Couples Therapy
Therapy for couples who are ready to do something different.
When the same arguments keep resurfacing.
When conversations end in frustration or distance.
When closeness and intimacy feel harder than it used to.
If this feels familiar, it doesn’t mean your relationship is broken. It often means you’re stuck in a repeating pattern. When one partner seeks closeness, the other goes distant. When one criticizes, the other defends or placates. Over time, these patterns become automatic.
Couples therapy focuses on identifying that pattern and helping you interrupt it.
How Therapy Works Here
Therapy here isn’t about assigning blame or deciding who’s right. Nor is it just discussing the “argument of the week.”
If the same conflict keeps resurfacing, it’s usually because an underlying pattern between you has become automatic. The work isn’t just understanding that pattern, but interrupting it.
We slow down the moments where escalation and withdrawal take over, identify what drives each reaction, and build new responses that hold under stress.
This is not surface-level communication work. It’s changing the underlying pattern that’s keeping you stuck.
We focus on:
The attachment dynamics underneath conflict
The emotional triggers that keep the pattern alive
The practical skills needed to respond differently in real time
The goal is not temporary relief. It’s learning how to respond to conflict in ways that bring you closer together than further apart.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT):
EFT helps couples move from reactivity to understanding.
Instead of escalating or withdrawing, partners learn to express what’s happening underneath the reaction, which is often fear, hurt, and a longing for closeness and safety.
As emotional safety increases, defensiveness decreases. Conversations become less about winning and more about understanding.
Gottman Method Couples Therapy:
Gottman therapy helps couples build practical, research-backed skills that make change stick.
You learn how to de-escalate conflict, repair quickly after tension, and communicate clearly without attacking or shutting down.
Over time, new responses become automatic. Arguments become shorter, repair becomes faster, and trust becomes steadier.
Couples therapy isn’t about siding with one partner over the other. The focus is on improving the relationship between you.
What Couples Often Bring
You might be here because:
The same argument keeps replaying
Conversations escalate quickly or shut down
Trust and emotional safety has been damaged
You feel like you’re no longer on the same team
Emotional distance has overtaken connection
You feel like your partner doesn’t understand you
These patterns are common. They are also workable.
What Change Can Look Like
Change doesn’t mean the absence of conflict. It means that conflict becomes an opportunity for understanding and closeness.
Over time, couples begin to notice:
Slower escalation during disagreements
Clearer communication under stress
Increased emotional safety and understanding
Faster repair after tension
A strong sense of partnership or being on the same team
The goal isn’t to eliminate conflict. It’s to respond to conflict in ways that strengthen trust and connection.
Advanced Training and Consultation
Ignite Therapy of Austin serves as a Clinical Affiliate with The Center for Relationships, where I receive specialized training and ongoing consultation in evidence-based couples therapy, including the Gottman Method.
Couples sessions are conducted through this affiliation. You may contact me directly to begin, and I will coordinate the next steps.