Croton, NY: 
Couples Therapy in New York — For Every Kind of Partnership
Relationships can hold deep love and real difficulty at the same time. Wondering if therapy could help doesn’t mean your relationship has failed. Often, it means there is some part of the relationship that needs more attention and understanding.
This applies to all relationships — not just those who are married. At Relationships & More, all couples are welcome. Angela Penichet, MS, LCSW, brings more than 30 years of clinical experience and advanced training in relationship-focused approaches.
You don’t need to know exactly what to say before reaching out. Call or text (914) 874-6852 or contact us to ask about a free consultation.
When to Seek Couples Therapy in New York
There is no single point at which a relationship becomes “serious enough” for support. Couples therapy may be worth considering if any of these experiences feel familiar:
- Conversations turn into arguments before you reach a resolution.
- You feel more like roommates or co-parents than partners.
- Emotional or physical intimacy has faded.
- Infidelity, secrecy, or repeated broken promises have damaged trust.
- The same conflicts about money, parenting, in-laws, or household responsibilities keep returning.
- A move, a new baby, a job loss, an illness, or another major transition has added strain.
- One or both of you is quietly wondering whether to stay.
- You are planning to marry and want to build a stronger foundation first.
Therapy doesn’t have to be the final attempt to save a relationship in crisis. It can be an investment in understanding each other before hurt and distance become harder to repair.
Our Approach to Couples Therapy
Couples therapy should be more than repeating the same argument in a different room. At Relationships & More, sessions are structured around identifying the patterns that keep you stuck, understanding what fuels them, and practicing more useful ways to respond. Because every relationship gets stuck in different ways, Angela will draw from several evidence-informed approaches to address both the conflict you can see and the emotions and assumptions underneath it:
- The Gottman Method uses assessment and tools shaped by research into couple relationships to address conflict, friendship, intimacy, and shared meaning.
- Emotionally Focused Therapy looks beneath the surface argument to the emotional cycle driving it. The approach is grounded in attachment theory and can be especially helpful when attachment wounds leave partners feeling rejected, abandoned, or unsafe.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps uncover assumptions and thought patterns that can turn a small moment into a much larger fight.
Most of the work takes place with both partners present. Individual therapy may also be used when focused one-on-one support would help the work move forward.
Specialized Couples Therapy Services
Every relationship arrives with its own history and its own questions. Some couples want to reconnect, some need help making a decision, and others are trying to steady themselves after a painful discovery. The work should reflect what you are actually facing. It shouldn’t force your relationship into a standard script.
Find your starting point
Specialized couples therapy services
Every relationship arrives with its own history and its own questions. The work should reflect what you are actually facing — not force your relationship into a standard script.
Discernment counseling
This may fit if one partner is leaning out of the relationship while the other is leaning in, and you want clarity before deciding anything.
Learn about discernment counselingCouples weekend intensives
This may fit if weekly sessions feel too slow or too hard to schedule, or you keep pausing just as an important conversation begins.
Learn about weekend intensivesLGBTQ+ affirming therapy
This may fit if you want care that takes outness, family acceptance, minority stress, or a gender transition seriously — without explaining your relationship first.
Learn about LGBTQ+ couples therapyPremarital counseling
This may fit if you’re planning to marry and want structured conversations about money, children, family expectations, and conflict before the wedding takes over.
Learn about premarital counselingAffair recovery and infidelity counseling
This may fit if a physical, emotional, online, or financial betrayal has just come to light — you don’t need to have decided whether to stay before asking for help.
Learn about affair recovery counselingNot sure which fits? A free consultation is the place to ask.
Call or text (914) 874-6852Discernment Counseling for Couples on the Fence
Discernment counseling is not the same as couples therapy. Developed specifically for couples in which one partner is leaning out of the relationship while the other is leaning in, it is a brief process of no more than five sessions.
The goal is not reconciliation at any cost. It is about developing greater clarity and confidence about what comes next. A couple may decide to leave the relationship as it is for now, commit to a defined period of couples therapy, or move toward separation. This can be the right starting point when one partner is not ready to repair the relationship, but both want to make a thoughtful decision rather than one driven entirely by fear, pressure, or the latest argument.
Couples Weekend Intensives
Some couples need more time and continuity than a weekly appointment can provide. Couples weekend intensives concentrate multiple hours of private work across a weekend, allowing partners to stay with an issue instead of pausing just as an important conversation begins.
