We help couples improve their relationship!
It’s been a particularly tough time for romantic relationships. In periods of high stress, couples often have trouble communicating effectively, have difficulties problem solving, feel stuck, and find it challenging to set aside time for romance and connection. In couples therapy, we help romantic partners better understand their difficulties and work through them by improving communication and rebuilding intimacy.
When we’re feeling frustrated in our relationship, we often struggle to communicate our needs, or we communicate them in a way that puts our partner on the defense. At Together CBT, we conduct a deep analysis of how and where communication has broken down and help couples get back on track to better understanding each other.
Maintaining physical intimacy and a sexual connection can be challenging. This is particularly the case when we’re experiencing stress at work, parenting challenges, and not communicating well. It is also the case that, over time, partners might vary in their sexual interests. At Together CBT, we help couples identify and achieve their goals for physical connection.
For many couples, difficulties arise when trust is broken or boundaries are violated. When we don’t trust our partner, we go into self-protection mode—withdrawing, withholding communication, withholding intimacy—which further worsens trust. At Together CBT, we help couples explore what led to trust being damaged, the impacts of the damage, and how to facilitate recovery.
Parenting has always been challenging, but since the pandemic we’ve learned a new definition of challenging! When you and your partner disagree about parenting decisions or how to best balance family and personal time, that tension trickles into all aspects of the relationship. At Together CBT, we teach you communication skills to feel heard and co-parent more effectively.
Oftentimes, the work done in couples therapy is to understand “why are my partner and I feeling the way we feel?” At Together CBT, we are focused both on understanding that “why” while also exploring the practical questions: “Now that we understand it, what do we do about it?” Together CBT is dedicated to using only evidence-based treatments that incorporate cutting-edge skills and techniques for how improving relationships.
Our couples therapy services are overseen by Dr. Karen Rothman. Dr. Rothman also supervises Ph.D. / Psy.D. clinical psychology students who offer services at a sliding scale, thus making couples therapy more accessible.
Clinical Psychology Ph.D. (Seton Hall University)
Clinical Psychology Residency (Montefiore Medical Center)
Cell Biology & Neuroscience, B.A. (Rutgers)
Dr. Gayle Smith has experience working across the lifespan with individuals, families, and couples. Regarding couples therapy, Dr. Gayle Smith has received specialized training in EFT (emotion focused therapy) with a particular emphasis on providing inclusive and affirming care (e.g., LGBTQ/queer and interracial parenting couples). She also received training via the Supporting Healthy Relationships program, which is a family strengthening program designed to empower parenting couples to achieve family success by helping them improve communication and reduce destructive conflict. Dr. Gayle Smith has aided couples who work in high stress professions navigate work-life balance/competing career priorities in a marriage, parenting conflict (differences in parenting styles), communication, cultural differences (due to difference in race, ethnicity, and SES) and improving intimacy.
