Couples therapy & marriage counseling · Dallas, Texas
Done having the same fight? Let's end it. Direct, transformation couples work. Weekly sessions that build change step by step, or two concentrated days when you want to go deep all at once.
Who comes to see me
You've had the same kind of argument for years. Only the topic changes.
One of you is pursuing. The other has gone quiet, or gone cold.
You tried couples therapy before. “We didn't get much out of it.”
There was an affair, a betrayal, or a long slow drift. You haven't decided what happens next.
None of this means it's over. It means the way you fight isn't working, and that part is learnable.
Quiz
The five losing strategies
These five moves may win an argument, but the relationship loses every time. Click on the numbers below. Pick the one (or two) that sounds like you, and get a new way to try tonight.
The approach
I won't sit in the middle and keep score. I tell you both the truth.
Most couples therapy stays neutral. Relational Life Therapy, developed by Terry Real, doesn't. When one of you is doing something that's hurting the relationship, I'll name it, and I'll help you stop.
We look at the patterns you each learned long before you met. Then we build what replaces them: how to ask for what you want, how to hear a complaint without defending, and how to repair after a bad night instead of waiting it out.
It's active. You'll practice in the room. You'll leave sessions with specific things to do differently at home that week.
Two ways to work
Ongoing
Best when things are strained but stable, and you want time to practice new habits week by week.
Concentrated
Best when you're at a crossroads, recovering from a rupture, or your schedules make weekly sessions hard to keep.
The two-day intensive
Weekly therapy builds change over time, with real life in between to practice. An intensive takes a different route: it gives the work two full days to reach the pattern all at once. We work in a comfortable garden office in North Dallas, away from your phones, your kitchen and your usual fight.
Before
Your individual sessions
After the consult and intake, I meet with each of you alone. You each tell me your story privately, so we can start day one together and get straight to work.
Day one
Seeing the pattern
Both of you, from the first hour. Where the pattern comes from, what each of you does inside it, and what it costs you both.
Day two
Building what replaces it
Practice the conversations you've been avoiding. Repair what needs repair. Leave with a written plan you both agreed to.
After
Follow-up session
We check in on what held, what slipped, and what comes next, including weekly sessions if you want them.
| Weekday intensiveTwo consecutive weekdays | $4,000 |
|---|---|
| Friday and SaturdayOne weekend available per month | $6,000 |
What's included. Screening, an individual session with each partner, both full days, your written plan, and a follow-up session.
Reduced-fee spots. For every eight full-fee intensives, the next two are offered at a reduced rate. These are weekday only. Ask about availability on your consult call.
Weekends are limited. One weekend a month is open for intensives, so those book first.
About
I've spent more than fifteen years working with families and people in crisis. I've sat with couples on the worst night of their marriage and with families rebuilding after it ended. What I learned is that most relationships don't fail from a lack of love. They fail from a lack of skill, and from patterns nobody ever named out loud.
I'm direct. My loyalty is to the relationship, so in any given moment I may push harder on one of you than the other. Over time, you'll both get the same honesty. I'd rather you leave a session a little uncomfortable and clearer than comfortable and stuck.
Questions
Yes. Plenty of couples arrive undecided. My job isn't to keep you together at any cost. It's to help you see clearly enough to decide well. If you stay, you'll stay differently. If you separate, you'll do it with less damage, especially if you have kids.
In practice, none. Marriage counseling is the older name, and couples therapy covers any committed couple, married or not. What matters more is the approach. My approach is more direct than most couples counseling.
A couples intensive is concentrated couples therapy: about twelve hours over two consecutive days instead of one hour a week. I meet with each of you individually beforehand. Then we spend both days together working on the pattern that keeps you stuck, and you leave with a written plan and a follow-up session.
Instead of staying neutral, I tell each partner directly what they're doing that hurts the relationship, then teach the skills that replace it: asking for what you want, listening without defending, and repairing after a fight.
A two-day weekday intensive is $4,000. A Friday and Saturday weekend intensive is $6,000, with one weekend available each month. The fee covers screening, an individual session with each partner, both full days, your written plan, and a follow-up session.
It's different. An intensive is strongest when a couple is at a crossroads, recovering from a rupture, or wants a concentrated start. Weekly sessions are strongest for steady work that builds over time, with space to practice between sessions. Both are real, effective couples therapy. We'll decide together on the consult call.
You can start alone. I work with individuals on their side of the pattern, and a change in one partner often changes the whole dynamic. Many reluctant partners join once they see something shifting.
Yes. If there's ongoing physical violence, threats, or one partner feels unsafe at home, an intensive isn't the right first step. Active, untreated addiction also needs its own care first. The screening process exists to check this, and I'll help you find the right support if it's not a fit.
Intensives are private pay. Ask on your consult call about weekly session fees and whether a superbill makes sense for your plan.
Begin
Book your consult
Requests go through the secure client portal, so your information stays private. Choose “I'm a new client” and ask for Julia Hoffman.
Request a consultPlease don't send detailed health information by email. We'll cover that privately.