Marriage Counseling & Couples Therapy
Marriage Counseling & Couples Therapy can help
Do you and your partner seem to have the same fight over and over again? Can’t seem to
break out of the cycle? You’re not alone. Many couples find themselves stuck in a cycle of
misunderstandings, frustration, and emotional distance. It can feel exhausting when you’re
having the same arguments without finding a resolution. But there’s good news. With the right
support, you and your partner can learn to break that cycle and create a healthier, more
connected relationship.
Here is where we come in
We work to provide a safe, peaceful space for healing and growth.
We work early to help each person begin to notice, acknowledge, and regulate their emotions
We establish a non-judgmental, supportive environment
We are committed to helping both partners feel seen and heard.
We focus on building essential skills to grow a healthy relationship
Strengthening communication and active listening skills and developing effecting conflict resolution skills will help couples have a foundation for intimacy and repair.
We address deeper issues
Once skills are established and put into practice, we begin to explore underlying patterns and sources on conflict. We work to heal past wounds and build emotional intimacy
We offer a faith-based approach
We are professional counselors who are also Christians; this uniquely allows us to integrate faith into therapy when couples desire
Counseling Methods We Use
Restoration Therapy: helping couples break unhealthy patterns by identifying pain
cycles and peace cycles.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT): Deepening emotional connection and creating
secure attachment
The Gottman Method: Evidence-based strategies for enhancing friendship, managing conflict, and building shared meaning
Prepare/Enrich: Premarital and marital assessment tool to identify strengths and growth
areas
SYMBIS (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts): Equipping engaged and newlywed couples with practical tools for a strong foundation
What to Expect from us
We understand every couple is different, so we’ll take our counseling methods and use whichever one fits you best. With us, you’re not just a number.
We send you home with tools you can immediately use to improve your relationship.
We commit to staying with helping you heal for the long-term, until you are completely restored.
Meet Our Counselors
NATHAN BLATTMAN, MA, LPC
So many of us experience pain that leaves us feeling overwhelmed, confused, and alone. I desire for each of my clients to know that they are deeply cared for and do not have to carry their burdens alone. Through providing a space of genuine care and acceptance, I seek to help people make sense of their experiences and emotions. I am honored to journey alongside individuals, couples, adults and adolescents to help them better understand their pain and discover a path to peace.
It is my passion to work with those wrestling with anxiety, depression, addiction, and anger. For many people, these experiences are endured or pushed to the side as an inescapable part of life. My desire is to help people work through the things that often feel insurmountable and find peace on the other side.
I hold a Master of Arts in Counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary and I am Restoration Therapy Certified, Level 1. While I work predominantly from the framework of Restoration Therapy, I practice an eclectic range of therapy to best meet each individual’s needs and goals.
– photos by Barbara Z, Naranja Dulce Photography
MELISSA RENEAU, MA, LPC ASSOCIATE
SUPERVISED BY MICHELE BACHMAN, MA, LPC-S
SUPERVISED BY MICHELE BACHMAN, MA, LPC-S
I enjoy working with individuals, couples, and teens who are experiencing transitions in their lives. I also work with individuals who are struggling with anxiety or depression. I have experience helping couples and individuals transition to parenthood. I work to create a nonjudgmental space where clients feel safe and supported so they can explore their lives. Together we can explore your current concerns and help you explore your next steps.
I am an LPC-Associate under the supervision of Michele Bachman, MA, LPC-S. I earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Liberty University. I am trained in EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. I have completed the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) Externship. I am also certified as a facilitator with Prepare and Enrich.
Books We Recommend for Couples
A few resources our counselors return to often. Useful between sessions, and useful on their own.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT COUPLES COUNSELING
IS IT TOO LATE FOR COUNSELING IF WE’RE ALREADY TALKING ABOUT DIVORCE?
Not necessarily. Couples arrive at every stage, including deep ambivalence about whether to stay. Sometimes the work rebuilds the marriage. Sometimes it clarifies that it’s ending and helps that happen with less damage, which matters enormously when there are children. Both are legitimate outcomes.
WHAT IF MY SPOUSE WON’T COME?
Start on your own. Individual work on a relationship is genuinely useful — you’re half of the system, and changing your side of a pattern changes the pattern. It’s also fairly common for a reluctant spouse to join later once they see it isn’t an ambush.
WHAT IS EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED THERAPY?
EFT is a couples therapy model developed by Sue Johnson, grounded in attachment research. Rather than teaching communication techniques, it works on the emotional cycle couples get stuck in — typically one partner pursuing and the other withdrawing — and helps each person express what’s underneath their side of it. It has one of the strongest evidence bases in couples therapy.
WILL THE COUNSELOR TAKE SIDES?
No. If one partner consistently leaves feeling ganged up on, the therapy isn’t working. In couples work the client is the relationship.
DO YOU DO PREMARITAL COUNSELING?
Yes. Two of our counselors are certified Prepare/Enrich facilitators, which uses a structured assessment to surface the areas most likely to cause friction — money, family of origin, expectations, conflict style, intimacy — before they do.
HOW LONG DOES COUPLES COUNSELING TAKE?
Most couples do meaningful work in twelve to twenty sessions. Couples recovering from betrayal generally need longer, because rebuilding trust is a slower process than resolving conflict.