Couples Therapy Intensives in West Seattle

couple in West Seattle, WA

A couples intensive for partners who keep having the same fight, feel more like roommates than partners, or understand their story perfectly and still get stuck. In person in West Seattle or online across Washington and Tennessee.

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You’re not in crisis.

That’s actually the point.

    • You’ve read about sleep schedules

    • You’ve noticed one of you is carrying most of the planning, already.

    • You’re carrying a fear about -- the birth, money, repeating your own childhood

    • You’ve noticed you handle stress in opposite ways and you’re quietly wondering how that will go with less sleep and more stress

    • You are both exhausted, both doing a lot, and both quietly certain you're doing more.

    • You snap at each other over things that wouldn't have registered two years ago.

    • Intimacy has become something to negotiate, or something to avoid.

    • One of you had a birth that didn't go the way it was meant to, and it has never been properly talked about.

    • You love this baby, you miss the two of you, and you feel guilty about the second part.

    • You are more like two people running a shift rather than a couple.

    • Life is running on autopilot

    • You’re good teammates, but not great lovers anymore

    • The kids run the schedule and you can’t remember the last time you spoke without it turning into a logistics conversation

    • You love each other, but life feels mediocre

    • You miss how you used to interact and wonder how to get back there

    • Everything changed once you had kids

    • She doesn’t want to be touched

    • He feels rejected and unwanted

    • You both want connection, but don’t know how to negotiate new terms

    • Reaching for each other feels risky, so both of you have stopped

    • You want to find a way back to one another

The roadmap.

Three parts, mapped out for you. We condense the most effective strategies and techniques of couples therapy into a concentrated format. You’ll leave with a guidebook to help you integrate the work long after the intensive.

Seattle & Nashville

Weekly therapy isn’t cutting it.

Why intensives work.

At the end of the day, time and relationships are the most valuable things. Weekly therapy feels burdensome and usually necessitates childcare. Dedicating 2-3 days to genuinely approach your relationship with the desire to reconnect and find your way back to one another is a decision to invest in yourself, one another and your family.

You don’t need to be in crisis for couples therapy. This type of intensive is actually better if you’re not in active crisis. The biggest necessity is that you are actually invested in the relationship and both individuals desire to see change and move forward together.

This isn’t for everyone.

Why this wouldn’t be a good fit.

An intensive is a big container. It works best when you both feel safe enough to be honest and steady enough to go deep. It isn't the right fit right now if:

  • There is an affair or secret relationship that's still active, or was discovered very recently

  • Either of you is keeping ongoing secrets around sex, substances, or money

  • There is physical violence, intimidation, or control in the relationship

  • One of you has already decided to leave, or is still deciding whether to stay

  • One partner isn't yet able to take responsibility for harm that's been done

"Not right now" doesn't mean "not ever." Start with a brief consult, and we'll figure out the right first step together, whether that's individual sessions, stabilization work, or discernment counseling. The intensive will be here when you're ready.

Intentional, efficient therapy to help you and your partner realign & reconnect with yourself and one another.

Couples Intensives

What to Expect

Three sections, one arc.

Reconnect with yourself & your partner.

1

Pre-Intensive Work

You each complete a suitability assessment and intake questionnaire. Each of you schedule a 90-minute individual session. There is also some light preparation work the week prior to the intensive.

2

The Intensive

PART ONE: We examine where your patterns came from, then map and name your cycle. We want to go under the surface to more comprehensively see one another.

PART TWO: Each of you does a segment of individual work while your partner’s only job is to witness. This softens and shifts things between you.

PART THREE: We work to bring the two of you back to one another, not just as teammates, but lovers. You’ll be left with a plan and workbook to integrate the work in the weeks and months ahead.

3

The next 6 months

The workbook will give you concrete exercises to work through individually and as a couple to strengthen your relationship and create lasting change for what emerged during the intensive.

Follow up sessions are optional, but available for those who desire extra support.

