Miles Murch, AMFT

Relationships are hard. They’re fundamental to being alive and still, it seems like all the care and highest hopes aren’t enough to keep many relationships from getting caught in the same arguments, the same old stories, the same dead ends. In these painfully stuck places, it can feel like the love and passion you once had is now out of reach.

Couples therapy with me is a place to find help and to start thinking differently about your relationships. It is a place to learn more about yourself and your partner – your triggers as well as your strengths. As you grow together, you will begin to understand and experience the unique alchemy of your relationship in a new way. With more trust and communication, couples therapy can also be a place to find deep healing from past hurts and sensitivities. Importantly, it is an opportunity to realign with your highest hopes and dreams for yourself and someone you love.

Background

Every relationship is the unique configuration of two (or more) souls coming together in a particular context. At the same time, the underlying obstacles that get in the way of deeper connection are, surprisingly, not that unique. I have helped couples with a variety of issues, including communication, infidelity, sex, open relationships and more. While I work with all types of couples, I am particularly passionate about supporting my community and the unique relational challenges of gay men and queer folks.

My own marriage has been one of my greatest teachers and healers. I didn’t have good relationship models at home, and as a queer person, couldn’t find them out in the world either. That means I’ve not only experienced the beauty of evolving with the same person these past 17 years, it also means I have had to learn and re-learn how to do relationships and intimacy many times over. As a therapist, I bring a great deal of lived experience with stuck places, old wounds, and transformation.

My approach is warm, direct, and collaborative, and I practice body-based, mindful psychotherapy. While this does include plenty of talking, I’ve seen over and over how these powerful, experiential methods can cut through speech and story to help people feel more at home in their bodies, relieve symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression, and come into fuller, more alive ways of being in relationship.

Training & Education

I hold an M.A. in Somatic Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where I focused on using body-based inquiry and the transformative power of relationships as pathways to healing. My undergrad was in American Literature and Culture at UCLA.

In my previous professional experience, I had the pleasure of training and working at the Pacific Center for Human Growth, serving the LGBTQ++ community at large. I have also worked with African women and children seeking asylum at the African Refugee Development Center, as well as mental health advocates and policy makers at the California Institute for Mental Health.

My studies in mindfulness and experiential therapy include additional training in the Hakomi method, trauma and attachment research, Relational Somatic Healing, Somatica sex and relationship coaching, Buddhist Psychology, and hundreds of hours of yoga teacher training.

In My Free Time

Dog lover. Plant lover. Writer, painter, festival-goer. On the trail, a yoga mat, or in the crossfit gym.