money. It's to develop greater awareness of your patterns, understand where they came from, and build more flexibility in how you respond to them.

Individual & Couples Therapy

Individual Therapy

You might be trying to understand why financial success doesn't make you feel secure, why setting boundaries with family brings up guilt, or why money has become so closely connected to your sense of worth.

Individual therapy gives us space to explore your relationship with money in the context of your personal history, identity, and relationships.

Couples Therapy

Money can become a source of disconnection when two people bring different expectations, experiences, and fears into a relationship.

Whether you're navigating recurring financial disagreements, secrecy, unequal responsibilities, or difficulty making decisions together, we'll work to understand the patterns underneath those conflicts and what each person needs to feel respected and secure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this financial therapy?

My work focuses on the psychological and relational aspects of money. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, I help individuals and couples explore the emotions, beliefs, and relationship patterns that affect their financial lives.

I don't provide financial planning, investment advice, or debt management services. When practical financial guidance is needed, working alongside a qualified financial professional can be helpful.

Do I need to be struggling financially to benefit from therapy?

Not at all. Your financial circumstances and your emotional experience of money aren't necessarily the same thing. You can be financially secure and still experience anxiety, guilt, shame, or conflict around money.

Do you work with individuals or only couples?

Both. You don't need to be in a relationship to explore your relationship with money. These patterns can affect how you relate to yourself, your family, romantic partners, and others.

Interested in Working Together?

You don't need to have everything figured out before starting therapy. Whether money has become a source of anxiety, conflict, shame, or disconnection, we can explore what's underneath those patterns and what might need to change.

I offer in-person therapy in Santa Ana and virtual therapy throughout California.