Connected was created by Miri Arie, PhD, CGP, and Nina Helms, MA, LMHC, after years of hearing clients describe the pressure, uncertainty, and disappointment they experienced during first dates and the early stages of dating. Many understood what they wanted to do differently, but found it much harder to put that understanding into practice when the stakes felt real.
Miri and Nina created Connected as a bridge between understanding and experience: a guided, non-clinical program where adults can learn, practice, receive thoughtful feedback, and connect alongside others.
Miri is a psychologist with 20 years of experience helping people recognize how established patterns shape their relationships and experiment with more intentional ways of connecting. As a Certified Group Psychotherapist, she brings particular expertise in group process, interpersonal feedback, and creating experiences where people can learn with and from one another.
Nina is a licensed mental health counselor with more than a decade of experience working with adults, couples, and families. Her relational approach draws on expertise in attachment, communication, relational trauma, and neurodivergence, along with a strong belief in authenticity, friendship, and shared enjoyment as foundations for lasting connection.
Feedback is clear, caring, and attentive to its impact.
We value experimentation, reflection, and trying again.
Healthy relationships and communities make room for each person.
Consent, pacing, and boundaries are core skills, not add-ons.
Meeting in person in Bellevue, Washington.
