SPECIALTY COUPLES THERAPY · CALIFORNIA
When standard couples counseling isn’t enough, specialized care can help you move forward.
Structured, evidence-based therapy for couples navigating betrayal, chronic disconnection, intimacy concerns, major transitions, and complex relationship challenges.
SPECIALTY COUPLES THERAPY · CALIFORNIA
When standard couples counseling isn’t enough, specialized care can help you move forward.
Structured, evidence-based therapy for couples navigating betrayal, chronic disconnection, intimacy concerns, major transitions, and complex relationship challenges.
GOTTMAN LEVEL III
LMFT #51009
20+ YEARS PRIVATE PRACTICE
FORTUNE 500 BACKGROUND
HIPAA TELEHEALTH · CA-WIDE
What specialty couples therapy is about
Stop managing your relationship. Start transforming it.
- Break recurring patterns of conflict and disconnection
- Rebuild trust after infidelity or betrayal
- Restore emotional and physical intimacy
- Communicate with greater honesty and understanding
- Navigate major decisions and relationship transitions
- Create a stronger, more secure partnership
“She has given us many helpful tools to use when navigating what can sometimes be the rocky road of marriage.”
“Marina Edelman truly helped save my marriage in a surprisingly short amount of time. She has an exceptional ability to get straight to the crux of the matter while making both people feel heard and understood.”
SPECIALTIES
What I Do Best
Personalized therapy to help you heal, strengthen relationships, and improve your emotional well-being.
01
Couples & Marriage Therapy
- Evidence-based work for couples at any stage — from chronic conflict to disconnection to the brink of separation.
Learn more →
02
Affair Recovery & Infidelity Therapy
- Structured recovery from betrayal. Whether you’re deciding to stay or leave, the process is supported and clear.
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03
Emotional and Physical Intimacy
- Rebuilding closeness and connection when distance has settled in — emotionally, mentally, physically, or both.
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FOR SPECIALTY COUPLES WITH COMPLEX CONCERNS
Built for couples who need more than generic communication advice.
Some relationship challenges cannot be resolved with worksheets or surface-level strategies. Betrayal, emotional distance, intimacy concerns, demanding careers, and years of accumulated hurt require a more focused and individualized approach.
Marina helps couples understand what is keeping them stuck, address the deeper emotional and relational patterns beneath the problem, and make meaningful changes with clarity and direction.
What sets this work apart
Identifies the deeper patterns shaping the relationship—not only the immediate problem
Integrates multiple evidence-based approaches based on each couple’s needs
Structured, focused sessions with clear therapeutic direction
Support for complex concerns involving trust, intimacy, identity, family, and career
Direct feedback without blame, vague advice, or performative vulnerability
Confidential telehealth throughout California—no waiting rooms
SERVICES
How I Do It
The steps I take to make sure that you are getting the support you need.
01
Understand Your Unique Relationship
- I take time to understand your identities, experiences, relationship structure, values, and current concerns without forcing your relationship into a traditional model.
- Together, we identify the deeper patterns beneath conflict, disconnection, mistrust, or recurring misunderstandings.
02
Adapt Therapy to Your Needs
- I tailor therapy to the realities of your relationship, including cultural differences, neurodivergence, LGBTQ+ identities, non-monogamy, blended-family dynamics, or demanding professional lives.
- We develop practical communication, boundary, intimacy, and problem-solving strategies that work for both partners.
03
Build a Stronger Shared Path
- I help you repair conflict, strengthen trust, and make thoughtful decisions about the future of your relationship.
- The goal is to create a partnership where both people feel understood and respected—without asking either person to abandon an essential part of who they are.
ABOUT ME
Marina Edelman, LMFT
Couples Therapist in California
Marina Edelman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the founder of TrueMe® Counseling, a couples and relationship therapy practice serving clients in Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, and throughout California.
Marina specializes in couples therapy, affair recovery, and relationship repair, drawing on a carefully integrated set of evidence-based approaches:
- Gottman Method — Research-based tools for reducing conflict and building friendship and intimacy
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) — Healing attachment injuries and rebuilding emotional safety
- Attachment-Based Therapy — Understanding how early relational patterns shape adult love
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — Identifying and shifting the thought patterns that fuel disconnection
- AEDP — Processing deep emotional wounds with compassion and precision
Her counseling is best suited for couples and individuals seeking structured, research-backed support for relationship repair, affair recovery, anxiety, communication challenges, and premarital or marriage counseling — in person or via telehealth across California.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
About Specialty Couples Therapy
Here are some of the most frequent questions we receive about this page.
What is specialty couples therapy?
Specialty couples therapy is focused care for relationship concerns that may require more experience, structure, or clinical depth than general couples counseling provides. This may include infidelity, intimacy
difficulties, entrenched patterns, executive pressure, emotional disconnection, major life transitions, or uncertainty about whether to remain together.
How is this different from standard couples counseling?
Standard couples counseling may focus primarily on communication skills and resolving immediate disagreements. Specialty couples therapy looks more closely at the emotional, behavioral, attachment, and relational
patterns sustaining the problem. Treatment is tailored to the couple rather than relying on a single technique or predetermined program.
How long does specialty couples therapy typically take?
The timeline depends on the concerns being addressed, how long the patterns have been present, and each partner’s willingness to participate. Some couples notice meaningful progress within 12 to 20 weeks of
consistent weekly sessions, while more complex concerns may benefit from 6 to 12 months or longer. Couples seeking more concentrated support with faster results may consider Intensive Couples Therapy.
Can therapy help if only one of us believes there is a problem?
Couples therapy works best when both partners participate, but it is common for one person to feel more motivated or concerned than the other. Marina creates a balanced space where both perspectives can be
understood without automatically identifying one partner as the problem.
What concerns do you specialize in?
I work with couples navigating affair recovery, chronic disconnection, recurring conflict, emotional and physical intimacy concerns, executive and professional pressure, premarital concerns, major life transitions, and
uncertainty about the future of the relationship.
Take the first step toward healing and connection
Not sure where to start? Let’s talk.