Marriage Counselling — Calgary & Alberta
Marriage counselling
Gottman Level I and II trained couples work for marriages that keep hitting the same wall — plus pre-marital counselling for couples who would rather get ahead of it.
Most couples do not arrive because of one enormous event. They arrive because the same argument has been running for years and nobody knows how to stop it.
Learning to fight fair
Conflict is not the problem — every marriage has it. What matters is what the two of you do in the middle of it, and whether you know how to find your way back to each other afterward.
The work is structured. We map the pattern you are stuck in, name the moves that escalate it, and practise repair in the room until it starts to happen at home. That includes the practical territory couples usually avoid: money, in-laws, parenting, intimacy, and how decisions actually get made.
Sessions can be faith-integrated if that is part of your marriage, or kept entirely clinical. You choose.
Sound familiar?
Couples usually come in when
- The same argument keeps restarting with a different label on it.
- One of you has stopped bringing things up because it is not worth it.
- You are living like polite roommates and both of you know it.
- Trust has been broken and you do not know whether it can be rebuilt.
- Anxiety or depression in one partner is straining both of you.
- You are getting married and want to build well rather than repair later.
Pre-marital counselling
Pre-marital sessions are Gottman-informed preparation for the marriage you actually want to build. We work through expectations, communication, conflict style, finances, faith and family before the wedding rather than after.
Sessions run 60 minutes, online across Alberta or in person in Calgary, and always start with a free 15 minute conversation so you can both decide whether it feels like a fit.
CPE, B.A (Religion), MDiv, M.A (Counselling) — Registered Psychotherapist
Questions
Common questions
- What if my partner is reluctant to come?
- That is normal. Often one person books the free 15 minute consultation alone first, and we talk about how to invite the other in without it feeling like an ambush.
- What is Gottman-informed counselling?
- The Gottman method comes from decades of research on what actually predicts whether relationships last. Vince holds Gottman Level I and Level II training, so the work focuses on concrete patterns — criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, repair — rather than open-ended venting.
- Do you do pre-marital counselling?
- Yes. Pre-marital work covers expectations, money, family, conflict and intimacy before they become the arguments you have for a decade. It is some of the highest-value counselling a couple can do.
- Is it too late for us?
- Couples come in at every stage, including after an affair or a long stretch of living like roommates. The honest answer is that it depends on whether both of you want to try — and that is a good first conversation to have.
Next step
Start with a free 15 minute conversation
No cost, no pressure, online. We talk briefly about what you are carrying and whether it is a good fit for us to work together.