I came to Clara in 2021 thinking we'd talk only about dating. What I didn't expect was all the ways she would crack me open, and how truly transforming our work would be not only in my dating life but in work, family, and friendships. Clara taught me how to be vulnerable and got me talking about my feelings in a way I never had before. Traditional therapy scared me at the time, but she set me on a new path of being softer, kinder, and more curious with myself.

She has a rare gift for making you feel completely seen while gently challenging you. When I resisted going on a first date with the man who is now my husband ('he's into hiking, I'm not!'), she simply asked, 'Do you think it's possible that partners can have different hobbies?' 

I see my work with Clara as a real turning point in my life. Our work together set me on the path to meet and ultimately marry my husband, but also to leave my job and start something completely new. Clara was able to pull things out of me I didn't even know were there, and I'm endlessly grateful to her and the version of myself she helped me to meet.

When I started working with Clara, I felt like I had achieved “success” in so many parts of my life but that I was constantly “failing” in the romance department. I was a little skeptical when she suggested the answer might trace back to my childhood, but I was open to seeing where her theory would lead us. Through our sessions, she helped me understand how old patterns were showing up as an inability to set boundaries and, maybe as importantly, a resistance to actually accepting love and support from a partner. The work we did together turned out to be transformative. I met my now-husband while working with Clara — we've been together five years and married for one.  I did some follow-up work with Clara about a year after our initial sessions that helped me work through the feelings associated with actually being in a long-term, secure relationship, which was a brand new world to me.  Through it all, Clara gave me excellent support and guidance but also pushed me to see things in a new way.  I have no doubt that the relationship I have with my husband would not have been possible without the work I did with Clara and I’m eternally grateful for the experience!    

Working with Clara isn't surface level. You can go to therapy for years and have a surface-level relationship with your therapist. Working with her required digging a lot deeper, and it took time: journal prompts, reading, recommended podcasts. It really helped peel the onion back. I'm still doing that. My boss even tells me, "Every time I talk to you, it's like peeling back an onion."

Clara meets each client where they are. She holds space spectacularly well. In a world full of quick fixes, that matters. A lot of what I needed, I didn't even know coming in. I signed up for a dating coach. I ended up learning about boundaries with my family and my work. I learned to speak up. I changed managers. I'm now leading a team at a new company because of the strength I built working with her.

Now I'm engaged. My partner and I had been in the same circles for 15 years, probably at the same parties, passing each other on the sidewalk. We just hadn't done the work we each needed to do. You have to do the work to become the best version of yourself to meet your person. Clara has a special skill for helping people do that work in a way that builds them up. (Photo Credit)

I saw therapists for years, and most of them were helpful. However, working with Clara shone a light on how the issues I’d talked about for years, showed up in my dating life. Working with her gave me space to be honest about what I really wanted in a romantic relationship, helped me workshop issues that came up in real time, and ultimately prepared me for the relationship of a lifetime. As our wedding officiant highlighted at our wedding last weekend, we had individually done the work “walking alone” before we found each other on our walk together - I was definitely not alone though in finding myself, one of the key partners in that self discovery journey was Clara. 

Clara's multi-faceted coaching approach opened my eyes to the subconscious obstacles and limiting beliefs that had kept me stuck in the same cycle of dating disappointments and lack of momentum for years. Her insight into everything from intimacy blueprinting to deep-seated fears to dating behavior patterns went above and beyond anything I had learned about myself in therapy. Shortly after our coaching work concluded, I met my now-husband (and soon-to-be father of our first child), and I've been in the most conscious, committed, and stable relationship of my life. I credit Clara's coaching with guiding the changes I was able to make within myself to enter into, receive, and continue to grow my marriage. If you're struggling or feeling stuck in your dating life, I can't recommend working with Clara highly enough.