Welcome to the ND Partners Institute for Complex Couples
Love is the practice of letting others be themselves while staying true to yourself – Esther Perel
OUR MISSION
The ND Partners Institute was founded to support complex couples who feel like refugees of the counseling system—struggling to find effective, neuroaffirming support while navigating chronic, complex constraints in their relationships.
We use the ND Compass as our guiding framework. It stabilizes couples first, providing Liberating Structures that create clarity, safety, and connection. After navigating the Outer Ring, couples can choose to end therapy, applying the model to their relationship for life, pause to deepen their skills, or move into deeper transformational work in the Inner Rings.
The ND Compass is deeply rooted in Internal Family Systems (IFS), a model that helps individuals and couples understand and work with their internal dynamics. IFS principles are introduced in the Outer Ring, fostering stabilization and self-awareness, and are then used extensively in the Inner Rings, where deeper differentiation and healing take place.
Our approach is practical and visual. We use an electronic flipchart to impart key concepts, ensuring couples can recall and apply strategies when it matters most. We also prioritize Autonomic Wellness, recognizing that reactivity—often a byproduct of chronic relational struggles—can become the primary issue over time, leading to entrenched patterns that need to be healed.
Couples leave their work with us equipped with templates for navigating conflict, sustaining connection in the "airspace," and much more.
We’re here to help you find a path forward—toward connection, clarity, and growth.
Hi, I’m Jill!
The ND Compass is a framework I developed by blending the science of my education with the sacred work of guiding couples. It helps stabilize complex couples navigating the external constraints of neurodiverse partnerships. The Outer Ring provides the structure and support needed for stabilization, offering a natural decision point—to pause, integrate, or continue into the deeper, transformative Inner Rings.
The ND Compass emerged over time, integrating interventions from several evidence-based models, including Bowen’s Family Systems Theory, which emphasizes self-other differentiation, and Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems (IFS), which enacts SELF-PART, or INNER differentiation.
I hope this body of work helps you find a path forward—to connection with your partner and your self..
Smiles,
Jill
“We saw so many counselors over the years.. Jill “got us” and helped us saved our 23-year marriage. Now we have the tools to help ourselves when we get stuck. We can find each other in the “airspace” and know how to keep it clean!”
- Complex Couple