COVID-19 Notice
Due to public health guidance for COVID-19, this practice has moved temporarily to entirely online telehealth services. We will resume in-office services when public health guidance suggests it is safe to do so. Also, online telehealth services will continue to be offered to North Carolina residents beyond this period of time. Contact us at referrals@jamesmccrackenpsychotherapy.com to inquire about our services, availability, and accommodations.
Are you experiencing distress from unmet longings in your marriage or committed romantic relationships? Or are you having difficulty with other close relationships such as with parents, children, siblings, co-workers, or friends?
We all want to feel safe, secure, understood, and admired in our closest relationships. We want to feel esteemed and validated, and like our partners, friends and family "get" us. And when we're not in this place, we can feel like everything is "off" at best, but falling apart at worst.
How it goes when stuck patterns of interaction start to emerge: often one person tries to connect by being more persistent and louder, and one person starts to become defensive or withdraw to avoid conflict. The harder each tries to resolve the conflict in their own way, the more stuck the whole situations feels. It seems like the other is to blame, but what is often missed is that these moves are attempts to protect the relationship and undo pain and loneliness. Somehow the whole relationship feels worse, and people either start looking for the exits or start thinking they have to settle for less than they hoped for. Nearly all marriages and committed romances, as well as parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, friendships, and co-worker relationships, experience these negative interaction cycles and the subsequent erosion of trust, and yet the outcomes can be better. Divorce, estrangement, resignation, hopelessness and disconnection do not have to be the end result.
We all want to feel safe, secure, understood, and admired in our closest relationships. We want to feel esteemed and validated, and like our partners, friends and family "get" us. And when we're not in this place, we can feel like everything is "off" at best, but falling apart at worst.
How it goes when stuck patterns of interaction start to emerge: often one person tries to connect by being more persistent and louder, and one person starts to become defensive or withdraw to avoid conflict. The harder each tries to resolve the conflict in their own way, the more stuck the whole situations feels. It seems like the other is to blame, but what is often missed is that these moves are attempts to protect the relationship and undo pain and loneliness. Somehow the whole relationship feels worse, and people either start looking for the exits or start thinking they have to settle for less than they hoped for. Nearly all marriages and committed romances, as well as parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, friendships, and co-worker relationships, experience these negative interaction cycles and the subsequent erosion of trust, and yet the outcomes can be better. Divorce, estrangement, resignation, hopelessness and disconnection do not have to be the end result.
You and Your Relationships Deserve Quality Therapy Services
Studies show that most people wait until major distress has been occurring for multiple years before seeking help. No matter how early or how long your relationship has had problems, if you are reading this, chances are you are bothered by hurt feelings, anxiety, frustration and unmet longings, and you are ready for change. I have the training, experience, skill, and commitment to help you have happier, healthier relationships, and help you recover and grow from hard times in your life.
Please read my website, and if I sound like a therapist you’re interested in, call me (919-228-9729) or email me. If it turns out I’m not the best fit for you, I can help you find someone who is. Your relationships and your happiness deserve support.
Please read my website, and if I sound like a therapist you’re interested in, call me (919-228-9729) or email me. If it turns out I’m not the best fit for you, I can help you find someone who is. Your relationships and your happiness deserve support.
Do These Problems Sound Familiar?
- Feeling stuck and frustrated, being ambivalent about preserving or leaving the relationship
- Feeling invalidated, invisible, or unable to clearly communicate
- Lack of sexual intimacy, or lack of sexual pleasure in a marriage or romantic relationship
- Turning away from one partner and secretly or compulsively towards another person (affairs) or activities (in some cases addictions)
- Hiding activities or parts of your self in hopes of avoiding rejection
- Feeling constantly anxious, depressed, or physically distressed (e.g. headaches, IBS, fatigue, medically inexplicable and chronic pain)
- Both partners seemingly "giving up" in silence (and feeling like distant roommates)
- Feeling unsafe, misunderstood, insecure, not accepted, and unloved no matter what has been tried
It Doesn't Have to Be This Way:
Effective Individual, Couples and Family Therapy Can Help
To begin transforming your relationships with yourself and others, contact James McCracken, LCSW, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Emotionally Focused Therapy Practitioner and Supervisor, and Certified Discernment Counselor (919-228-9729).
