Marriage & Couples Therapy | Marriage.Family.Therapy
Understand recurring conflict, disconnection, and the decisions ahead. Explore couples care that makes room for two perspectives without losing sight of safety and choice.
The subject might be money, chores, parenting, affection, or a decision about the future. The useful work often begins by slowing down what happened: the request, the meaning each person heard, the response, and where the conversation changed direction. Understanding a sequence is different from deciding who won the argument.
A couples appointment offers a place to examine that sequence with a clinician. Your starting question might be how to discuss one issue without collecting every old disagreement, how to respond after a breach of trust, or how to make a decision when your goals differ. A therapist needs to understand the actual situation before selecting an approach.
This service is not a promise to keep every relationship together. Clarity, accountability, boundaries, and an informed next decision can matter as much as closeness. Describing an interaction pattern never means that both people are equally responsible for harmful behavior.
Sources safety
A discussion about an unfinished task can turn into a statement about whether someone cares. An apology might then end the evening without changing the next discussion. Naming that sequence gives you something more specific to explore than simply wanting to communicate better.
In a first conversation, describe a recent example and what you wanted understood. The aim is to identify a useful place to work, not to bring evidence for a verdict.
Feeling distant can mean missing curiosity, affection, shared enjoyment, or time to finish a thought. These are different experiences. Naming which one matters to you is more informative than assuming that distance has a single cause.
A conversation about closeness also needs room for each person to decline contact or ask for space. Pressure is not a measure of commitment.
An apology, acknowledgment of impact, and a practical commitment are different pieces. You may want help identifying what remains unresolved and what would count as a meaningful change outside the session.
Repair is not a demand for forgiveness or immediate reassurance. You can discuss boundaries and accountability without promising reconciliation.
All couples begin with the consultation, then each partner meets individually with the couples therapist before you return together. See the complete scheduling guide.
The required first step is a paid consultation to clarify the concerns, begin aligning goals, and agree on the rhythm and frequency of care. You can have an optional 10-minute phone introduction first, but it does not replace this appointment.
Each partner attends a separate, one-time diagnostic evaluation with the couples therapist. These appointments gather each person's history, perspective, and presenting concerns to inform a treatment plan that reflects both partners' goals.
These are part of the couples assessment, not the start of ongoing individual therapy with your couples therapist. Any ongoing individual therapy is with a separate individual therapist. Discuss privacy, records, and how information from these appointments is handled before the evaluations.
After both evaluations, return together for 53-minute couples sessions. Develop clear goals, use an evidence-based approach suited to your concerns, and agree on measurable ways to review progress. The plan can be adjusted as you learn what is helping.
Fictional teaching example. Not a diagnosis, a client story, or an assigned exercise.
In this fictional example, a question about weekend plans turns into an argument about whose needs matter.
One partner hears a request for coordination. The other hears that a decision has already been made without them.
A clinician might help clarify the actual decision and the process for including both people, rather than treating agreement on this weekend as the whole task.
This example is not a diagnosis of a relationship or an exercise to conduct during an unsafe conflict. Real work may need to begin elsewhere, including individual support.
Ongoing couples sessions are 53 minutes. They follow the required 30-minute consultation and each partner's separate diagnostic evaluation. The continuing work uses a shared, measurable treatment plan; review the frequency, approach, and progress with your clinician.
Marriage.Reset describes a clinician-guided assessment and practice framework. The retreat page is a separate provisional concept for extended work. Neither page automatically enrolls you in a program or establishes available dates.
At Marriage.Family.Therapy
An optional phone introduction may come first. It does not replace the required 30-minute consultation. After that consultation, your clinician guides the separate evaluations and joint sessions.
Appointment requests are not confirmations. Couples consultations and couples sessions are private pay. Confirm fees and any applicable coverage for diagnostic evaluations separately; this pathway does not establish insurance eligibility.
These profiles describe working with couples. Read the biography and confirm the current service, age range, and availability.
LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist; Founder & Clinical Director
This practice profile describes working with couples. Confirm current services, fit, and any age-range requirements.
Meet Kody Evans
Ph.D.; LMHC (WA); LCPC (MT)
Ph.D.; LMHC (WA); LCPC (MT); Certified Sexologist
This practice profile describes working with couples. Confirm current services, fit, and any age-range requirements.
Meet Dr. Taylor Nolan
LMFTA
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate (LMFTA)
This practice profile describes working with couples. Confirm current services, fit, and any age-range requirements.
Meet Emily Johnsrud
LMHCA
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate (LMHCA)
This practice profile describes working with couples. Confirm current services, fit, and any age-range requirements.
Meet Gary Ashley
LSWAIC
Licensed Social Work Associate Independent Clinical (LSWAIC)
This practice profile describes working with couples. Confirm current services, fit, and any age-range requirements.
Meet Sonia HassanProfile descriptions were recorded October 2, 2026. Confirm current services and availability. View the full team.
No shared explanation is required to ask about care. You might agree that something is not working while understanding it differently. Tell the clinician about differing goals rather than pretending you have already settled them. The first discussion can clarify whether the proposed service is appropriate.
Say so. A conversation about improving an established shared plan is not the same as a conversation about whether that plan exists. Ask the clinician how they handle uncertainty, what service they propose, and what decisions will remain yours. Do not assume that booking couples therapy commits either person to staying.
Clinicians may have different policies for individual contact within couples work. Ask who the client is, how records and communications are handled, and what the confidentiality agreement says. This page does not create a universal secrets policy or replace the actual consent discussion.
Couples consultations and couples sessions are private pay. Confirm the clinician, service, and fee before booking. Do not assume that one partner having an individual therapy benefit makes couples work an insurance-covered service.
Ask the clinician about the format and eligibility for each participant's physical location. Both people need a suitable setting and a plan for interruptions. The online-versus-in-person couples guide helps you compare those arrangements.
Do not treat that as an ordinary communication problem to solve jointly. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can offer private support. Joint therapy may be unsafe where there is abuse. In immediate danger, call 911.
For practical questions, email support@mft.care. Please leave private clinical details out of the initial email.
Background explanations use the sources below. Examples are original and fictional; practice details are separate from general education. This review version has not received clinical publication approval.
