Paul Ruffer, LICSW, offers marriage counseling & preparation with Jewish and interfaith couples, Imago therapy, counseling for separation & divorce, grief, loss & trauma and conflict resolution. He helps clients from Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland.
I specialize in using Imago Relationship Therapy to help couples create connection and intimacy by using their conflicts to promote understanding, celebrate differences and develop real partnership. Through an intentional dialogue process, I help couples create a safe and nurturing bond that allows them to become close again.
Overtime couples discover that their conflicts and differences can become real assets that enhance their understanding and appreciation of one another and themselves. For this reason I call my work relationship building since it allows couples to transform their conflicts and problems into personal and relationship growth opportunities.
WHY “RELATIONSHIP BUILDING”?
Because
we are all, as Dr. Harville Hendrix (the founder of Imago Relationship
Therapy) observed, “creations” and “creators”
of relationship in which we are nurtured and sometimes frustrated,
inhibited and wounded. Since life is lived with people most of our
conflicts and problems occur in relationship. Therefore, the repair and
reconciliation of those conflicts and problems will also need to occur
in relationship
FEES: I charge $125 for a 50 minute hour and will use a sliding scale when there is a demonstrated financial need.
INSURANCE: Please check with your insurance company regarding coverage and percentage of reimbursement for an out of network provider. Upon request, I will provide you with a statement of services to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. I am also a non-par provider for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Please contact me at:
PAUL RUFFER, LICSW
1625 K Street NW Suite 310
Washington, DC 20006
Metro accessible via Farragut North on the Red Line and Farragut West on the Blue and Orange Lines.
Phone: 202-641-3981
Email: pruffer@aol.com
CLICK 
FOR MAP AND DIRECTIONS
WHAT TO EXPECT
- I listen to, hear & witness your thoughts & feelings so you’ll do the same.
- I create a safe space where you feel heard, validated & understood.
- I encourage you to reflect non-judgmentally upon your life, thoughts & feelings.
- I help you learn that problems are gifts alerting you to disturbances in your life that are keeping you from knowing yourself & thriving.
- I teach you that everything you yearn to know is inside you & will, with patience, perseverance & compassionate listening & understanding become known.
- I believe in you & your ability to learn, grow & change.
- I remind you that you matter, are worth all the energy, resources and struggle this hard work entails and that you can unlearn old patterns and behaviors in order to learn new ones.
- And finally, I work
myself out of a job by teaching you that therapy is life long learning
that requires the relationship building insights and skill sets you
will have learned in our work together.
RELATED LINKS:
Mid Atlantic Association of Imago Therapists
Imago Relationships International
Keith Miller: Washington, DC, Imago Therapy
Dr. Teresa M. Hunt, Ph. D. Imago Therapy, Psychotherapy, Maryland, Washington, DC
Flora Ingenhousz LCSW-C Imago Therapy, Psychotherapy, Maryland, Washington, DC
Suzanna M. Hillegass, LCSW Imago Couples Therapy, Psychotherapy, Virginia, Washington, DC
I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (DC) and a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist. I received my masters in Clinical Social Work in 1982 from the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Community Planning.
WHAT CAN RELATIONSHIP BUILDING DO FOR YOU?
Relationship building cultivates the virtues of noticing, reflecting
and understanding as we acquire the insights and skills to better
manage our lives and learn to live and relate more fully. Specifically,
relationship building will help you enhance your;
- Communication skills so that you can listen to your partner’s point of view, enter their world and invite them into yours.
- Insight and appreciation of how your biography enhances and interferes with your ability to relate and connect today.
- Safety by discovering that hearing and validating your partner is easier than fighting and essential to growing and thriving.
- Awareness of how our natural impulse to survive can thwart our natural impulse to thrive.
- Joy by realizing how you and your partner can co-create your dream relationship
I SPECIALIZE IN THESE AREAS
- Marriage Preparation & Marriage Enrichment
- Separation and Divorce
- Conflict Resolution between parents & children, siblings & co-workers
- Grief, Loss & Trauma
- Jewish, Interfaith & Cross Cultural Relationships & Intermarriage
- Depression & Anxiety and Stress & Low Self Esteem
- Adolescents & Adult ADHD and anger management & impulse control
- Working with the chronically or terminally ill & their caregivers.
- Spiritual Direction & Psychotherapy with “religious” clients
BIOGRAPHIC
I worked for 16 years as the Jewish Chaplain and Counselor at Georgetown University’s Law Center and Medical Center providing psychological and pastoral counseling and care to students, faculty and staff. As a member of an interfaith Campus Ministry team I developed with other colleagues a “Prayer in Daily Life Retreat” that promotes and provides “Spiritual Direction” at Georgetown’s Law Center.
Following my tenure at Georgetown, I joined the staff of the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, Metropolitan DC’s premier agency providing grief, loss and trauma services to individuals, couples and families. As a staff therapist in the adult department I provided individual, conjoint/family and group counseling services throughout the 5 years I worked at the Wendt Center.
I am currently in private practice, providing marriage counseling and relationship coaching services.