Your Options

Upcoming Intensive Dates

Intensives aren't the right fit for every situation — sometimes other supports need to be in place first. We'll discuss this together in your consultation call.

SEATTLE, WA

  • Availability: Wednesdays - Fridays.

  • Scheduling approximately 1 month out

NASHVILLE, TN

  • NOVEMBER 8-10

  • 8am-11am or 3pm-6pm

The Investment:

Couples Intensives: $3200

PAYMENT PLANS AVAILABLE

CRISTINE STEELE

LMFT & DEVELOPMENTAL AND RELATIONAL TRAUMA THERAPIST

Cristine helps couples understand themselves and each other well enough to change the pattern, not just manage it. Most of the couples she meets aren't short on insight. They know their story, they can name the fight, and they still end up in the same corner. Her work goes underneath the argument: to the protectors that step in when things get tender, the legacy states each partner carries from their earliest relationships, and the core wounds that keep getting poked in the dark.

Drawing on IFS and the Gottman research, she pairs parts-informed healing with practical relationship skills, so what shifts in the room can hold up at home. Her belief is simple: when two people can truly see the parts of each other that used to hide, the relationship becomes a place to rest rather than a place to defend. You aren't too much, and you aren't the problem. The pattern is, and it can be changed.

Work With Me

faqs

Other intensive questions? I’ve got answers.

  • Weekly sessions often end just as things get real, and then you spend the week recovering or shutting down. An intensive gives you long stretches of uninterrupted work, so there's time to get tender, get support, and practice something new before you go home. Many couples use an intensive to break through a stuck pattern, then integrate the work on their own and check-in as needed.

  • A couples intensive is focused, extended time with your therapist, held over one or more days instead of a weekly 50-minute hour. It gives you room to slow down, get underneath the argument, and actually finish a conversation. Many couples find it a faster, deeper alternative to months of weekly marriage counseling.

  • Very likely, yes. Repeating the same argument, feeling like roommates, sex and intimacy issues or understanding each other's story perfectly and still getting stuck are the most common reasons couples come. We look at what's happening underneath the fight: the protective parts that step in when things get tender, and the core wounds each of you brings from earlier relationships.

  • The work is built on Internal Family Systems (IFS), which helps each partner understand their protectors and legacy patterns, combined with Gottman-informed relationship skills for communication, conflict, and repair. The goal is that what shifts in the room holds up in your everyday life.

  • No. This intensive is not for you if you are in an active crisis. Most participate because they're disconnected, stuck in resentment, or want to strengthen a good relationship before it erodes. If you're wondering how to improve communication, rebuild intimacy, or stop the cycle of fighting and withdrawing, an intensive can help.

  • That's common. We'll start with a brief consult so both of you can ask questions and hear how the work goes. You don't have to be equally enthusiastic to begin, but you do both need to be willing to show up honestly and with curiosity.

  • It depends on where you are. If an affair or secret is still active, or was discovered very recently, an intensive usually isn't the right first step. Stabilization work or individual sessions come first. If the betrayal has been disclosed and you're both ready to work toward repair, an intensive may be a good fit. We'll sort this out together in your consult.

  • It's a brief conversation to talk through what's bringing you in, answer your questions, and check that an intensive is the right container right now. If it isn't, I'll tell you what would be, whether that's individual sessions, discernment counseling, or a stabilization phase.

  • A couples intensive is $3200 and includes the 3 (3 hour) parts of the intensive, as well as the two individual 90 minute (pre-intensive) sessions, assessments and workbook.

    Intensives are not covered by insurance and are an out of network investment.

  • Complete suitability assessments, intake paperwork, individual pre-intensive sessions, and logistics needed to set aside the time from work and life. Beyond that, come rested, come curious, and come willing to be honest and vulnerable with each other.

It’s time to find your path back to one another.

Start with a consultation call. There is no pressure and no pitch. This is a conversation to see whether a couples intensive is right for you right now.

Please find a time that works for both partners to be on the consult call.

Schedule Your Consultation