Smooth Relations founder, Leigh S. Finkel, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked in professional counseling for more than twenty years. She has particular expertise in constructively managing family relationships and marital issues. She has developed a good familiarity with the wedding and event planning industry and has a close working relationship with area clergy, both of which have increased her insight and understanding of the many issues involved during the stressful times between engagement and wedding.

Many years of professional marriage counseling have provided the perspective that most couples enter marriage without proper preparation. While some form of premarital counseling might be required or even provided by a church or clergy, many go through this during the time of stressful wedding planning and are not able to devote much attention to it. Without professional guidance to effectively assess and guide couples, much of what passes for premarital counseling is unproductive. Leigh feels passionately that good wedding planning includes effective premarital counseling and that much can be accomplished in even a few brief sessions with the appropriate professional expertise. She is confident that Smooth Relations is a positive contribution to those who are preparing for marriage.

Leigh also believes that family events provide an excellent opportunity to improve family functioning and set the stage for long–term successful relationships. Over the years in her clinical practice with individuals, couples and families, Leigh became aware of how major life cycle events (weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations) seem to intensify family struggles and tensions. She noted how these celebrations that are based upon happy events invariably seem to stir up family conflicts and create additional stresses for those planning and participating in the event. She developed a good track record of counseling individuals and families so as to prevent the escalation of these conflicts; she was gratified to receive appreciative feedback as to how helpful this had been in the eventual success and happiness of the event.

In addition, Leigh also accrued a compilation of stories from others who told about their grief over disastrous weddings and other unhappy “celebrations” which resulted because family discord had never been addressed. From planning and going through her own events, as well as observing those of friends and relatives, Leigh recognized that these conflicts are a normal part of life cycle events, which deserve some extra attention. She noticed that even though the wedding and event planning industries seem to be expanding with ever more choices and services, there is a glaring lack of attention to the emotional struggles involved in and exacerbated by planning such a big event.

As a psychologist, Leigh particularly enjoyed working with difficult family situations and achieved very positive results with some particularly challenging combinations of people. She decided that rather than confine her work to a psychological practice, she could use her skills to help everyday people encountering the stresses and discord involved in event planning as well as helping to provide them with a healthy marital foundation. She saw that taking a small but dedicated amount of time prior to a wedding could yield not only a joyous day of celebration but also the foundation for a peaceful and long–lasting marriage. She enjoys offering the unique and valuable contributions to marriage preparation provided by Smooth Relations.