Issues we help couples with in Towson
Couples rarely call about "communication problems." They call about last Tuesday. The blowup over nothing, the silence after it, the feeling of not being heard by the person who knows you best.
Below are the twelve situations that bring couples into this practice, each matched to the method with the best evidence for it. Find the one that sounds like your house. If two of them do, start with the one that showed up first. They are usually related.
Most couples name the wrong problem first. Fifteen minutes on the phone usually sorts it.
Book a free 15-minute call →Conflict and connection
3 situationsConstant arguing and high conflict
Frequent arguments follow a script: raised voices, the same accusations, someone walks away. Gottman research identified the four patterns that predict divorce, and counseling teaches the specific skills that interrupt each one, from softened start-ups to repair attempts that actually land.
Gottman-ledEmotional disconnection and living like roommates
No fighting, no closeness. You manage the house, the kids, the calendar, and the emotional connection quietly went missing. Emotionally Focused Therapy works on the attachment underneath the politeness, which is why it fits this problem better than communication exercises do.
EFT-ledTrust issues
Checked phones, second-guessed stories, the constant low hum of doubt. Whether the cause was a betrayal or a slow accumulation of broken small promises, trust rebuilds through consistent, verifiable behavior over time. The work here is structuring that rebuild so it holds.
Gottman + EFTBetrayal and intimacy
2 situationsAffair recovery and rebuilding trust
The weeks after disclosure are not the time to decide the marriage. Stabilizing comes first: ground rules for questions, contact, and sleep. Then understanding what the affair meant. Only then the stay-or-go decision, made properly instead of in a panic.
EFT-led, stagedDesire discrepancy and sexual disconnection
One of you wants sex more, and the pursuing and avoiding have both turned bitter. Desire discrepancy is the most common sexual issue in long relationships. Dr. Vance integrates sex therapy training into couples work, so this gets addressed directly rather than danced around.
Integrated sex therapyLife and family stress
4 situationsMoney conflict
Money fights are almost never about math. They are about safety, control, and what each of you learned money means. Naming those meanings usually shrinks the fight to a solvable size.
Gottman-ledParenting and co-parenting
Two exhausted people disagreeing about the humans they love most. The work builds one parenting alliance out of two family histories, including after separation.
Gottman + PACTMajor life transitions
A move, a diagnosis, a job loss, a new baby. Transitions reshuffle every role in a marriage, and couples who renegotiate the roles on purpose do better than couples who improvise.
EFT-ledEmpty nest and midlife
The kids leave and two people look at each other across a quiet table. This stage is a genuine second start for marriages willing to do the work of re-meeting each other.
EFT-ledMental health and trauma
3 situationsTrauma in the relationship
When one partner carries trauma, the marriage carries it too. PACT's nervous-system focus helps both partners understand triggers and regulation, so reactions stop reading as rejection.
PACT-ledWhen anxiety or depression moves in
A partner's depression or anxiety changes the daily weather of a marriage. Couples work runs alongside individual treatment, so the relationship becomes support rather than another stressor.
EFT + referral coordinationAddiction and couples in recovery
Recovery reorganizes a relationship, and the sober months bring their own conflicts. This work supports both the recovery and the marriage around it, with referrals to individual treatment where needed.
Structured, with referralsThe issue tells us where to start. The method comes after.
Your first step is the same for all twelve: a free 15-minute call where you describe what is happening and get an honest answer about whether this practice fits. See also the couples we work with and what it costs.