The Problem

You keep having the same argument, over and over.
You feel disconnected and lonely in your marriage.
You feel constantly picked-on or criticized.
You feel like you can’t agree on anything.
You feel like your partner isn’t the same person you fell in love with, or like you have changed for the worse.
You feel dissatisfied with your connection, like you’re going through the motions, and long for real intimacy.
You can't get on the same page with money, kids, work, sex or in-laws.

Many couples are stuck in a repeating pattern of conflict, re-enacting the same role and complaining about the same thing over and over again. Once this pattern becomes established it gets harder and harder to break. Like dominoes, once the first chip falls, the rest tumble inevitably down.

This is because of almost universal human flaws that play out in relationships: the blame game, fear of rejection, desire to be right and win, and ingrained roles & rules that individuals have learned to follow due to life experience & temperament. We end up creating the very problem we're seeking to solve.

Marriage Counseling: About

There Is Hope

If you relate to any of the problems above, we can help you learn tools to heal your marriage. You can experience joy, love, closeness, affection, trust and deep satisfaction with your partner again.

If you are looking for a marriage counselor, chances are your relationship has been unhappy for a while. You may even be looking at this as a last resort before separation. We've seen first hand how marriages on the brink can be restored with simple (though not easy) changes in how you think and behave.

Our directive counseling & skills-based approach is a training ground so you can practice a different way of being and communicating with your spouse.

After 15 years of marriage and over a decade providing counseling, we’ve learned a lot about how to build a strong, loving relationship and how to help other couples transform their marriage. We'd love to partner with you on your healing journey.

Marriage Counseling: About

Our Approach is Different

Here's How:

You'll start with individual counseling with us, William generally works individually with the husband and Elizabeth with the wife. We'll listen to your perspective, explore any ambivalence you have about your relationship, and teach you how to change destructive negative thoughts.
Once both partners are ready (have done enough personal work and have a desire to change themself) we'll all come together for couples sessions. These are meant to be used to practice what you’ve learned and get feedback from us.
You will work hard and practice specific tools in real time and at home, not just talk about the problem.
You will focus all of your effort on making changes to yourself, not your partner.
You will have homework to do between sessions to keep practicing your skills and measuring the results.
This coaching program is designed to be completed in 12-24 sessions. We will provide ongoing assessment, so If these skills aren’t working we will discuss other options. We don’t want to waste your time or money.
After your initial free consultation you will provide in depth information to us about yourselves and your marriage. We will take that information, consult with each other about our meetings and start to diagnose the problems in your marriage as well as create a detailed, personalized plan for your relationship, which we’ll walk you through at our first full session.
If, after the initial consultation, we don’t think our approach would be effective for you, we will refer you to a marriage counselor that would be a better fit. Again, we don’t want to waste your time or money.
We only work with a few couples at a time to ensure we have the time & bandwidth to provide completely individualized care and consultation.

It’s amazing to see how quickly relationships are transformed when two people come together to work hard and make changes. Years of dissatisfaction, hurt, and anger can melt away when real empathy and intimacy is shared.

We are trained in and primarily use technology from David Burns’ TEAM-CBT approach. We're informed in Emotion-Focused Therapy and Gottman Therapy. We place an emphasis on present day issues rather than childhood or attachment problems. We believe anyone can change in any given moment, provided they know how to make that choice and have the tools. We are hopeful every marriage can be healed.

Marriage Counseling: About

Issues outside our skill-set

As much as we'd like to help every marriage, there are some areas that we don't have the necessary training or expertise:

There is current domestic violence (physical or sexual abuse within the past year)
Current Addiction, or less than 6 months sobriety, including: Alcohol and/or drugs; bulimia or anorexia; gambling; pornography
Current PTSD symptoms (We can assess whether history of trauma is causing current PTSD symptoms.)
Undisclosed infidelity: If this comes to light in counseling we’ll refer you to specialists in this area.
Your main problem area is significant differences in how to parent.
Polyamorous relationships.

Marriage Counseling: About