A clearer understanding of your relationship- and a personalized path forward.

 

Sometimes you know something feels different in your relationship, but you’re not quite sure what is happening. Maybe you’re having the same arguments over and over. Maybe you’ve become more disconnected as life has gotten busier. Maybe communication feels harder than it used to, or you love each other but feel more like roommates than partners. You may not need to know exactly what’s wrong before reaching out for couples therapy. You just need a place to start.

 

The Couples Relationship Checkup is a structured, four-session couples therapy experience designed to help you understand your relationship, identify the patterns that may be keeping you stuck, and create a personalized plan for moving forward.

 

What is the Couples Relationship Checkup?

The Couples Relationship Checkup combines the Gottman Relationship Checkup assessment with personalized couples therapy. Before your first session, each partner completes the online Gottman Relationship Checkup independently. The assessment explores many areas that can influence a relationship, including communication, conflict, friendship, emotional connection, intimacy, trust, commitment, values, finances, family responsibilities, and more. I’ll review your results before we meet so we can focus our time together on the areas that are most meaningful for your relationship. Rather than simply reviewing your scores, we’ll use the assessment as a starting point for understanding your unique relationship, including both the strengths you can build on and the patterns that may be creating distance or conflict.

 

Your 4-Session Experience:

 

> Session 1: Understanding Your Relationship

We’ll begin by exploring what brought you to therapy and what each of you hopes will be different. We’ll review the most meaningful themes from your Gottman Relationship Checkup assessments, identify your relationship strengths and growth areas, and begin putting together a picture of what’s happening between you. You’ll begin to understand:

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• What’s working well in your relationship

• Where you’re experiencing the most difficulty

• How each of you experiences the relationship

• What may be contributing to your current challenges

• What you would like to change

 

You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of where to focus.

 

> Session 2: Understanding Your Relationship Pattern

Many couples find themselves caught in the same cycle: One person pursues a conversation → the other pulls away → the pursuit increases → the withdrawal increases → both partners feel hurt and disconnected. Other couples may experience criticism and defensiveness, escalating conflict, avoidance, or other recurring patterns. Together, we’ll slow down a recent interaction and map what happens between you. We’ll explore:

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• What triggers the cycle

• How each partner responds

• What happens next

• The emotions underneath the reactions

• What each partner may be needing in those moments

• What keeps the cycle going

 

The goal isn’t to determine who is at fault. It’s to understand the pattern so you can begin responding differently.

 

> Session 3: Changing the Pattern

Once we understand the cycle, we’ll identify skills that fit your particular relationship. Depending on what emerges from your assessment and our work together, we may focus on:

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• Communicating needs more effectively

• Listening and feeling heard

• Managing conflict without escalating

• Recognizing and responding to bids for connection

• Increasing emotional connection

• Repairing after disagreements

• Creating healthier boundaries

• Building trust

• Strengthening friendship and affection

• Managing stress and life transitions as a couple

 

You’ll have an opportunity to practice these skills together during the session, rather than simply talking about them. We’ll also identify practical ways to continue practicing between sessions.

 

> Session 4: Creating Your Relationship Roadmap

Your final session brings everything together. We’ll review what you’ve learned about your relationship and create a personalized Couples Relationship Roadmap based on your assessment and our work together. Your roadmap will identify:

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• Your relationship strengths: the qualities and resources you can continue building upon.

• Your growth areas: the areas that deserve continued attention.

• Your relationship pattern: the cycle you tend to get caught in and what happens underneath it.

• Your goals: the changes you want to continue working toward.

• Your skills: the communication and connection tools that are most useful for your relationship.

• Your connection plan: specific practices you can use in your everyday life.

• Your next steps: recommendations for continuing to strengthen your relationship.

 

You’ll leave with something you can return to - not just a list of things you discussed in therapy.

 

What’s Included?

The Couples Relationship Checkup includes:

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• Gottman Relationship Checkup assessment for both partners

• Individual completion of the assessment

• Therapist review and interpretation of your results

• Four 50-minute couples therapy sessions

• Personalized feedback about your relationship

• Relationship cycle mapping

• Targeted couples therapy interventions

• At-home connection and communication practices

• A personalized Couples Relationship Roadmap

• Recommendations for next steps

 

Who Is This For?

The Couples Relationship Checkup may be a good fit if:

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• You feel disconnected from your partner.

• You keep having the same arguments.

• Communication has become difficult.

• You feel like you’re stuck in a negative pattern.

• You want to feel more emotionally connected.

• Life changes have created stress in your relationship.

• You’re having trouble understanding each other’s needs.

• You want to strengthen your relationship before problems become more serious.

• You aren’t sure what kind of couples therapy you need.

• You want a structured starting point for couples therapy.

 

You don’t have to wait until your relationship is in crisis to invest in it. Sometimes couples seek therapy because something is seriously wrong. Other couples come because they recognize that they want more connection, better communication, or a stronger foundation for the next stage of their lives together. Both are valid reasons to begin.

 

What You Can Expect

My approach to couples therapy is collaborative, supportive, and strengths-based. I don’t see either partner as the problem. Instead, we’ll work together to understand what’s happening within the relationship and identify the patterns that may be getting in the way of the connection you’re looking for.

 

The Gottman Relationship Checkup gives us useful information to consider, but your relationship is more than a set of scores. We’ll combine the assessment results with your experiences, your goals, and what we observe together in therapy. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s greater understanding, more intentional connection, and new ways of responding to one another.

 

>> Your Investment:

 

Couples Relationship Checkup 4-session package: $850

The package includes the Gottman Relationship Checkup, assessment review, four couples therapy sessions, and your personalized Couples Relationship Roadmap. $50 to cover assessment registration and review of the assessment results is required upfront. Then $200 will be charged following each completed session.

 

Ready to Understand Your Relationship More Clearly?

You don’t have to figure everything out before you reach out. If you’ve been thinking:

 

“We love each other, but something feels different.”

“Why do we keep having the same argument?”

“I don’t know how to get us back on the same page.”

“We want to work on our relationship before things get worse.”

 

The Couples Relationship Checkup can give you a structured place to begin.

 

Schedule Your relationship checkup in plano today.

Erica offers in-person sessions in Plano and online sessions for couples across Texas. Click the link below to see Erica's availability, schedule your first session, and get set-up to take your Gottman Relationship Checkup assessment. If you have any questions about the process, you can also reach out to Erica at the Contact Form.