That continuity can create momentum for couples in an acute crisis, partners whose schedules make weekly sessions difficult, people traveling from outside the area, or couples who feel stalled in ongoing therapy. An intensive isn’t a promise of an instant fix, but it can create the space for focused progress. Each weekend is arranged individually for one couple, so call or text (914) 874-6852 to ask about availability and format.
LGBTQ+ Affirming Couples Therapy
In LGBTQ+ couples therapy, queer couples shouldn’t have to explain, minimize, or defend the legitimacy of their relationship before they can talk about what hurts. Relationships & More offers affirming care that respects both your partnership and the identities within it.
Therapy can make room for concerns that generic relationship advice often overlooks, including different levels of outness, family rejection or partial acceptance, minority stress, relationship agreements, and the experience of navigating a gender transition within a partnership. The same evidence-informed approaches to trust, intimacy, and communication still apply. The difference is that your context is taken seriously rather than treated as incidental.
Premarital Couples Therapy
Premarital couples therapy is not a sign that either partner expects the marriage to struggle. It’s a chance to have important conversations with more honesty and structure before the wedding decisions and daily responsibilities compete for your attention.
The work may explore:
- Money habits and financial values;
- Whether and how you want to have children;
- Career goals and possible relocation;
- In-laws, family expectations, and boundaries;
- Religious or cultural differences;
- What each partner learned about conflict growing up.
Gottman-informed assessment tools can give these conversations a clear shape. The aim isn’t to agree on everything. It’s to understand where you align, where you differ, and how you will handle those differences together.
Affair Recovery and Infidelity Counseling
Discovering an affair can make the relationship you thought you knew feel suddenly unfamiliar. You may be cycling through anger, panic, grief, numbness, or an urgent need for answers. If the discovery was recent, you don’t need to have decided whether to stay before asking for help.
Although over half of injured partners end the relationship following infidelity, many couples do recover from betrayal, though healing is rarely quick or linear. Affair recovery counseling may begin by stabilizing the immediate crisis, then move toward understanding the relationship’s vulnerabilities, rebuilding transparency, and slowly restoring trust and intimacy. This work can address physical or emotional affairs, online and app-based infidelity, and financial secrecy. Therapy can’t guarantee an outcome, but it can help both partners face what happened with greater honesty and decide what repair would require.
What to Expect in Couples Therapy
What to expect
From first call to lasting change
You don’t need a shared explanation of the problem before making contact — and reaching out doesn’t commit you to ongoing therapy.
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The first step
Free consultation
Either partner may call or text to ask questions and request a free consultation. There’s no need to agree on what therapy should accomplish before you get in touch.
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Your first full session
Understanding the pattern
Angela begins learning about your relationship history, current concerns, and hopes for the work. The purpose is not to decide who has the more accurate version of the relationship, but to understand the pattern affecting both of you.
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Ongoing sessions
Practicing new responses
Sessions focus on your goals and progress, drawing on the Gottman Method, EFT, and CBT. Between-session exercises help you practice new skills where they matter most — in daily life with each other.
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As the work develops
Checking progress together
Some couples complete a shorter course of focused work, while affair recovery and other longstanding concerns often need more time. Progress is reviewed regularly so the pace fits your relationship.
Feeling nervous is normal. So is arriving with different ideas about what needs to change. Most of the work takes place with both partners present, though individual sessions may be used when focused one-on-one support would help the work move forward.
The first step can be small. Either partner may call or text to ask questions and request a free consultation. You don’t need a shared explanation of the problem before making contact, and reaching out doesn’t commit you to ongoing therapy.
During the first full session, Angela will begin learning about your relationship history, current concerns, and hopes for the work. Feeling nervous is normal. So is arriving with different ideas about what needs to change. The purpose is not to decide which partner has the more accurate version of the relationship, but to understand the pattern affecting both of you.
Sessions then focus on your goals and progress. Some couples complete a shorter course of focused work, while affair recovery and other longstanding concerns often need more time. Between-session exercises may help you practice new skills where they matter most: in daily life with each other.
Who We Work With
Therapy can support a relationship in crisis, in transition, or simply ready to grow. Relationships & More works with:
- Dating couples deciding whether to commit;
- Engaged couples preparing for marriage;
- Married couples at any stage;
- New parents and blended families;
- Empty nesters rediscovering each other;
- Separating couples who want to move forward with care.
