Couples Therapy Specialist in White Salmon
“Work on your relationship, not on each other” ~Stan Tatkin
My name is August Jensen, I specialize in couples therapy and marriage counseling in White Salmon and the greater Columbia River Gorge. My approach is informed by the wisdom of Naropa University, the healing principles of Hakomi, and Stan Tatkin’s innovative Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) to revolutionize the way you experience and nurture your relationships.
*New clients — if you have previously used Simple Practice with another therapist, you’ll need to send me a contact form with your same email before you can register with me*
Specializing in Couples Therapy in White Salmon & Hood River
I help partners navigate the complexities of their relationship dynamics and work better together. Through experiential and highly engaged sessions, I push couples to explore their attachment styles, automatic reactions, and outdated beliefs, empowering them to co-create a safe and attuned emotional environment. I see couples from White Salmon, Hood River, and the Columbia Gorge. Learn more at the PACT Institute.
Arousal Regulation: The Key to Better Interactions and Communication
Ever notice that sometimes talking about a problem only makes the argument bigger? That’s because we’re wired to track our partners better than ourselves, and then mis-read them as a threat. Without support, couples can easily get stuck in a loop of threat-signaling and defensiveness. In couples therapy, I help you learn how to co-regulate—so you can calm each other, reduce threat, and build a lasting sense of safety and security in your relationship.
Attachment theory: a love that lasts
Attachment is the deep bond that forms when two people first fall in love, but it alone isn’t enough to keep a relationship thriving—especially when old attachment wounds from past relationships are still active. In our work together, I’ll offer practical tools and exercises grounded in attachment principles. These become the building blocks for more effective communication, greater emotional responsiveness, and a more intimate, secure connection in your relationship.
Your love story: a secure functioning relationship
Without a shared understanding of what your relationship is—beyond the rush of love and excitement—it’s easy to lose your way. This is true for any group of two or more people. The solution is a secure-functioning relationship: a vision you co-create together, grounded in fairness, mutuality, sensitivity, justice, and ongoing collaboration and cooperation.
Start Couples Therapy in White Salmon
I offer a no-charge, 30-minute, in-person consultation in White Salmon to see if we are a good fit for couples therapy. This will provide us time to answer questions you might have, and have a rough idea of what to expect from me and the couples therapy process. Once we begin our full sessions, I have an online scheduler where you can manage your own appointment times. You can view the cost of each couples therapy session here
About August Jensen, Couples Therapist in White Salmon, WA
I offer this work through my couples therapy practice in White Salmon, Washington, serving clients from Hood River and the greater Columbia Gorge.
I integrate traditional Western psychology with the ancient wisdom of Buddhism to offer an authentic, grounded approach to healing and growth. While I continue to work with many individual clients, I focus most of my life energy—personally and professionally—on one central aim: helping couples build relationships rooted in fairness, justice, and mutual sensitivity. If we can’t learn how to do partnership well, how can we hope to move gracefully through the larger world without simply repeating, on a bigger stage, what we act out with our partners?
I hold myself to the same standard I invite my clients into, continually moving toward secure functioning in my own relationship. I sometimes describe “secure functioning” as being truly happy together—not in the fleeting sense of pleasure, but in the deeper sense that we can face anything as a team and always find our way back home to each other. Just as a newborn can feel profound comfort, safety, playfulness, and aliveness in the presence of a trusted caregiver, we as adults can experience that same sense of safety and vitality in our closest relationships.
Creating a secure-functioning relationship—as described in Stat Tatkin’s Book: In Each Other’s Care— is one of the hardest things we will ever do—and often, the hardest work is also the most meaningful.
Will you join me in finding this for yourself?
