Couples Therapy
Care that supports your relationship—and the family system it anchors.
Couples therapy is an investment in your well-being, your relationship, and the life you are building together. Decades of research continue to affirm what many of us feel intuitively: the quality of our closest relationships deeply influences our emotional, mental, and physical health.
An 80-year-long Harvard study found that close, supportive relationships—more than money, success, or status—are what help people feel fulfilled, resilient, and connected throughout their lives. Strong relational bonds protect against emotional distress, support overall health, and are among the most reliable predictors of long-term happiness.
Couples therapy offers a supportive, intentional space to nurture one of the most meaningful relationships in your life. Whether you are feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or simply wanting to grow closer, therapy provides an opportunity to slow down, feel heard, and strengthen your bond with care and intention.
Supporting the Whole Family System
The benefits of couples therapy often extend far beyond the couple itself. When partners learn to communicate with empathy, repair conflict effectively, and stay emotionally connected during challenging moments, they create a foundation of security that positively impacts the entire family system.
Children benefit from witnessing caregivers navigate disagreements with respect and understanding. The relational skills practiced at home—such as emotional regulation, communication, and repair—often become the blueprint children use in their own relationships with peers, authority figures, and future partners.
By strengthening the partnership at the center of the family, couples therapy helps foster a sense of safety, consistency, and connection that supports everyone involved.
Support for Every Stage and Season of Relationship
Couples therapy is not only for relationships in crisis. It can also be a powerful space for growth, prevention, and deepening connection. Therapy supports couples who are navigating conflict or rupture, as well as those who feel stable but want to strengthen their bond and build resilience for the future.
For individuals who grew up in homes shaped by relational trauma, emotional neglect, or unmet attachment needs, couples therapy can be especially healing. Therapy helps partners better understand one another’s emotional worlds, recognize patterns rooted in past experiences, and develop relational skills that may not have been modeled earlier in life.
Couples therapy can also provide meaningful support during major life transitions. This may include premarital preparation, adjusting to parenthood, reconnecting during the empty-nest phase, or redefining roles within blended or non-traditional family systems. At each stage, therapy offers a collaborative space to clarify needs, strengthen emotional safety, and navigate change with intention and compassion.
The Gottman Approach to Couples Therapy
The Gottman Approach to Couples Therapy is a structured, research-based model developed by Drs. John and Julie Gottman, grounded in over 40 years of scientific research on what helps relationships thrive—and what contributes to disconnection. By studying thousands of couples across diverse backgrounds, the Gottman Method provides practical, evidence-based tools to support healthy, lasting relationships.
At its core, the Gottman Approach focuses on strengthening friendship, improving communication, managing conflict with care, and creating shared meaning within the relationship. Rather than placing blame, this approach helps couples better understand their patterns and develop skills that support connection, trust, and repair.
A Trauma-Informed, Attachment-Based Perspective
When integrated with an attachment-based and trauma-informed lens, Gottman therapy places emotional safety, trust, and responsiveness at the center of the work. Many couples carry relational wounds shaped by past experiences, family-of-origin dynamics, or trauma. These experiences can influence how partners respond to stress, conflict, or perceived disconnection.
Therapy provides a supportive space to slow down reactive cycles, increase mutual understanding, and build more secure ways of relating. Partners learn to recognize underlying needs, respond with greater empathy, and create patterns of connection that promote healing and long-term stability.
Areas of Focus in Therapy
Couples therapy supports growth across several key areas. Partners work to strengthen their friendship and emotional connection by increasing fondness, appreciation, and attunement to one another’s inner worlds. Communication and conflict management skills are developed to reduce patterns such as criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and emotional shutdown, and replace them with empathy, repair, and mutual respect.
Therapy also focuses on building trust and emotional safety. Partners learn how to turn toward one another during moments of stress or disconnection, fostering reliability, accountability, and emotional presence. Finally, couples explore shared meaning by identifying values, goals, rituals, and dreams that bring purpose and alignment to their relationship.
What to Expect
Gottman-informed couples therapy typically begins with a thoughtful assessment process designed to understand each partner’s strengths, challenges, and relational patterns. This allows therapy to be tailored to the unique needs and goals of the couple. Sessions are collaborative and skills-based, combining practical tools with deeper emotional work that supports meaningful, lasting change both inside and outside the therapy room.
READY TO FIND OUT IF couples therapy IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
Meet Our Therapist for Couples Therapy
Heather Singh, MEd, MA, LMFT Associate
Currently under the clinical supervision of Brittany Whallen, LPC-S, LMFT-S
(She/Her/Hers)
Heather Singh is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate who is passionate about helping individuals, children, and families build stronger connections and navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience. She earned her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling from Texas State University, a CACREP-accredited program, as well as a Master’s Degree in Education from Long Island University in Brooklyn. She also received a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with a concentration in biological sciences from the State University of New York at Fredonia.
For over 20 years, Heather has worked with people across the lifespan—from early childhood through adulthood—helping them explore, learn, and grow in understanding of themselves and the world around them. Her background includes work in museums, schools, and community organizations, as well as leadership roles supporting teams, fostering collaboration, and cultivating personal and professional growth. These experiences have strengthened her belief in the power of relationships, empathy, and authentic connection.
In her therapeutic work, Heather integrates evidence-based approaches that nurture emotional insight and meaningful change while honoring each client’s unique strengths and story. She partners with clients to identify patterns, perspectives, and emotions contributing to distress and supports them in moving toward greater clarity, balance, and fulfillment. Heather believes that within safe and supportive relationships, healing and growth naturally emerge—helping clients embrace change, take healthy risks, and develop a deeper sense of self.
Heather has specialized training in supporting children, adolescents, and parents experiencing relational or emotional distress. She draws on evidence-based modalities such as Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT), Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to promote connection, healing, and emotional regulation.
Originally from New York, Heather has called Austin home since 2012. Outside of her counseling work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children—often exploring local parks or discovering a great new place to eat. She also loves reading, listening to music, and relaxing with a good movie.