Couples Therapy
Our entire practice is built around one thing: accelerated sessions, once a month. A full day at the start and shorter as you grow stronger, each followed by a single check-in before we meet again. No juggling a weekly slot around soccer practice or work travel, just enough time in the room to follow a conversation all the way through.
The rhythm
One long day a month, with a single check-in in between. That is the whole shape of it.
A full-day accelerated session
To start, a day of uninterrupted, focused work, with no clock running out just as something real starts to surface. We schedule seven hours, and if five is enough for the two of you on the day, we finish at five.
A one-hour check-in
A telehealth session to process what came up, practice your new tools in real life, and set the focus for next time.
Repeat until you've reached what you came for. Most couples do several cycles. Some need a few months. Others continue longer. There's no script, just your relationship's actual pace.
Why monthly, not weekly
It's not the familiar path. But in our experience it's the faster one: a day is long enough to reach the real conversation, and a month is long enough to practice what you find there.
Inside an accelerated session
Seven hours sounds like a lot until you see how a day is actually built. Here is an example of a regular day, and we craft yours around what the two of you need. We schedule the full seven and you can choose to end at five, so the length is yours to decide once you are in it. What couples tell me afterwards is that they were reluctant about the length beforehand, and glad of it by the end.
Your first day is a little different. It holds the bulk of a thorough relationship assessment (parts 2 to 4), including time alone with each of you. We create a clear, shared picture of where you stand and what to work on, and the last third of the day is the work itself.
Most couples leave that first day hopeful, with a real sense of direction for the first time in a long while.
Some of this happens outside
It's part of our accelerated sessions, weather allowing.
We head out on a trail near the office and keep working while we walk, side by side rather than facing each other across a room. It's the time of the day given to building connection rather than working on conflict, and couples often say things out there they hadn't managed to say sitting down.
I started meeting clients on a trailBetween sessions: the check-in
A week or two before your next accelerated session, you'll meet with Janette for one hour by telehealth. This isn't a mini-session, it's a chance to talk through what's come up since your last visit, practice the tools you're building in real conditions, and walk into your next accelerated session already knowing what you want to work on.
Wondering whether a day like this is right for you?
Schedule a callA note from Janette
“For years, I practiced traditional weekly sessions, 60 minutes, just long enough to watch a couple reach the edge of a breakthrough before the time ran out. Two steps forward, one step back, week after week. I still believe in the tools, actually now more than ever. I just stopped believing 60 minutes was enough time to use them well.
This is the only way I practice couples therapy now. Not because it's easier, it actually asks more of you, not less, but because I've watched couples get further in one focused day than they did in months of weekly sessions. And, meet their goals in less time with less therapy overall. If you came here expecting weekly sessions, I understand. It's what most of us assume therapy looks like. I'd just like the chance to show you what you can do when the clock doesn't run out.” – Janette
The same seven hours, two ways
Say it takes half an hour to settle in and build toward the conversations you've kept quiet. Each circle is the same seven hours: pale for settling in, dark for the words that have come out of hiding.
Same seven hours either way. Arranged the second way, more of them go to the work that transforms you.
What it compounds into
Roughly the same hours of work, in a quarter of the appointments and half the calendar time.
The ending is part of the plan
As you get stronger, the accelerated sessions get shorter and further apart, because by then more of the work is happening between you in your lives than in sessions with me. This is our aim from the first day.
The accelerated sessions get shorter as you get stronger. The rhythm stays the same.
The first sessions are the longest, because that is where we work through what is most stuck, build the tools for conflict, and rebuild connection. As that settles, the sessions shorten: we use the tools on what surfaces and go deeper into what was underneath. The last ones are about supporting you as you take on more of it yourselves.
Throughout, the rhythm holds: one accelerated session a month, in person, with a one-hour telehealth check-in a few weeks later. As you get unstuck, the space between sessions widens. How fast you move through it is set by the two of you, not by a schedule.
How long will we need this?
Every couple's timeline is different, and we won't pretend to know yours before we've met you. Some couples reach real clarity in two or three cycles. Others continue for six months to a year, especially when there's more to rebuild. What we can tell you is that you'll know you're getting somewhere, because you'll feel it. Steadier conversations, fewer old fights, more of the person you fell for showing back up.
When you've reached what you came for, you graduate. If life gets hard again down the road, you can always book a single session as a tune-up, no need to start over.
What you'll walk away with
- Rebuilt connection
- Renewed intimacy
- Heightened commitment
- Deeper trust
- A clearer understanding of each other's inner world
- Tools to communicate about problems as they arise
- The ability to recognize destructive patterns and choose differently
- Hope
- A weekly slot just isn't realistic for your schedule right now
- You've tried weekly therapy before and want to try something new
- You need real traction sooner than a weekly pace can offer
- You're rebuilding after a serious rupture and need relief
- One of you has brought up separation and you want to stay together
- You're a solid couple who wants to invest in going deeper, faster
A note on fit
If you or your partner is leaning out of the relationship and seriously considering separation, or if you or your partner are involved in an ongoing undisclosed affair, you may be better served with Discernment Counseling.
If there is active substance addiction, an untreated mental illness, domestic violence, or you fear your partner, this is not the appropriate starting point. If any of these apply, please get in touch and we'll do our best to point you toward the right support.
Before the first day
We start our work together before you ever walk into my office.
