If this sounds familiar
Before we fix anything, we need to see the cycle you're both caught in.
The argument that never resolves
The topic may be money, chores, in-laws, or time, but the fight is the same one. Each of you can predict every line, and neither of you can stop it.
One pursues, one withdraws
One of you pushes to talk it through; the other shuts down or goes quiet. Both moves make sense from the inside, and each one intensifies the other.
Distance where closeness used to be
You function well as logistics partners, and feel more like roommates than lovers. Affection, sex, or simple warmth has thinned without either of you deciding it should.
Trust that hasn't healed
An affair, a discovery, a broken promise, or a slower erosion of reliability. You may both want to move forward and find yourselves stuck between rehashing and pretending.
Hearing without listening
You talk, but nothing lands. Each of you hears the words and misses the meaning behind them. You're talking without really speaking, hearing without really listening. Conversations start reasonably and end in criticism, defensiveness, or silence.
Not sure the relationship can improve
One or both of you is quietly asking whether to keep trying. That question deserves a careful, honest process, not a snap decision made mid-fight.
We are shaped in relationship, and much of what changes us happens there too. The couple itself, not either partner, is the client.
What to expect
A structured beginning, then work in the room.
We begin with a joint session to hear the story of your relationship and the cycle you're caught in, followed by a full individual session with each of you. Each partner gets dedicated time to be heard on their own terms before we chart the work together.
Together we name the pattern, who pursues, who protects, what each move is guarding, so the two of you can face the cycle as allies instead of facing each other as adversaries. My couples work draws on Gottman Method Couples Therapy alongside attachment-based approaches, with influences from Emotionally Focused Therapy, Imago, and Relational Life Therapy.
The most important work happens in the room: slowing real moments down, saying the truer, softer thing under the sharp thing, and rebuilding the small ways you turn toward each other. Insight matters, but couples change by having new experiences with each other.
Session length
Couples sessions run 50–55 minutes, the same length as individual sessions.
Format
Weekly or biweekly to start, in person in Rockville or by secure video anywhere in Maryland. Both partners join from the same location for virtual sessions when possible.
Investment
Couples therapy is self-pay. Superbills are not provided for couples work.
Fees & insurance →For each of you
We'll begin by making sure both of you feel heard before considering what each of you may need to change.
My job is to be firmly on the side of the relationship, which means both of you will be challenged, and both defended. When something is genuinely harmful to the relationship, I'll say so directly. And if either of you ever feels ganged up on, we address that immediately.
Expect to speak honestly, and to hear your partner say things they haven't been able to say at home.
Expect the sessions to feel active. I will interrupt escalation, slow key moments down, and ask you to try things in the room.
Expect to look at your own side of the pattern, not because you're to blame, but because your side is the one you can change.
Expect small assignments between sessions: brief, concrete practices, not homework packets.
Focused couples services
Some seasons of a relationship call for more specific work.
Affair recovery counseling
When trust has been broken by an affair, the work has its own shape: making sense of what happened, rebuilding safety without rushing forgiveness, and deciding together what the relationship becomes next. Affair recovery counseling is structured, dedicated work for couples in the aftermath of infidelity.
Affair recovery counseling →Pre-marital counseling
You don't have to be in trouble to do this work. Pre-marital counseling helps you find where you're not yet on the same page about money, family, sex, and how you each handle conflict, and talk it through before those gaps turn into patterns you get stuck in. It helps you build the habits of a strong marriage deliberately, while goodwill is at its highest.
Pre-marital counseling →Common questions
Before you decide anything
My partner is reluctant to come. Is it worth starting anyway?
Reluctance is common and workable. Some partners worry that couples therapy will leave them feeling blamed, outnumbered, or pressured to accept someone else’s version of the relationship. Many of the couples I work with tell me that one partner, often the husband, felt more at ease trying therapy with another man. A free consultation call, with both of you on the line, is a low-stakes way for a hesitant partner to ask their own questions and get a sense of how I work. And if your partner won’t come, individual work on the relationship can still be valuable.
Will you tell us whether we should stay together?
No. That decision belongs to the two of you. What I can do is make sure you're deciding with full information: the cycle you're in, what each of you actually needs, and what would have to change for the relationship to work.
Won't therapy just become a place to fight with a witness?
A good couples session is structured. I actively interrupt the escalation cycle rather than letting it run. The point is to have a different kind of conversation than the one you can already have at home.
Do you take sides?
I take the relationship's side, and that includes honesty. Both partners get challenged, and both get defended. That said, partners can absolutely do things that sabotage a relationship, and I call that out for what it is. If either of you ever feels ganged up on, that's something we talk about directly.
What training informs your couples work?
I have completed Level 1 and Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and my couples work draws on Gottman Method principles alongside attachment-based approaches. I'm also influenced by Emotionally Focused Therapy, Imago Relationship Therapy, and Relational Life Therapy. I'm trained in Discernment Counseling for couples at a crossroads, and I bring experiential and mind-body methods when they serve the work.
One conversation, before any decisions.
A free 15-minute consultation: one or both of you on the line. Tell me what's happening, ask anything, and get an honest sense of whether this is the right next step.
Schedule your free consultationComing on your own? Individual therapy also addresses relationship patterns.