Assessment phase – often includes questionnaires (e.g. the Gottman Relationship Checkup), individual interviews, and couple sessions to map out strengths, vulnerabilities, communication styles, conflict patterns, etc.

Feedback session(s) – therapist presents what the assessment revealed, discusses what’s going well in the relationship and what areas might need work.

Skills training / interventions – concrete practices around how to communicate, manage conflict, repair ruptures, build appreciation, respond to bids for connection, and deepen emotional intimacy.

Homework & practice – tools and exercises to use outside of therapy sessions.

Focus on both solvable problems (those you can reasonably resolve) and perpetual problems (those ongoing differences in personality, disposition, needs). For the latter, the aim is less to “fix” them completely, but to learn how to dialogue around them in healthier ways.

Identification & management of destructive communication patterns, such as the “Four Horsemen” (Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, Stonewalling) and practicing their antidotes.