The Foundation

What is Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy?

Couples therapy is a relational process grounded in understanding the emotional bond between partners. In Emotionally Focused Therapy, the focus is not on fixing one another or learning better techniques, but on making sense of the patterns that take over when emotions run high and needs for connection feel unmet.

Rather than viewing conflict or distance as the problem, this work understands these moments as signals of underlying attachment longings. Together, we identify the negative cycles that keep couples stuck and explore the emotions and needs beneath them. As these patterns become clearer, new experiences of emotional safety, responsiveness, and repair can begin to take shape.

Couples therapy is especially helpful when partners feel caught in repeated conflict, emotionally disconnected, or unsure how to reach for one another without things escalating or shutting down. This work supports couples in rebuilding trust, strengthening their bond, and experiencing greater closeness and security over time.

Common Experiences

When does couples therapy help?

Couples therapy can support you if you're experiencing:

Communication breakdown
Recurring conflict or arguments
Emotional disconnection
Infidelity or trust issues
Life transitions
Parenting challenges

Sexual intimacy concerns
Pre-marital preparation
Blended family dynamics
Grief or loss as a couple
Simply wanting to deepen your connection

Therapies That Work

Our approach

Our work with couples is grounded in Emotionally Focused Therapy, a well-researched, attachment-based approach that focuses on the emotional bond between partners. Rather than emphasizing communication techniques or surface-level problem solving, this work attends to the deeper patterns that take over when connection feels threatened.

Emotionally Focused Therapy helps identify the negative cycles that keep couples stuck. These cycles are understood as meaningful responses to unmet attachment needs, not signs of failure. By slowing these patterns down and exploring the emotions and longings underneath, couples can begin to experience greater emotional safety, responsiveness, and repair.

Attachment guides the work throughout. Change happens through new emotional experiences that reshape how partners respond to one another, strengthen trust, and restore a sense of closeness and security over time.

Your Therapy Journey

What to expect

Emotional Safety

Couples therapy begins with creating a sense of emotional safety for both partners. This safety allows each of you to speak honestly about what you feel and need without fear of blame or escalation. Emotional safety is not a prerequisite for the work. It is something we build together over time.

Deepening Emotional Connection

As patterns become clearer, the work focuses on the emotions and attachment needs underneath them. Couples are supported in expressing vulnerability, reaching for one another in new ways, and responding with greater emotional accessibility and responsiveness.

Understanding the Cycle

Rather than focusing on who is right or wrong, Emotionally Focused Therapy helps couples identify the negative cycle that takes over when connection feels threatened. Seeing the cycle clearly allows both partners to step out of blame and begin responding to one another with more understanding and care.

Pace and Process

Emotionally Focused Therapy unfolds at a pace guided by safety and readiness. Some couples notice meaningful shifts early, while others need more time to work through longstanding patterns. The process is collaborative and responsive, shaped by your relationship and what feels most supportive for lasting change.

Backed By Research

Why couples therapy works

Understanding negative cycles

Research on Emotionally Focused Therapy shows that most relationship distress is driven by predictable patterns, or cycles, that emerge when attachment needs feel threatened. These cycles are not caused by individual flaws, but by how partners respond to fear, hurt, or disconnection. EFT helps couples clearly identify their cycle and understand how it takes over, creating space for new, more supportive ways of responding.

Restoring emotional safety

Decades of attachment research demonstrate that emotional safety is essential for secure, lasting connection. When trust has been strained or closeness feels out of reach, EFT focuses on rebuilding emotional accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement between partners. Through guided emotional experiences, couples are supported in repairing attachment injuries and strengthening their bond.

Strengthening secure connection

Emotionally Focused Therapy is not only effective in times of crisis. Research shows that couples who develop a more secure emotional bond experience greater resilience, satisfaction, and adaptability over time. EFT supports couples in deepening connection and strengthening their ability to navigate stress, change, and life transitions together.

Common concerns

That's actually more common than you'd think. Individual therapy can help you understand your patterns and decide on your next steps. Sometimes one partner's commitment opens the door.
No. A skilled couples therapist remains neutral and focused on the health of the relationship itself, not on who's "right" or "wrong."
Actually, the opposite. Seeking help is a sign of strength and commitment. Many of the strongest, most connected couples use therapy as a tool for growth.

Begin your journey

Ready to explore therapy?

Start with an initial consultation to discuss your needs and see if we're the right fit.

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Couples Therapy