Poly-Friendly Therapy in Columbus, Ohio with Telehealth Available
New relationship structures can feel thrilling and destabilizing
Making sense of what polyamory brings up
Transitioning into polyamory or non-monogamy can feel exciting, expansive, and deeply alive. It can also stretch your capacity in ways that catch you off guard.
You might feel overwhelmed by the emotional intensity of new dynamics. Old insecurities can feel amplified. Experiences move faster than your mind and body can fully integrate. You may be doing the reading and listening to the podcasts, yet still feel flooded when theory meets real life.
Maybe your partner is dating for the first time. Maybe jealousy surprises you. Maybe joy and fear sit side by side in ways you didn’t expect.
There may be much that resonates about polyamory or non-monogamy, alongside a quiet uncertainty about whether it can work for you. If your relationships are bringing up more than you anticipated, poly-friendly therapy can help.
The internal shifts that can follow
Polyamory and non-monogamy can amplify patterns that were already there. You may recognize yourself in some of these experiences.
Emotions feel bigger than expected
Strong waves of jealousy, fear, grief, or comparison. Feeling activated in ways that are hard to predict or manage.
Boundaries feel hard to hold
Knowing what you need but finding it difficult to communicate or maintain it. Worrying about disappointing partners or causing rupture.
Insecurity gets louder
Questioning your worth, your place, or your importance. Feeling easily destabilized by shifts in attention or connection.
Old wounds resurface
Past attachment injuries or relational trauma showing up in present-day dynamics.
Decision-making feels overwhelming
Struggling to know what is reasonable to ask for. Being pulled between your needs and the needs of others.
What’s coming up has a history.
Therapy helps you respond differently.
The internal impact of new relationship structures
When anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma intersect with non-monogamous relationships, it’s easy to decide that you are simply bad at poly. Too sensitive. Too jealous. Not secure enough.
Often, parts of you learned how to protect connection long before you chose a relationship structure. Those parts are doing their best to keep you safe.
Poly-friendly therapy helps you understand these patterns, soften the intensity around them, and create space for new ways of relating that feel more grounded and self-directed.
My approach to poly-friendly therapy
STEP ONE:Understanding your approach to relationships
We begin by getting oriented. Your values. Your relationship structure. Your current dynamics. Solo poly, open, relationship anarchy, kitchen table, parallel, monogamish, married and open — all of it belongs here.
We look at what feels supportive and what feels strained, without assuming there is one right way to do this.
We identify the situations, beliefs, and relational moments that activate you most. We develop ways to stay connected to yourself when emotions spike, so you are not swept into reaction or shutdown.
If things feel overwhelming, we slow down. If you already have solid coping skills, we move more quickly beneath the surface.
STEP two:Exploring triggers and emotions
We explore what matters to you and how that translates into needs, boundaries, and requests. Many clients struggle to know what’s reasonable to ask for or how to communicate without fear of abandonment. Therapy becomes a space to practice self-trust.
STEP three:Clarifying values, boundaries, and communication
STEP four:Healing what lives underneath
Poly-friendly therapy that holds nuance
I approach this work without a preset idea of how relationships should look or where they should land. Polyamory is not something to fix, explain away, or treat as a deviation, and it is also not something I assume is the right choice for everyone.
I bring lived experience with non-monogamy alongside professional training as a trauma therapist. That combination allows me to understand both the relational nuance and the emotional depth that can surface in polyamorous lives.
My role is not to tell you how to do polyamory. It’s to support self-understanding and choice, so you can make decisions that feel aligned with who you are.
Jealousy or comparison that feels overwhelming
Attachment wounds showing up in new dynamics
Uncertainty about boundaries or needs
Fear of losing connection or stability
Emotional fatigue from managing multiple relationships
Ambivalence about whether non-monogamy fits long term
If you see yourself here, you’re not alone, and help is available.
What poly-friendly therapy can help you navigate
This kind of support can be helpful if you’re experiencing:
Methods I use
EMDR
Supports processing past relational experiences or fears that continue to show up in present dynamics.
Internal Family Systems
Helps you understand and care for the parts of you activated by jealousy, fear, or insecurity.
Areas poly-friendly support can help shift
We’ll work on:
Better understanding your needs and boundaries
Relating to jealousy and insecurity with less shame
Building self-compassion and emotional flexibility
Communicating more honestly and effectively
Making empowered decisions about your relationships
Self-compassion changes how you show up in relationships.
Support for self-understanding
A space to make empowered choices.
FAQS
Poly and open relationship-friendly therapy questions you might have
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The direction your poly or open-relationship therapy takes will be unique and tailored to you. You may be ambivalent about an open/poly relationship, questioning the health of your relationship(s), unsure of the right approach or style, or overwhelmed by your feelings. If that’s the case, we may focus more on helping you cultivate clarity about what’s coming up for you and which actions/next steps align with your values.
You might notice past wounds or fears about relationships being magnified. We can create a space for you to understand how past events may still be impacting you and how they may be showing up as problems or conflicts in your relationships.
You may also be seeking therapy for reasons unrelated to your poly/open relationships, but simply want a therapist who understands and affirms them.
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I focus on individual therapy. There may be times we include partners intentionally and briefly. I am also happy to collaborate with or refer to couples or relationship therapists as needed.
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Absolutely. Jealousy, or navigating a partner's jealousy, is a common and often overwhelming concern in polyamorous or open relationships. It can be challenging to differentiate between emotions you need to tolerate and feel, and times when you need to establish a boundary or make a request of your partner. I find that an Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach can be incredibly helpful for understanding the different parts of ourselves that surface during moments of jealousy, allowing us to connect with them in a more attuned way.
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I am polyamorous and have personal experience with what it’s like to transition to a new relationship structure, making mistakes, and unpacking all the “stuff” that comes with it. I also have extensive training as a trauma therapist, and understand how our early experiences with connection and attachment can reverberate into our adult relationships.
I have done therapy training specific to working with polyamorous folx, enjoy reading about polyamory/non-monogamy, and am always in an ongoing state of learning. I have lived experience being polyamorous, but that doesn’t mean I think how I do things is the gold standard or how you “should” do polyamory. I also believe it’s perfectly valid to decide you want a monogamous relationship. My aim is to help guide you to increased clarity and self-understanding so you can make empowered choices and improve your relationships.