COUPLES SUPPORT

When the same patterns keep showing up, understanding what is underneath them can change what happens next.

When communication breaks down, connection changes, or the same patterns keep repeating, it can be difficult to know what will actually help.

Susan helps couples slow those patterns down, understand what each person is protecting or reacting to, and develop new ways of communicating and relating. She offers distinct forms of support depending on the couple’s goals, location, and appropriate professional scope.

Susan M. Regan, LMFT
California License #31600 · Massachusetts Marriage and Family Therapist License #1924
Psychotherapy is available to eligible clients who are physically located in California or Massachusetts at the time services are provided.

Schedule an Inquiry Call15 minutes · No fee

TWO DISTINCT PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS

How Susan can work with couples

Different kinds of support serve different purposes. Susan will help identify the appropriate service rather than asking you to choose a professional category on your own.

Couples Psychotherapy

Licensed clinical psychotherapy may be appropriate for couples navigating recurring emotional patterns, attachment and protective responses, emotional safety, intimacy, trust, communication, and relationship repair when these are appropriately addressed through clinical care.

Susan M. Regan, LMFT
California License #31600
Massachusetts Marriage and Family Therapist License #1924

Psychotherapy is available to eligible clients who are physically located in California or Massachusetts at the time services are provided.

Clinical assessment, informed consent, and the applicable psychotherapy agreement are separate from a preliminary inquiry call.

Couples Coaching, Relationship Education & Guided Support

Some couples seek forward-focused, action-oriented non-clinical support to understand recurring relationship patterns, improve communication, clarify needs and expectations, strengthen relationship skills, practice different responses, deepen connection, and work toward shared goals.

Coaching, relationship education, and guided support are non-clinical services and are distinct from psychotherapy. They do not involve diagnosis or treatment of a mental-health condition. Availability depends on the couple’s goals, location, scope of the work, fit, and applicable requirements.

Non-clinical services have their own scope, eligibility, and terms and are not substitutes for psychotherapy.

Not sure which kind of support fits?

You do not need to decide whether your work belongs in psychotherapy or a non-clinical format before reaching out. Susan begins with an inquiry conversation to understand what you are navigating, your goals, your location, and what form of support may be appropriate.

An inquiry call is for fit and service-scope clarification. It does not itself establish a therapist-client relationship or replace a service-specific intake or consent process.

Schedule an Inquiry Call15 minutes · No fee

THE PATTERNS

What keeps bringing you back to the same place?

Maybe you keep talking about communication, yet neither of you feels understood. One partner reaches for connection while the other withdraws. Trust is fragile, intimacy has shifted, or differences in needs feel harder to navigate.

Depending on the appropriate service format, couples can explore recurring conflict, disconnection, emotional safety, vulnerability, family transitions, and the history each person brings into the relationship. Clinical psychotherapy and non-clinical work address these matters within different professional scopes.

CHOOSE A STARTING POINT

What are you hoping to change?

Not every couple comes for the same reason. Choosing the right kind of support begins with understanding what you hope to address.

Strengthen the relationship

Build communication, intimacy, trust, and connection; work on repair and recurring conflict.

YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Understand whether to stay

Explore ambivalence, unresolved concerns, and next steps without pressure to stay or separate.

Explore this path

Navigate separation differently

Communicate and make thoughtful decisions during separation, especially when co-parenting continues.

Explore this path

If mediation may be appropriate, explore Divorce Mediation separately from psychotherapy.

HOW SUSAN WORKS

Susan’s approach

Susan helps you notice the pattern, clarify what lies underneath it, and understand how attachment, history, fear, and protective reactions shape what each person brings to the relationship.

Slow down familiar arguments rather than repeat them
Recognize vulnerable feelings beneath criticism, withdrawal, defensiveness, or distance
Understand differences in needs and the ways each person seeks safety and connection
Practice different responses in conversation and everyday life
Review what is changing and make thoughtful decisions about the direction of the work

The goal is not simply to talk about the relationship differently. It is to begin experiencing each other differently.

INCLUSIVE COUPLES SUPPORT

There is no single kind of couple.

Susan works with partners in different relationship and commitment structures, including married and unmarried couples, long-term partnerships, and consensually non-monogamous relationships when within the applicable professional scope and appropriate to the circumstances.

Couples support is not only for a crisis. Some partners seek clinical psychotherapy; others may be seeking non-clinical coaching or relationship education to build skills before familiar difficulties grow.

GETTING STARTED

How the work may unfold

1. An inquiry conversation

Discuss what is happening, your goals, the couple’s location, and which distinct service format may be appropriate. This conversation does not establish a therapist-client relationship.

2. Appropriate intake and agreements

If psychotherapy is appropriate, clinical assessment, location eligibility, informed consent, and a psychotherapy agreement follow. Non-clinical coaching, education, or guided support uses a separate scope, eligibility review, and service terms.

3. Practice and review

Within the agreed service format, clarify goals, strengthen communication and connection, practice new responses, and review what is changing.

Common questions

Do couples need to be in crisis to begin? No. Couples may seek support to strengthen communication, connection, and trust before a crisis.

Are coaching and couples psychotherapy the same service? No. Psychotherapy is licensed clinical care subject to eligibility, assessment, consent, and professional requirements. Coaching, relationship education, and guided support are distinct non-clinical formats and do not involve diagnosis or mental-health treatment.

How is this different from discernment or mediation? Relationship Clarity & Discernment helps address uncertainty about continuing together. Divorce Mediation is a separate neutral process for discussing decisions and potential agreements, not psychotherapy.

What about ketamine-assisted couples psychotherapy? This is a distinct clinical KAP pathway involving separate clinical and medical screening, not a standard part of Couples Support.

Psychotherapy is available to eligible clients who are physically located in California or Massachusetts at the time services are provided. Availability of non-clinical formats depends on goals, location, service scope, fit, and applicable requirements.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Begin with a conversation.

You do not need to decide in advance whether psychotherapy or non-clinical couples coaching, relationship education, or guided support best fits. Susan can clarify appropriate scope, location eligibility, and whether couples support, relationship clarity, couples KAP, or divorce mediation may be a more suitable next step.

This inquiry is an initial fit conversation, not clinical intake, and does not itself establish a therapist-client relationship.

Schedule an Inquiry Call15 minutes · No fee