Marriage can be deeply meaningful and deeply difficult.

You may still love each other but feel increasingly disconnected. The same arguments keep returning. Trust has been damaged. Intimacy has changed. One of you reaches while the other withdraws. Or perhaps you have simply reached the point where what you have tried on your own is no longer working.

You do not have to keep repeating the same patterns.

Couples therapy provides a structured space to slow things down, understand what is happening beneath the conflict, and begin building healthier ways of connecting.

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Couples Therapy May Help When You Are Experiencing

• Recurring conflict that never seems fully resolved
• Emotional distance or loss of friendship
• Communication breakdown
• Infidelity or betrayal
• Loss of trust
• Sexual or physical intimacy concerns
• Differences in desire
• Resentment that has accumulated over time
• Difficulty repairing after conflict
• Major life transitions
• Parenting or blended-family stress
• Faith or spiritual differences affecting the relationship
• The impact of trauma on emotional or physical connection
• Premarital or newlywed concerns
• A marriage that looks functional from the outside but feels disconnected inside

You do not need to wait until your marriage is at the breaking point before seeking help.

My Approach to Couples Therapy

I approach marriage as a relationship system.

That means we do more than decide who is right or wrong.

We look at the patterns between you.

What happens when one spouse feels hurt?
What does the other spouse do next?
How does that response affect the first spouse?
What keeps the cycle going?

When couples begin to recognize the cycle rather than seeing each other as the enemy, change becomes possible.

Treatment may focus on:

• understanding recurring relationship patterns
• improving communication
• increasing emotional safety
• strengthening friendship
• learning healthier conflict and repair skills
• rebuilding trust
• increasing emotional and physical intimacy
• understanding individual histories that influence the marriage
• developing greater empathy and responsiveness
• creating practical relationship habits that support long-term connection

My work is informed by marriage and family therapy, Gottman-informed interventions, trauma-informed care, sex therapy, and other evidence-informed relationship approaches.

Faith-Integrated Couples Therapy

For couples who desire it, Christian faith can be thoughtfully integrated into therapy.

That may include exploring:

• covenant
• forgiveness
• grace
• stewardship of marriage
• spiritual intimacy
• biblical understandings of love and service
• shared purpose
• prayer and spiritual practices
• the impact of religious beliefs on sexuality, roles, conflict, and expectations

Faith integration is collaborative.

Scripture or spiritual beliefs are never used to excuse abuse, coercion, manipulation, unsafe behavior, or avoidance of appropriate clinical care.

Couples who prefer therapy without explicit spiritual integration are also welcome.

When Trust Has Been Broken

Betrayal can destabilize nearly every part of a marriage.

Whether the rupture involves infidelity, secrecy, pornography, financial betrayal, or another significant breach of trust, couples often need help answering difficult questions:

Can trust be rebuilt?
How do we talk about what happened without destroying each other?
How much information is helpful?
How do we manage the anger, grief, fear, and uncertainty?
What would repair actually require?

Therapy does not guarantee reconciliation.

It provides a structured environment to understand what happened, stabilize the relationship, establish appropriate boundaries, and determine what repair and healing may require.

When Trauma Is Affecting the Marriage

Sometimes the difficulty between spouses did not begin in the marriage.

Past experiences—including childhood trauma, sexual abuse, relational wounds, loss, or previous betrayal—can affect trust, attachment, conflict, emotional safety, and sexual intimacy.

My background in trauma-informed care and sexual health allows us to consider those experiences without reducing every marital concern to the past.

When individual trauma treatment or another level of care is needed, we will discuss that openly and determine the most appropriate treatment plan.

Couples Therapy & Intimacy

Emotional and physical intimacy are closely connected.

Couples may seek therapy because:

• sex has become infrequent or nonexistent
• one spouse desires more intimacy than the other
• affection has disappeared
• sexual conversations lead to tension
• betrayal has affected physical connection
• trauma has changed how intimacy feels
• emotional disconnection is showing up sexually

As a Certified Sex Therapist, I can address the intersection of emotional, relational, and sexual concerns when appropriate within couples treatment.

→ Learn More About Sex Therapy