I use scientifically-validated and evidence-based approaches, principles and techniques to psychotherapy, including Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT Certified Practitioner and Supervisor - romantic partnerships, families with adolescent and adult children, and adult individuals), Discernment Counseling (Certified Practitioner), the Gottman Method to Couples Therapy (Level 2 trained - romantic partnerships), and Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapies (AEDP Level 3 trained - adult individuals) will help you make sense of your feelings, thoughts, and actions in your relationships to improve your ability to communicate and decrease distress. I help my clients feel understood and able to understand their closest relationships, while also de-escalating problematic patterns. As my clients get in touch with their deeper emotions and needs, they increase healthy assertiveness and respectful boundaries. I help people heal from hurts and betrayals, and make informed decisions about relationships that are ailing. I enjoy helping people feel empowered, and I help people get to where they can ask for, receive, and give the love they want and deserve. I know we are all looking for safety and security in our closest relationships, that these conflicts are about connection, and that proven approaches to therapy do help most people.
I use scientifically-validated and evidence-based approaches, principles and techniques to psychotherapy, including Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT Certified Practitioner and Supervisor - romantic partnerships, families with adolescent and adult children, and adult individuals), Discernment Counseling (Certified Practitioner), the Gottman Method to Couples Therapy (Level 2 trained - romantic partnerships), and Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapies (AEDP Level 3 trained - adult individuals) will help you make sense of your feelings, thoughts, and actions in your relationships to improve your ability to communicate and decrease distress. I help my clients feel understood and able to understand their closest relationships, while also de-escalating problematic patterns. As my clients get in touch with their deeper emotions and needs, they increase healthy assertiveness and respectful boundaries. I help people heal from hurts and betrayals, and make informed decisions about relationships that are ailing. I enjoy helping people feel empowered, and I help people get to where they can ask for, receive, and give the love they want and deserve. I know we are all looking for safety and security in our closest relationships, that these conflicts are about connection, and that proven approaches to therapy do help most people.
Life is better when we live in the shelter of each other…
We are designed for it!
Email to Inquire About Services
referrals@jamesmccrackenpsychotherapy.com
Office Location:
3326 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd
B-130
Durham, NC 27707
3326 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd
B-130
Durham, NC 27707
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James McCracken is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Emotionally Focused Therapy Practitioner and Supervisor, and Certified Discernment Counselor dedicated to improving the mental health and emotional well being of North Carolina residents. He and his associates provide couple therapy, marriage counseling, premarital counseling, sex therapy, discernment counseling, divorce counseling, co-parenting counseling, family therapy, individual psychotherapy, grief & loss counseling, LCSW Supervision, and EFT supervision services in his Durham, NC office and online. He and his associates are conveniently located to Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Hillsborough, Morrisville, Apex, and Cary for in-office visits, and are available online for all residents of North Carolina. If you would like to learn more about this practice directly, receive a free brief consult, or set up an appointment, please call
919-228-9729 or email referrals@jamesmccrackenpsychotherapy.com |
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We welcome and celebrate diversity in this practice and stand against oppression and social injustice including discrimination based on any aspect of identity including: national origin, religion, racism and white supremacy, patriarchy & sexism, ageism, gender conformism & transphobia, and heteronormativity & homophobia. We work with adolescent and adult clients from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, and are allied and affirmative providers to LGBQ-TGNC+ persons, and are sex-positive, body-positive, and kink-friendly providers.
James A McCracken is listed at AllTherapist.com
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James McCracken, LCSW, PLLC. All Rights Reserved
3326 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., B-130, Durham, NC 27707
referrals@jamesmccrackenpsychotherapy.com | 919-228-9729
3326 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., B-130, Durham, NC 27707
referrals@jamesmccrackenpsychotherapy.com | 919-228-9729