Meet Dina
Dina Clabaugh, LICSW, MSW, MS, is the founder of Insight Counseling in Duluth, MN. For the past decade, Dina has been practicing psychotherapy with special interests in attachment, connection, neuroplasticity, and the intimate partner bond. She has studied Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Relational Cultural Theory (RCT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), and IMAGO Theory. She is influenced by the works of Esther Perel, Terry Real, and Peter Fraenkel. And Elena Brower will be forever her favorite yoga and mediation teacher.
By supporting couples Dina feels she is also indirectly (or directly) supporting the whole family system. Our individual wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around us mirror the quality of our intimate partner relationship. It matters.
Like anything we do in life, practice makes perfect. While relationships will never be perfect, with skilled direction and authentic support, Dina believes couples can experience the revolutionary sensations of full aliveness, joyful relaxation, and wonder. They discover re-enchantment.
Meet Michael
Michael Clabaugh, LGSW, MA, MSW, is a couple therapist practicing at Insight Counseling in Duluth, MN. With a background in philosophy and religious studies, Michael has a developed analytical approach of Socratic questioning amidst the background of the Wisdom traditions and Western phenomenology. Michael sees the emotionally committed relationships as the crucible through which we gain our sense of self and are physically, emotionally, and spiritually held and validated as someone of worth. Going back to European Romanticism, he sees the priority of relationships. Autonomous selves do not enter into relationships; rather relational, vulnerable selves emerge from relationships. Our deepest existential fear is abandonment and invalidation as a being of worth.
Michael holds degrees from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Harvard, and The College of St. Scholastica. Michael is trained and influenced by Internal Family Systems (IFS/IFIO), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Paul Gilbert’s Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), and IMAGO Relationship Therapy. He is also strongly influenced by the work of Daniel Siegel.