No particular milestone or legal status makes a relationship more deserving of support. What matters is that both people have room to name what they are experiencing and consider what they want next.
In-Person Couples Therapy Across New York
Relationships & More offers in-person couples therapy in Croton-on-Hudson and Rye. For partners elsewhere in the state, online counseling is available through a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform.
Online therapy can solve a practical problem that is especially common for couples: coordinating two calendars and two commutes. That flexibility can make it easier to protect time for the relationship, whether you live in Manhattan, elsewhere in Westchester County, or farther across New York State.
Fees and Insurance for Couples Therapy
Relationships & More is an out-of-network practice and doesn’t bill insurance directly. Clients may receive superbills to submit for possible reimbursement, depending on the terms of their plan.
That said, most insurance plans don’t offer coverage for couples therapy because couples therapy isn’t billed as a medical diagnosis. Therefore, out-of-network reimbursement is not guaranteed.
As an out-of-network practice, Relationships & More can ensure continuity of care for all clients. Couples don’t have to worry about session limits or treatment plans dictated by insurance. Instead, they can focus on what truly matters: their relationships.
Why New York Couples Choose Relationships & More
Choosing a couples therapist is personal. Experience matters, but so does finding someone both partners can speak with honestly. Relationships & More offers:
- More than 30 years of clinical experience.
- Advanced training in relationship-focused methods, including the Gottman Method and EFT.
- Certified Clinical Trauma Professional.
- Listing with Psychology Today and Marriage-Friendly Therapists.
- Affirming care for varied identities and relationship structures.
- In-person appointments in Croton-on-Hudson and Rye, plus online care across New York State.
Learn more about Angela and the practice as you consider whether the fit feels right.
Take the First Step — Book a Free Consultation
You may still feel unsure, especially if your partner is hesitant or the two of you have not agreed on what therapy should accomplish. You don’t have to settle all of that before asking a question.
A free consultation gives you space to learn more without committing to ongoing sessions, and either partner can make the first call. Call or text (914) 874-6852, or send a message to Relationships & More when you’re ready.
Frequently Asked Questions About Couples Therapy in New York
Does Couples Therapy Actually Work?
For most couples who engage in it consistently, yes. Research on structured approaches like Emotionally Focused Therapy shows meaningful improvement in relationship satisfaction for a substantial majority of couples. However, couples may experience different results depending on how long they’ve dealt with certain challenges, their fit with the therapist, and whether both participants are willing and able to make changes in their relationship. It’s also worth saying that “working” doesn’t always mean staying together — for some couples, therapy brings clarity that leads to a more thoughtful separation.
What Is the Difference Between Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling?
The terms are often used interchangeably. Marriage counseling traditionally refers to work with legally married partners, while couples therapy is the broader term and applies to any committed partnership — dating, engaged, cohabiting, married, or somewhere in between. At Relationships & More, we work with couples at every stage and shape the work around your relationship rather than your legal status.
What If My Partner Won’t Come to Therapy?
This is common, and it’s rarely a dealbreaker. Reluctance usually comes from a fear of being blamed rather than a lack of care about the relationship. It often helps to frame the request around what you want rather than what’s wrong — “I want us to feel close again” lands differently than “we need help.” And if your partner still isn’t ready, starting individually is worthwhile. When one person changes how they respond, the dynamic between two people usually shifts too.
Is Couples Therapy Covered by Insurance?
Usually not, and that’s true of most practices rather than ours specifically. Insurers generally reimburse treatment tied to an individual’s mental health diagnosis, and relationship difficulties don’t fall into that category. We’re an out-of-network practice and don’t bill insurance directly, but we provide detailed superbills you can submit to your insurer. If either partner is also in individual therapy, those sessions may be reimbursable under out-of-network benefits.
How Long Does Couples Therapy Take?
There’s no fixed timeline. Many couples notice meaningful change within eight to twelve sessions, particularly around communication and conflict. Deeper work — rebuilding after infidelity, or addressing patterns in place for years — typically takes longer. We check in on progress regularly and adjust, with the goal of giving you tools you can use on your own rather than keeping you in therapy indefinitely.
Do You Offer Online Couples Therapy in New York?
Yes. We offer online couples therapy to partners anywhere in New York State through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. For couples, especially, online sessions solve a practical problem — coordinating two schedules and two commutes is often the hardest part of getting to therapy. Partners in different locations can also join the same session from wherever they are.