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Lara Kennerly, PsyD
Individual Relationship Therapy in Sacramento, CA
When the people you love most seem cause you the most pain.
You care deeply about the relationships in your life. But somewhere along the way, closeness started to feel complicated, heavy, or just out of reach.
Dr. Lara Kennerly, PsyD offers individual relationship therapy in Sacramento to help you understand what's blocking you from growing in life and in your relationship, keeping you stuck in relationship patterns that don't ultimately make you happy, and help you find your way to feeling a sense of security with yourself and within your relationships.
You Want Closeness. But Something Always Seems to Block You.
You might not even know how to explain it.
Things start off well, and then something shifts. You begin to feel anxious, unsure, or distant. You might replay conversations in your head, question where you stand, or feel a constant sense that something is about to go wrong.
Or maybe it goes the other way. When things start to get close, you pull back. You tell yourself you need space, or that something feels off, even when you care about the person.
You might find yourself choosing partners who are unavailable, or staying in relationships that leave you feeling disconnected or unbalanced, with you of you always wanting more or feeling something is missing. Or you leave before things have a chance to deepen, even though part of you wants that closeness.
Over time, you might start to wonder if this is just how it is for you. If connection is always going to feel this hard.
And it is not just about relationships. These patterns can affect how you see yourself, how safe you feel with others, and how much you trust your own instincts.
This is often where individual relationship therapy begins. Not by just trying to fix the relationship itself, but by understanding what is happening within you in these moments, and by understanding how your life experiences have created your unique fears, needs, longings, and how you are able to share those with others.
What Is Individual Relationship Therapy?
Individual relationship therapy is a form of one-on-one psychotherapy that focuses specifically on how your sense of security with yourself and with others- your internal world- is a compass for your life, guiding how you give and receive love. Rather than bringing your partner or family member into the room, you come by yourself, and the work centers on you.
That might sound counterintuitive. After all, aren't relationships supposed to be worked on together?
No. Because your internal compass directly impacts how you give and receive love from others, focusing on your own experiences in therapy often leads to some of the most powerful shifts happening within a relationship, as you focus on learning how to tune into your own fears, needs, longings, and coherently share those with others. Your attachment style, your emotional responses, the patterns you learned in childhood, the ways you protect yourself when you feel threatened, all of these shape every relationship in your life. Individual relationship therapy gives you the space to explore exactly that.
At Navigating Rough Waters Therapy, the therapeutic approach is Trauma-Informed and Attachment-based. That means the work goes beyond surface communication tips or conflict resolution scripts, and does not require you to have your partner present or to have committed to a mutual therapy journey with you. Individual Relationship Therapy can allow you to change and grow in ways that improve your relationship dramatically. Together, you and Dr. Kennerly will look at the deeper emotional currents shaping how you connect, protect yourself, and reach out to others.
Signs You May Benefit from Individual Relationship Therapy
Sometimes it is hard to know whether what you are experiencing is something therapy can actually help with. These are some of the signs that individual relationship therapy may be a good fit for you.
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You find yourself in the same relationship patterns, even with different people
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You feel anxious, unsure, or on edge in your closest relationships
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You pull away when things start to feel too close or too real
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You replay conversations and second-guess how you came across
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You have a hard time trusting others, even when they have given you no real reason not to
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You stay in relationships that leave you feeling empty, unseen, or not quite enough
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You give a lot in relationships but rarely feel like it is reciprocated
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You are going through a separation, breakup, or estrangement and struggling to process it
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You want a relationship but find yourself avoiding real intimacy when it gets close
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You feel lonely even when you are surrounded by people who care about you
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You are not sure what you actually need from others, or how to ask for it
You might not see yourself in all of these, and that is okay. If something about your relationships feels off, confusing, or harder than it should be, that is reason enough to explore it.
Individual Relationship Therapy in Sacramento, CA
Sometimes the most honest conversations you can have about your relationships happen when the other person is not in the room.
A lot of people come into therapy hoping to fix a specific relationship. What they often discover is that the more useful question is about themselves. What they need, what they fear, what they have been carrying for longer than they realized. That kind of understanding doesn't just change one relationship. It leads to an organic growth process that leads to an increased sense of security with self and others, and leads to changing long-held relationship patterns, which you can carry with you into all your relationships.