First, Jaclyn, our Manager of Client Services, sends a short intake questionnaire, which I review myself. From there, Jaclyn will let you know if it seems like a good fit, and walk you through how everything works, for as long as you need. You'll have a brief, complimentary call with me directly so you can confirm I seem like the right therapist for what you're carrying.
The next step is to complete an extensive relationship survey built on the research of the Gottman Institute. This includes how you handle conflict, what you need, what you've stopped asking for. Your responses offer a real picture of many of your relationship's strengths and trouble spots, the kind of understanding that usually takes weeks of therapy sessions to build.
Finally, our first meeting happens via telehealth two weeks before your initial accelerated session. In this 90 minute virtual session, I'll ask about the story of your relationship, officially beginning our assessment and laying the groundwork for our first day together.
More about the Gottman assessment →Your first day doesn't start with me catching up, it starts with momentum.
- 01Intake questionnaire & fit review
- 02Conversation with Jaclyn, then a short call with Janette
- 03Research-based Relationship Survey
- 04Part 1 of the Assessment via telehealth
Inside the sessions, the work is Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy, as deep as the moment calls for.
Read: “We all want connection, but sometimes connecting doesn’t feel safe”Sexual and intimacy concerns have a page of their own. If one of you is unsure about staying, start with Discernment Counseling instead.
We keep a limited number of weekend and consecutive-day dates for couples traveling in. Ask Jaclyn what's open.
Read: months of couples therapy in a day or twoQuestions couples ask
What if 7 hours feels like too much?+
Then we finish at five. Every one of these days is scheduled for seven hours and can end at five. You get to decide, on that day, each time, and you are billed for the hours we use rather than the hours we blocked out.
Five hours still gets you the gains of the longer day. It is enough time to reach the conversation underneath the argument without the clock running out.
Most couples arrive wary of the length, and tell me afterwards they were glad of it. And that's partially due to the rhythm of the day, which includes breaks, connection building conversations, and time outside.
Is this way of working part of the Gottman Method?+
Yes. The Gottman Method is built in three parts: a thorough assessment, then the treatment itself, then graduation. Longer sessions are a recognized way of doing that work, and front-loading the hours and then fading them out is one of the findings the method rests on. (Bogner and Zielenbach-Coenen gave couples the same number of therapy hours in two different orders, and the couples whose hours were front-loaded and then spaced further apart did better, and had held onto more of it when they were followed up eight months later. 1984)
What if we need more support than the monthly rhythm gives us?+
We can schedule more than one accelerated session, or hourly check-in, a month. Or we can schedule an extra here and there, as things come up. The cadence can be customized to your relationship's needs.
What does this cost? Can we pay over time?+
Accelerated sessions are priced at a slight discount over our standard couples therapy rate, because they are bundled together. We think of it this way: couples usually picture couples therapy as a bill that arrives every week over a period of months, not bundled together in long days. The hours are the same, just timed differently.
We have an hourly rate calculator on our fees page. There you can also read about our option to pay over time, if needed.
When accelerated sessions are the right fit but the timing is challenging financially, we're open to discussing a payment plan. We believe that couples who want this service should be able to access it.
How do we reserve an accelerated session?+
Tell Jaclyn when you're hoping to come in and she'll find a date that works for you both. We book one session at a time, so you're reserving a single day rather than a course of them.
A deposit of half the fee is then charged two weeks before the date, which is what holds the day for you. It goes toward the cost of that session rather than being an extra on top.
If you tell us more than two weeks ahead that the date no longer works, there's nothing to settle. Between one and two weeks, the deposit stays on your account and can go toward another accelerated session within ninety days. Closer in than that, it isn't returned, since a full day is hard to fill at short notice. All of it is written out on our fees page.
What if we need to cancel or move a session?+
Reach out as soon as you know. When we can move the session to another time within one week of the original date, there's no charge. If one of you is unwell, you can reschedule within the week or we can meet by telehealth instead.
An accelerated session holds a full block of time and is booked well in advance, so it's reserved with a deposit and the terms depend on how much notice we have. The full policy, with the figures, is on our fees page.
We live out of town. What options are there for us?+
Several, and couples who live a drive or a flight away are part of why we work this way. A single trip can hold a full day of therapy, and some couples arrange two or three consecutive days so more of the work happens in one visit. We also keep a limited number of weekend dates for couples traveling in.
The check-ins in between are by telehealth, so you'd only be traveling for the accelerated sessions themselves. Tell Jaclyn where you're coming from and she'll build the schedule around your travel.
Can you recommend places to stay?+
If you're coming from out of town, especially for a multi-day visit, Jaclyn, our Manager of Client Services, will help you with all the details, from scheduling to nearby places to stay.
Ready to take the next step? Let's see if we're the right fit.
Schedule your call
Every visit starts with a conversation. Begin by scheduling your call with Jaclyn. As our Manager of Client Services, she'll answer your questions and help you figure out how to take it from there. Once we've had a chance to connect and make sure this is the right fit, we'll confirm your dates and get you set up.
Not ready just yet? No pressure. Contact us to let us know how we can help. Sit with it, and come back when you're ready. We'll be here.
Want to know how this practice works with LGBTQIA+ couples?
LGBTQIA+Is your sexual relationship part of what has gone quiet?
Sexual and Intimacy ConcernsWant to read about couples issues?
Read the blog