Hi, I’m Michael Barmak. Your Relationship Expert.
For the past 23 years, I’ve been helping couples learn how to communicate so that partners hear, understand and have empathy for each other.
I help partners learn how to manage the part of them that judges, gets defensive, acts out with anger, shuts down, takes their partner’s behavior personally and is controlling.
At the same time, I help partners learn how to take personal responsibility, move into an intention to learn and be more caring, compassionate, accepting, considerate and loving.
When both you and your partner show up together at the same time as mature loving adults, you create a loving relationship where there is connection, trust, intimacy, vulnerability, passion, playfulness and joy! I can help you learn how to do this and sustain this deep connection.
Marriage Counseling Informed by My Own Emotional Journey
I strongly believe that I can only help someone heal as deeply as I have healed. So I’ve invested my time doing my own inner work and practicing different therapies. These include Inner Bonding, a psychospiritual process that teaches personal responsibility for making yourself happy and then sharing your happiness with your partner, and Imago Relationship Therapy for couples, which helps both partners feel appreciated, validated and cared for.
I am a Certified Inner Bonding facilitator and a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and regularly co-lead the Inner Bonding Facilitator Training Program. I have also been profiled on the acclaimed PBS-TV series, Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy as a couple’s therapist expert. My private counseling practice is located in Cranford, NJ, and I offer marriage counseling, couples therapy and individual therapy in person and online for New Jersey residents and Inner Bonding training for individuals and couples who live outside of New Jersey.
I am passionate about helping couples experience the vitality and purpose they can find through sustaining healthy, meaningful relationships. I can’t wait to help you and your partner experience the joys of a more fulfilling relationship.
Life Outside My Practice
In a previous life, I was a music talent scout for Famous Music Publishing, Paramount Picture’s music division. I express my creativity and joy through playing piano, songwriting, ballroom dancing and writing children’s books with my wife.
Marriage Counseling for Every Step of Your Relationship Journey
If you’re ready to learn new skills so that you can feel more hopeful about your relationship, contact me to schedule a free consultation.