If you have questions about unconventional relationships — Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM), BDSM, transgender, intersex, same-sex, inter-racial — Dr. Elisabeth Sheff can help provide you with answers. While she is a Sociologist and not a therapist, Dr. Eli can understand your relationship challenges, help you to put these challenges in a larger social perspective, give you information from her own and others’ research, and provide the guidance borne of talking with hundreds of people about their relationships and families. For clients who want more than the usual “how does that make you feel” that they find on therapy, Dr. Eli will discuss options and give direct advice — but is not attached to you following it.
Relationship consultations are great for folks who have questions about the inner workings, wisdom, maintenance strategies, and safety of unconventional relationships. Coaching sessions provide ongoing guidance in developing skills, exploring strategies, dealing with conflict, clarifying boundaries, and expanding self-soothing strategies. Come solo, as a couple, or a group, and get your questions answered or build your skills and break through your communication rut.
To schedule an appointment, email Eli at [email protected]
RATES
$150* per hour or 4 hours for a $500 retainer
*Sliding scale possible
Relationship Consultation
These consultations are designed to answer clients’ questions regarding their own actual or potential relationships. Dr. Sheff uses her research data to answer client’s questions and offer feedback about what others in similar situations have done. Sessions aim to provide information and help clients to clarify their own thoughts and expectations, and consider some of the pitfalls that are common in this type of relationships, how other people have dealt with these difficulties, and how those various strategies worked out. These sessions last from 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on the client’s needs and the number of clients involved.
Relationship Coaching
These ongoing coaching sessions are designed to help clients identify relationship patterns, improve communication skills, and devise strategies for managing challenges. Using extensive research and knowledge from 20 years of interviewing and observing polys and kinksters, Dr. Eli can help clients contemplate a wider perspective and consider a range of alternatives. While therapists witness and support clients as they seek out and treat the roots of personal issues, Dr. Sheff’s coaching style can provide guidance when clients want it. In addition to research based information, Dr. Eli can provide advice and opinions if clients are interested in that kind of direction.
Initial Session
If Dr. Eli is speaking with one person, the telephone is best and the first session usually takes 1.5 hours. When there are two or more clients involved, the initial session takes 2 hours and Skype or Gchat is better than telephone. After the initial session many clients prefer to drop down to 1 hour sessions, though some choose to continue with longer sessions.
