Couples Counseling

Love is a lot easier in movies. Real relationships come with dirty dishes, broken pipes, difficult in-laws, and moments when you both swear you’re right. My job is to help you stop score-keeping and start building something better—something connected, peaceful, mature, and maybe even a little fun again.

Services

I work with couples at every stage of the adventure:

• Established couples who feel more like roommates than teammates.
• Dating couples wondering whether to take the next step—or back up a few.
• Pre-marital counseling, using Prep*Enrich materials to spot the potholes before you bust an axle.
• Married partners who are tired of the same old arguments (money, kids, in-laws, intimacy—you name it).
• Blended families hoping to communicate without bringing baggage from past relationships.
• Individuals working through decisions about relationships and other personal concerns, as well as individuals whose partners are uninterested in couples therapy.
• Other dyads such as parent/adult child, adult siblings, divorcing co-parents, work colleagues, or business partners --  any of whom might be trying to work together and interact without contention and misunderstandings.

All sessions happen through secure teletherapy (or online coaching for US couples outside of Washington State). I work with English-speaking populations in North America, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. With teletherapy there's no traffic, no waiting room, no parking lots, no babysitters, and no arguments about who’s driving.

My Approach

I use a mix of Family Systems Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Bowen Family Systems Theory, all filtered through my own principle-based Skripts™ Method of communication. For couples who value their religious connection, I support all faith-based perspectives.

CBT helps you challenge the thoughts that fuel frustration; Bowen’s ideas about differentiation teach you to stay calm even when your partner isn’t; and the Skripts™ Method gives you a framework for talking that doesn’t end with slamming doors or the silent treatment.

In plain English: I help you see the repetitive loops that wreck your relationship—the way one person’s stress triggers the other’s defenses, which triggers even bigger reactions ... and suddenly you’re spatting about socks instead of seeking solutions. Once you see the pattern, you can change it.

The Skripts™ Method

Skripts™ is the principle-based communication system I developed during my doctoral research. It’s built on timeless principles—including kindness, honesty, responsibility, and respect—and gives couples practical ways to live them. Think of it as conversation scaffolding: The structure keeps things steady while you build trust and connection.

Each Skript teaches couples how to slow things down, listen better, and speak in ways your partner can actually hear. The goal? To be real, kind, and emotionally sane while you work things out.

About Me

I’m Dr. LauraMaery Gold, PhD, LMFT, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Counselor. I’ve been at this for over a decade, and before that I worked as a financial counselor, editor, and author of several books on marriage and family life.

Credentials aside, I’ve been married for over 30 years and my husband and I raised seven mostly-married adult children—which means I’ve seen pretty much every kind of conflict, meltdown, and reconciliation a family can produce. And nothing makes me happier than seeing couples find connection and joy together.

These days, I help couples rediscover the humor, grace, and teamwork that love every sincere person deserves.