Our Therapy Team

Couple/partner therapy isn't just individual therapy multiplied.  It's a unique form of therapy that benefits from a specially trained relationship therapist. At the Durham Couples' Clinic, our therapists have specific education, training, skills, and experience in working with intimate partners. To learn more about our highly skilled and sought after therapists, please take a look at our bios below.

MELISSA KROONENBERG (M.SC., RP, RMFT, CLINICAL SUPERVISOR)

For more than a decade, Melissa has worked with couples to help them better understand themselves and their relationships; strengthen connection, trust, and communication; heal from relational injuries and trauma; and find more enjoyment overall.

Melissa is passionate about helping couples create relationships that are in line with their hopes, needs, and desires. She aims to provide a non-judgmental space where people can make sense of their relationship needs and experiences.  The space we hold for the significant people in our lives is both sacred and powerful; because of that, relationship tension can be very painful, frightening, and disappointing.  Couple's therapy with Melissa can help you understand what keeps you stuck in undesirable patterns of interaction with your partner, and help you get back to a place of security, love, and desire.

Melissa also provides clinical supervision and consultation to the other therapists at the Durham Couple's Clinic.

Julia Donovan (M.A., RP)

As human beings we have a basic need for secure connection and so we create emotional bonds with romantic partners which, when strong, provide us with feelings of joy, comfort and security. On a biological level, disruptions to this attachment, be it conflict or emotional disconnection, are interpreted as a significant threat to our survival.

Whether couples are dealing with issues of intimacy, betrayal, frequent arguments or other problems of communication, Julia helps couples heal and create stronger, more secure bonds. She is passionate about providing an empathetic, authentic and non-judgmental therapeutic presence and actively helps in molding clients interactions, so they can turn to each other in vulnerability and respond to each other with love and compassionate acceptance. Even the most profound hurts can be healed and couples can rediscover the loving relationship they once had.

Kelly Onofre-Turcios, MACP, RP

My approach to couple therapy is centred on fostering a deep emotional connection between partners by emphasizing the importance of understanding each other’s feelings and perspectives. I work with couples to enhance their communication skills, enabling them to express their emotions and needs openly and effectively. By helping partners develop practical tools and strategies tailored to their unique relationship dynamics, I aim to support them in navigating challenges, strengthening their bond, and building a resilient, healthy partnership that can withstand future stressors.

Jasmine Raea Perry, MACP, RP (Qualifying)

As human beings, we have fundamental attachment needs and needs for connection and bonding with others; through these bonds, we are provided with a sense of security, comfort and emotional safety. When we reach for another and there is emotional disconnection, this can lead us to feel alone, insecure and emotionally unsafe.

Whether couples are facing communication issues, conflicts, lack of intimacy, trust issues, or any other relationship challenge, Jasmine provides a safe, empathic, collaborative and non-judgmental space for couples to better understand and express their emotions, strengthen their bond, and improve their overall relationship. Jasmine is passionate about working with couples to develop empathy and understanding for one another, identify and transform negative patterns of communication and cycles of interactions, foster vulnerability, accessibility and emotional closeness, and create safer and more secure bonds. When we are able to turn toward one another in ways that feel safe, accessible, and emotionally responsive, this allows us to strengthen our bonds towards and respond to one another with empathy, compassion and acceptance of one's emotional needs, creating an overall sense of emotional safety.

JACLYN KEARNS (MACP, RP)

A significant part of the human experience is to feel a sense of love and belonging; when these needs are met, we feel secure, connected to others, and comforted; however, when these needs are unmet or misunderstood, we can experience feelings of emotional disconnection, loneliness, and despair. By taking the time to understand and highlight these attachment needs within ourselves and in our relationships, we can work towards creating a secure foundation and increased connection within ourselves and with our partners.

 Using an approach guided by compassion, collaboration, and care, Jaclyn seeks to provide a nonjudgemental and safe space to support couples with concerns including, broken trust, feelings of disconnection, intimacy-related concerns, and communication difficulties. Jaclyn is committed to providing a safe space for couples to reconnect and develop healthier ways to communicate their needs, reduce conflict, empathize with each other, and create a safe and secure bond. 

 Additionally, Jaclyn has a special interest in working with clients and couples where either one or both partners are diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, giftedness, or other forms of neurodiversity. She is passionate about offering a Neurodivergent affirming practice that is focused on providing clients with an empathetic and nonjudgemental space to explore how complex individual and relational needs impact both themselves and their partners.

Ultimately, Jaclyn's goal is to meet couples wherever they are in their relationship with compassion and understanding, helping to guide them towards finding new ways to move closer to each other, rediscover their love, intimacy, and friendship, and supporting them as they work through past and current struggles.

Rochelle Montague, MACP, RP

When interacting with others, especially our romantic partner, we are all reacting to our own experience of a shared situation. What is happening in a moment is content that comes with context driven by deep-held emotions and beliefs, which in turn impact our thoughts and behaviours.

In couples therapy, from a place of unconditional positive regard and impartiality, Rochelle seeks to guide and support couples to understand their attachment needs, relationship patterns and dynamics, and underlying emotions in order to name harder feelings that they have been going through. Additionally, she supports couples to understand their partner's side of things and safely invite them into their respective worlds, to share in experiences and develop a deeper understanding and positive regard for one another.

We grant ourselves and each other grace and space as we explore how to de-escalate and ground ourselves, how to approach one another, identify themes and patterns in the relationship, and understand each other’s needs, sensitivities and activation points to ultimately create stronger and more secure bonds.