About Us

Carmen Isais and Lee Ockenden, LMFT are a husband and wife partnership. They specialize in attachment and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Strengths of Emotionally Focused Therapy. According to the International Center for Excellence in EFT:

• EFT is based on clear, explicit conceptualizations of marital distress and adult love. These conceptualizations are supported by empirical research on the nature of marital distress and adult attachment.
• EFT is collaborative and respectful of clients combining experiential Rogerian techniques with structural systemic interventions.Change strategies and interventions are specified. Key moves and moments in the change process have been mapped into nine steps and three change events.
• EFT has been validated by over 20 years of empirical research. There is also research on the change processes and predictors of success.
• EFT has been applied to many different kinds of problems and populations.

Goals of Emotionally Focused Therapy:

• To expand and re-organize key emotional responses – learn to disrupt patterns in the relationship that don’t work.
• To create a shift in partners’ interactional positions and initiate new cycles of interaction – deescalate.
• To foster the creation of a secure bond between partners- create an emotionally safe place in the relationship.Lee Ockenden, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist of nearly 20 years. He has worked with hundreds of couples, individuals, and families through his private practice in Davis, California.

  Carmen Isais, AMFT is a professional integrative coach since 2009 and an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist since 2017. Her focus includes working with couples where one or more partner has a history of PTSD and/or Complex Trauma.