Couples Therapy in Tampa
"Couples therapy" is what a lot of people type, and it means the same thing as couples counseling: weekly sessions with both partners in the room, usually fifty minutes to an hour each.
When couples counseling is not the right first step
A marriage counseling practice serving the Tampa Bay area. We are not licensed mental health providers, and what we offer is not psychotherapy, a diagnosis, or medical care.
Ask what it costsWe'll tell you on the call, before you book anything.
Call {{TRACKED_PHONE}}
This page explains how the main approaches differ and what drives the price across Tampa Bay. We are a marriage counseling practice here in Tampa, and what we charge is not published on this page yet.
What a session costs
What a session costs here is not settled yet, and this page will carry the figure rather than a range borrowed from the practices down the road.
Three things set the price across those practices: the session length, whether the counselor has specialized couples training, and whether you meet in person or on video. Longer sessions and advanced training can cost more. Video is often priced the same as the office.
Health insurance rarely pays for couples sessions at all: a plan covers care for a condition that has been diagnosed in one person, and a relationship cannot be given one. Practices that keep reduced-fee slots do not always advertise them, so it is worth asking on the first call.
Awaiting sign-off: what we charge for a session
Our price goes here before the site goes live. Until it does, this page quotes no figure at all rather than somebody else’s.
Who you would be working with
We have not published details of who you would see. Those go up when they are confirmed; a plausible-looking placeholder is not a substitute for them.
Awaiting sign-off: the counselor list
No counselor is listed here yet
Who you would be working with is not published here yet. It goes up once the practice has confirmed it, and not before.
When couples therapy is not the right first step
Couples therapy assumes both people can speak freely in the room and go home safely afterward. Where that is not true, it is the wrong place to start, and a counselor who works with couples should screen for it before seeing you together.
What the approaches differ on
Most couples counselors train in one or two named methods. The names show up on most profiles and rarely come with an explanation, so here is the short version of each.
- Gottman Method. Built by John and Julie Gottman from decades of observing couples, it works on how you handle conflict and how you rebuild friendship, often starting with a detailed assessment.
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Developed by Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg, it treats recurring fights as a cycle the two of you get stuck in, and works on the feelings underneath the argument rather than the argument itself.
- Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy. It combines practical changes in how you talk and solve problems with accepting the differences that are not going to change.
- Discernment counseling. A short, separate process for couples where one partner is leaning out, used to decide on a direction, including whether to try couples therapy.
Choosing between them
No one method has clearly beaten the others in research. EFT and the behavioral approaches, including Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy, have the most support from controlled trials. The Gottman Method rests on a large body of research into how couples argue and recover, with fewer trials of the therapy itself. Across the studies, the fit between you and the counselor matters a great deal, whatever the method is called.
A better question for the first call is how this counselor works with couples who are where you are. Ask how many couples they see, what a typical first month looks like, and what they do when one partner is more invested than the other.
If one of you is unsure about staying together at all, say so up front. That is what discernment counseling exists for, and a counselor who hears it early can suggest the right starting point.
What the first session is like
Expect questions about your history together, the last few months, and what each of you hopes will change. Time alone with each partner is common too, and it gives each of you room to say what is hard to say with the other listening.
You do not need to agree on what the problem is before you go. Disagreeing about it is one of the most common reasons couples book.
In person or on video
For a lot of couples the hard part is getting two work calendars to agree, and a video session removes the commute from that problem.
In person still suits couples who find it easier to talk away from the house. If you are heading to an office in South Tampa, allow for Dale Mabry at five o’clock. It is a poor warm-up for a conversation about communication.
Awaiting sign-off: whether we see couples by video
Whether we offer video sessions, and on what platform, is not settled here yet. It will be stated on this page before the site goes live.
Common questions
- Is couples therapy different from couples counseling?
- No. They are two names for the same work, and which one a practice uses is mostly habit. "Couples therapy" is the phrase more people search for; "couples counseling" is the one more often on the door.
- How many sessions does couples therapy take?
- It varies with the couple and the method. Many counselors suggest weekly sessions for the first two or three months and then review. Ask on the first call how they decide when to space sessions out or stop.
- Do we both have to come?
- Usually, yes. If one of you is not ready yet, some counselors will see the other first and bring both of you in later. Ask about this before you book.
- Does couples therapy work?
- On average, yes. Controlled studies find couples who go through therapy end up better off than similar couples who do not, and no single method reliably wins. It is not a guarantee: results vary, and gains fade for some couples over the years.
- Do we have to be married?
- No. Couples who are dating or co-parenting book couples therapy for the same reasons married couples do.