Couples therapy and intensive sessions in Lompoc, CA and online across California.
Rebuild trust, communication, and intimacy with EFCT specialist Shuriee Gioieni, LMFT.
Free 20-minute consultation.
Tired of Feeling Unhappy, Lonely, and Anxious in Your Relationship?
When your relationship feels disconnected, everything in life feels heavier. You may be exhausted from the constant miscommunication, the arguments that start small and spiral quickly, or the painful silence that follows. Maybe there’s been an affair, and you’re unsure if trust—or your relationship—can truly heal. Or perhaps you feel like you’re walking on eggshells, afraid that one wrong word will spark another fight.
You’ve tried to fix things on your own, but nothing seems to change. You miss feeling close, desired, understood… and you long for the intimacy and connection you once shared. In the beginning, your partner felt like your best friend—the person you could be yourself with, laugh with, and build a life with. The respect was mutual, communication felt easy, sex was spontaneous, and you genuinely felt connected.
But now, things feel different.
When Relationships Struggle, the Pattern Often Looks Like:
One partner wants to talk things through while the other shuts down or pulls away
Small disagreements turn into explosive fights
Hurtful words leave emotional wounds
Issues get swept under the rug, only to resurface in the next argument
Intimacy fades and you feel more like roommates than partners
These patterns aren’t about “failure”—they’re often trauma responses, attachment wounds, or learned survival strategies that surface in moments of stress or fear.
Relationship Therapy Can Help You Rebuild What You’ve Lost
Whether you’re healing from betrayal, navigating constant conflict, or simply wanting to improve communication before a major life transition—therapy offers a safe, supportive space to reconnect. Together, we’ll explore what’s underneath the arguments, understand your emotional cycles, rebuild trust, strengthen communication, and create a relationship where both partners feel valued, heard, and emotionally secure.
If your relationship is good but you want to deepen your connection, prepare for a baby or wedding, or strengthen communication before life changes—therapy can guide you through these transitions with clarity and support.
You don’t have to feel lonely, anxious, or disconnected anymore.
Healing is possible—and I’m here to help you find your way back to each other.
What Our Sessions Actually Look Like
I know that reaching out for couples therapy takes a lot. It means admitting that something you love is hurting — and trusting that a stranger can help. That vulnerability is sacred to me, and I hold it with both hands.
Here's how our work unfolds:
We begin together.
Our first sessions include all three of us — you, your partner, and me. I want to understand your relationship from the inside: what brings you joy, what pulls you apart, what you've already tried, and what you're hoping for. There's no rush here. I'm not looking to assign blame or identify a 'problem person.' I'm looking to understand the patterns — the cycles you've both gotten caught in — so we can interrupt them together.
Then, I meet with each of you individually.
I hold a separate session with each partner, not to take sides, but to give each of you a private space to share what might be hard to say in front of your partner. This gives me a fuller, more compassionate picture of both of you — and helps me show up better in our joint sessions.
Then we do the real work — together.
The heart of our sessions is creating a space where both partners feel genuinely heard — maybe for the first time in a long while. We slow things down. We look underneath the arguments to find what's really being said. We work on patterns, not just problems. And little by little, we rebuild.
I use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) as my primary approach — one of the most well-researched, effective methods for couples healing. It's about understanding your emotional cycles, strengthening your attachment bond, and creating the kind of safety where real intimacy can grow again.
No session looks exactly the same, because no couple is exactly the same. Some weeks we'll focus on communication. Others on processing a painful event. Others still on deepening the closeness that brought you together in the first place.
What stays constant is this: both of you matter here. Both of you are heard. And both of you deserve a relationship where you feel safe, valued, and truly seen.
Still unsure if Couples Therapy is right for you?
It may feel impossible right now, but you truly can rediscover the love, connection, and joy in your relationship. You can rebuild trust, communicate with ease, and feel safe being vulnerable with your partner again. Healing is absolutely possible—and I’m here to guide you every step of the way.
Couples Therapy Can Help You:
Rebuild the emotional connection you once shared
Bring fun, laughter, and enjoyment back into your relationship
Communicate clearly—and feel heard and understood
Feel secure, supported, and valued by your partner
Resolve conflict in a healthy, respectful way
Maintain your own identity while strengthening the partnership
Restore intimacy and deepen closeness
And so much more
If you're ready to feel connected, supported, and hopeful about your relationship again, I’m here to help you get there.
I offer both weekly and intensive sessions for couples. Both are effective forms of therapy. Intensive sessions can provide faster healing because of the longer sessions.
Weekly Couples Therapy - $250 a session
Here are the Couples Intensive Packages offered:
Package 1
1 hour pre-interview/1 day, 3 hours/1 hour follow-up/ Workbook provided=5hrs therapy/ $2000
Package 2
1 hour pre-interview/2 days, 3 hours/1 hour follow-up/Workbook provided= 8hrs therapy/$2700
Package 3
I hour pre-interview/3 days, 3 hours/ 1 hour Follow up/Workbook provided=11hrs therapy/ $3500
All packages can change format. For example package 2 doesn’t have to be split into 3 days. It can be put into 2 days or 1 day with a couple hours on the next day. We just have to discuss what works for your schedule.
Every relationship faces challenges, but feeling unheard, misunderstood, or disconnected doesn’t have to be your everyday experience. You deserve a relationship where you feel valued, seen, and emotionally secure—and healing is absolutely possible.
My approach to couples therapy is compassionate, balanced, and deeply collaborative. I don’t take sides or place blame. Instead, I help both partners feel understood as we explore the patterns that keep you stuck, uncover the triggers that lead to conflict, and rebuild the emotional bond that once felt effortless.
I specialize in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT)—one of the most effective, research-backed methods for helping couples restore connection, strengthen communication, and create lasting intimacy. With the right support and tools, your relationship can shift from frustration and distance to trust, closeness, and true emotional understanding.
If you’re ready to feel connected again, I’m here to help guide the way.
Reconnect with Your Partner.
Your relationship deserves this level of care and attention.
Let’s begin this journey together.
Frequently asked questions about couples therapy:
-
Therapy for couples and relationships can look a number of different ways, and how we spend each individual session might look different.
When we start out, we’ll meet all together in one session. Next, I’ll schedule an individual meeting with both of you, to get a more in-depth view on each person’s perception of the problem(s) in the relationship. We’ll then have the remainder of our sessions with everyone present together.
Typically, it’s helpful to begin by meeting weekly so that the two of you can really feel some progress in your relationship. Often meeting at less frequent intervals can lead to slower therapeutic gains.
We will always begin by forming a solid therapeutic relationship as I want you to feel safe in our connection and work. And I always encourage feedback about ways to make your experience better!
-
I’m excited about the opportunity to support you on your journey towards building a stronger, more connected relationship! We’ll start with a free 20 minute consultation so that we can meet and see how we connect.
I truly believe the connection between therapist and clients makes all the difference in therapy, so if any of us decides we are not the best fit, I will be happy to provide you with referrals.
-
It really depends on what your needs and goals are. I’ve worked with a number of couples for a short period of time (6-10 sessions) or longer (15+ sessions). When there are more complex and painful pieces of your history as a couple (e.g., infidelity, domestic violence), it’s not uncommon to meet for 6 months to a year.
Some people choose to meet with a couples therapist for an extended period of time to process multiple difficult events in the relationship or simply to have a safe space to come back to as needed for when they get stuck in another point of conflict.
-
The difference is simple. A normal 50 minute weekly session is just that. An Intensive session is a longer session allowing faster relief and greater gains because we aren't having to stop after 50 minutes and then restarting the next week.