At Navigating Rough Waters Therapy, Dr. Lara Kennerly offers individual relationship therapy to adults in Sacramento and nearby areas inlcuding Downtown Sacramento, East Sacramento, Land Park, Curtis Park, Oak Park, Arden-Arcade, West Sacramento, Elk Grove, Roseville, Folsom, and the greater Sacramento region.
For those outside the area, secure online therapy is available for adults anywhere across California.
What Individual Relationship Therapy Can Help With
Relationship struggles do not always look the same. For some, it shows up as ongoing conflict. For others, it is distance, anxiety, or a pattern that keeps repeating no matter who they are with. Sometimes there is no clear crisis, just a sense that closeness feels harder than it should.
Individual relationship therapy in Sacramento at Navigating Rough Waters Therapy can support you with:
Recurring Conflict Patterns
You find yourself in the same argument again and again, with different people, in different seasons of your life. Therapy helps you understand what's driving those patterns and how to interrupt them before they do more damage.
Emotional Distance and Disconnection
You're present physically but somewhere else emotionally. You don't know how to bridge the gap, or whether you even want to. Therapy helps you understand what you're protecting yourself from and whether connection still feels possible.
Fear of Abandonment or Rejection
You find yourself clinging, over-explaining, or managing other people's emotions to keep them close. Or perhaps you pull away first so no one can leave you. Either way, the fear is exhausting. Therapy helps you understand where it comes from and find steadier ground.
Difficulty Setting Boundaries
You say yes when you mean no. You absorb others' moods and feel responsible for their feelings. You give and give until there's nothing left. Therapy helps you understand why boundaries feel dangerous, and how to hold them without guilt.
Relationship Transitions and Grief
Divorce, estrangement, the end of a friendship, or a painful falling out can leave you feeling disoriented and unmoored. Therapy provides a space to grieve what was lost and slowly find your footing again.
Attachment Wounds from the Past
Childhood experiences with caregivers who were absent, inconsistent, or overwhelming leave lasting imprints on how you relate to others. Therapy helps you understand those imprints and begin to heal them.
Communication That Keeps Failing
You know what you want to say, but it comes out wrong. Or you go quiet when you need to speak up. Or you feel flooded and shut down before you even get to the point. Therapy helps you understand what gets in the way and develop more authentic ways of expressing yourself.
Meet Your Relationship Therapist in Sacramento
Dr. Lara Kennerly, PsyD
I work with individuals who are struggling in relationships in ways that are hard to explain, especially when it feels like the same challenges keep showing up over time.
Some people I see are in a relationship that feels difficult or unstable. Others are not in a relationship at all, but find it hard to begin one or to stay connected once things start to matter.
Often, there is a mix of anxiety, fear of loss, and a pull to protect yourself. You might want closeness, but also feel the urge to step back when it starts to feel real. Or you may stay in relationships that do not feel right, unsure how to change the pattern.
That is usually where we start. Not just what is happening in the relationship itself, but what is happening within you in those moments, and everything that came before.
We take the time to understand those patterns in a way that feels steady and manageable, without pressure to rush or force change.
I offer individual relationship therapy in Sacramento, CA, as well as online sessions across California.
Why Individual Therapy, Not Couples Therapy?
This is a question worth asking honestly. Couples therapy can be powerful, but it is not always the right first step. There are several reasons someone might choose individual relationship therapy instead:
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Your partner is not willing or ready to attend therapy
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You want to understand your own patterns before bringing someone else into the room
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You are navigating a relationship with a family member, friend, or colleague, not a romantic partner
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You are processing the end of a relationship, a separation, or estrangement
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You sense that something in you, not just the dynamic between you, needs to shift first
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You need a space to be fully honest without worrying about how it affects your partner
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You are struggling to develop or sustain meaningful relationships, and want to be able to do so.
Individual therapy gives you room explore what is going on within yourself and how this impacts how you give and receive love. Individual Therapy has the goal of helping guide you to a stronger sense of security within self and others, and doesn't confine your growth to simply within a current romantic relationship. It's goal is to extend your change and growth to other parts of your life and other important relationships as well.
Frequently asked questions
Your Next Step Toward Secure Deeper Connections
You can start understanding what has been happening in your relationships, including the patterns, reactions, and moments that tend to repeat.
Dr. Lara Kennerly offers individual relationship therapy in Sacramento, CA, with in-person sessions and online therapy available across California.