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Marriage and Couples Counseling in Bethesda, MD
We have provided marriage and couples counseling in Bethesda since 2007, from our office at 4300 Montgomery Avenue, a ten-minute walk from the Bethesda Metro. Sessions are 50 minutes, $250 to $450, seven days a week including evenings until 9pm, in person or online.
Counseling that does more than referee
Most couples arrive having had the same argument for years. The content changes; the shape does not. One of you pushes for resolution, the other goes quiet, and both of you leave feeling unheard.
Our job is not to decide who is right. It is to slow the pattern down enough that you can both see it happening, and to give you something to do other than the thing you always do. That is learnable, and it usually starts to shift earlier than people expect.
The methods we use
Couples therapy is a distinct discipline with real evidence behind it. These are the models our Bethesda counselors are trained in, and we match the approach to what is happening between you.
The Gottman Method
Built on decades of observational research into what actually predicts whether a marriage lasts. Practical, structured work on the specific behaviours that erode a relationship — contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling — and the repair attempts that counter them.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT works on the attachment fear underneath the argument. Most couples recognise the cycle immediately once it is named: one partner pursues, the other withdraws, and each reaction produces the other.
Imago Relationship Therapy
A structured dialogue that interrupts the reflex to defend and makes each of you genuinely hear the other before responding. More about Imago.
IFS and IFIO
Keith Miller is a Certified Level III Internal Family Systems therapist with advanced IFIO training, the IFS approach to couples. It treats a defensive reaction as a part of you with a reason behind it rather than a flaw to argue out of. Read more about IFS.
We are members of the National Registry of Marriage Friendly Therapists.
Wherever you are in the relationship
Before the wedding
Premarital counseling with guided assessments, so you have the difficult conversations about money, family and expectations now rather than in year three.
Newly married
The first years surprise people. Two histories of how a household runs meet for the first time, and nobody warned you the argument would be about the dishwasher.
Long married
Decades in, with children grown or nearly, couples often find they have become efficient co-managers and lost the rest. That is recoverable.
Remarriage and blended families
Second marriages carry the first one into the room, along with stepchildren, ex-partners and competing loyalties nobody agreed to.
Deciding whether to stay
Discernment counseling for couples where one of you is unsure. The goal is a clear, considered decision rather than an assumed outcome or another year of drift.
After an affair
Whether the marriage continues or not, both of you need somewhere to put what happened.
What we work on
Communication that has stalled
The same argument on repeat, or the silence that replaced it. Usually the reason couples first call.
Sex and intimacy
Mismatched desire, sex that has quietly stopped, or closeness that feels like obligation rather than choice.
Attachment patterns
Avoidant partners experience closeness as pressure and create distance. Anxious partners fear being left and act in ways that push. Both are learnable rather than fixed, and this is some of the most common work we do here.
Parenting strain
New parenthood, and the way children reshape a marriage without either of you agreeing to it.
Open and polyamorous relationships
We work with people in consensually non-monogamous relationships, who deserve a counselor not spending the session catching up on the structure.
Coming on your own
You do not need your partner in the room. One partner changing their side of a pattern often changes the pattern.
Counseling or coaching?
People search for a relationship coach and a marriage counselor interchangeably, and the distinction is worth knowing. Coaching is generally forward-looking and unregulated: anyone can use the title. Counseling is provided by licensed clinicians, can address the history driving a pattern, and may qualify for out-of-network insurance reimbursement.
Our counselors are licensed clinical social workers and professional counselors. If what you want is practical, goal-focused work on communication, we do that too — but with clinical training behind it and the option to go deeper when the surface work is not enough.
Our Bethesda office
Sessions run from 4300 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 302, Bethesda, MD 20814, a ten-minute walk from the Bethesda Metro on the red line and a similar distance from NIH. Metered parking runs along Montgomery Avenue with paid garages nearby.
We see couples from across Montgomery County, including North Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, Rockville, Silver Spring and Kensington, and the 20814, 20815 and 20816 zip codes. Psychiatric care and psychological testing also run from this office, which matters when one partner is managing depression or ADHD alongside the relationship work. Our second office is in Dupont Circle, Washington DC. See the Bethesda office page for directions and hours.
Fees and insurance
Couples sessions are $250 to $450 for 50 minutes, depending on the counselor you see. Payment is taken by card before your first session. We offer a free phone consultation before you commit to anything.
We do not bill insurance directly. Our counselors are licensed, so our services qualify for reimbursement under most plans, and clients who submit their own out-of-network claims commonly recover 40–60% of what they pay. See our full policies and fees.
Frequently asked questions
Does marriage counseling actually work?
For most couples who start early enough, yes. The strongest predictor is not how bad things are but whether both partners engage with the work between sessions. Couples who wait until one person has already decided to leave have a harder time, which is why we would rather see you sooner.
Will the counselor take sides?
No. If one of you consistently feels ganged up on, the therapy is not working and we will say so. Our job is the pattern between you, not a verdict on either of you.
How many sessions will we need?
Focused work on a specific difficulty often runs a few months of weekly sessions. Longer-standing patterns take longer. We will tell you at the outset what looks realistic rather than leaving it open-ended.
Will insurance cover marriage counseling?
Most insurers will not reimburse against “marriage counseling” as a description. The reimbursable procedure code is conjoint psychotherapy, code 90847. Use that wording when you ask your insurer what they cover.
Can we meet online?
Yes. You can meet in person in Bethesda or Dupont Circle, online by video, or by phone. Many couples alternate, and partners can join from different locations when schedules demand it.
What if only one of us wants to come?
That is common and still workable. Individual therapy for relationship difficulty is genuinely useful, and one partner shifting their side of a pattern often shifts the whole thing.
Getting started
Call or text
Reach us on 202-629-1949 and ask for the referral coordinator on extension 0. If you would rather write than speak, use the enquiry form.
Free phone consultation
Tell us what is happening and when you can both meet. There is no cost and no commitment at this stage.
Matched to a counselor
We match you to the counselor best suited to your situation, then book your first 50-minute session.