Strengthening Relationships,
Rebuilding Connection.
Relationships can be one of life's greatest sources of joy — but they can also become sources of pain, misunderstanding, and conflict. At Catherine Cundy & Associates, we specialize in helping couples strengthen their relationships through evidence-based approaches that address both the relationship itself and the unique experiences each partner brings into it.
Our Approach to Couples Therapy
Every couple enters therapy with a unique history, set of challenges, and goals. We meet you exactly where you are.
Save & Strengthen
If your goal is to save your relationship, we work collaboratively with both partners toward rebuilding trust, improving communication, and creating a healthier partnership.
Personal Growth
Lasting relationship change often requires personal healing. Therapy provides each partner an opportunity to better understand themselves and their patterns.
Clarity & Direction
Our role is not to push couples toward any particular outcome, but to help each person make thoughtful, informed decisions aligned with their values and wellbeing.
Gottman Relationship Assessment
As part of our commitment to personalized and effective treatment, we offer a complimentary Gottman Relationship Assessment to all couples seeking therapy through our practice.
This comprehensive assessment helps us gain a deeper understanding of your relationship so we can develop a therapy plan specific to you — rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
The assessment helps us:
- Identify relationship strengths
- Understand areas needing attention
- Assess communication patterns and conflict style
- Evaluate emotional connection and trust
- Tailor treatment to your unique needs
- Track progress throughout therapy
- Create a targeted and effective treatment plan
Methods We Incorporate
We draw from the most effective, research-backed approaches to meet each couple exactly where they are.
Developed by Terry Real
Relational Life Therapy (RLT)
Relational Life Therapy (RLT) is a powerful, direct, and deeply compassionate approach to couples therapy developed by renowned therapist and author Terry Real. Unlike more traditional therapy models that focus primarily on communication skills or conflict resolution techniques, RLT goes deeper — addressing the underlying relational patterns, family-of-origin wounds, and adaptive survival strategies that drive recurring conflict, disconnection, and pain in relationships.
At the heart of RLT is a simple but profound truth: most of us were not taught how to be in healthy, intimate relationships. Instead, we learned — often unconsciously — to protect ourselves through patterns like withdrawal, control, people-pleasing, aggression, or emotional shutdown. While these strategies may have helped us survive difficult childhoods or past relationships, they often become the very behaviors that damage our most important adult relationships.
RLT helps couples identify these patterns with clarity and compassion — and then teaches the specific relational skills needed to replace them with healthier ways of connecting, communicating, and repairing.
The Two Dimensions of RLT Work
Individual Healing
RLT recognizes that lasting relationship change often requires personal healing. Each partner is helped to understand how their own history — including childhood experiences, family dynamics, and past relational wounds — shapes the way they show up in their current relationship. This is not about blame, but about developing self-awareness and taking responsibility for one's own patterns.
Relational Skills
RLT is highly skills-based. Couples are taught concrete tools for communicating more effectively, setting and respecting boundaries, expressing needs and feelings without attack or withdrawal, and repairing after conflict. The goal is not just insight — it is real, lasting change in how partners relate to one another day to day.
Core Concepts in RLT
Who Benefits from RLT?
RLT is particularly effective for couples who feel stuck in repetitive conflict cycles, couples where one or both partners struggle with patterns of control, withdrawal, or emotional reactivity, and couples recovering from betrayal or significant relational injuries. It is also highly effective for couples who have tried other approaches without lasting results.
Because RLT is direct and action-oriented, many couples find it refreshing — they leave sessions with a clear understanding of what is happening in their relationship and concrete tools to begin changing it.
Through RLT, couples learn to:
Based on Decades of Research
Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Developed by Drs. John and Julie Gottman, this model is grounded in decades of research studying what makes relationships succeed and what causes them to fail. The Gottman Method focuses on strengthening the relationship's foundation by improving friendship, communication, conflict management, trust, and shared meaning.
Rather than eliminating all conflict, the Gottman Method teaches couples how to navigate differences in ways that strengthen the relationship rather than damage it.
Couples learn practical skills to:
Creating Secure Emotional Connection
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Emotionally Focused Therapy is based on attachment science and helps couples understand the deeper emotional needs driving their relationship patterns. Many couples become trapped in cycles where one partner pursues connection while the other withdraws, leaving both feeling misunderstood, rejected, or alone.
EFT helps couples identify these negative cycles and recognize that beneath anger, criticism, withdrawal, or conflict are often unmet needs for connection, safety, acceptance, love, and belonging.
Through EFT, couples learn to:
When One Partner Is Unsure
Discernment Counseling
Not every couple enters therapy with the same level of commitment to working on the relationship. Discernment Counseling is designed for couples in which one partner is considering separation or divorce while the other wants to preserve the relationship.
Rather than immediately beginning traditional couples therapy, discernment helps couples gain clarity. The goal is not to save or end the relationship — the goal is clarity. By slowing down the decision-making process and exploring options thoughtfully, couples are better able to make informed decisions about their future.
Discernment helps couples gain clarity about:
Common Issues We Help Couples Address
You don't have to be in crisis to benefit from couples therapy. Many couples come to us simply wanting to grow closer.
Couples Therapy Throughout California
We offer in-person sessions in Redding and secure video therapy for couples anywhere in California — including Anderson, Palo Cedro, Shasta Lake City, and beyond. Both partners can join from the same room or separate locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have more questions? We're happy to talk — call us or send a message.
Do both partners need to attend every session?
Most couples therapy sessions involve both partners together. However, we may occasionally recommend individual sessions as part of the process. We will discuss what works best for your situation.
How long does couples therapy typically take?
Every couple is different. Some see meaningful progress in 8–12 sessions; others benefit from longer-term work. We will regularly check in on your goals and progress together.
Do you offer telehealth for couples therapy?
Yes — we offer secure video sessions for couples throughout California. Both partners can join from the same location or from separate devices.
What if my partner is reluctant to come to therapy?
This is very common. We are happy to speak with you individually first, and we can discuss strategies for inviting a hesitant partner into the process.
Do you work with LGBTQ+ couples?
Absolutely. We are affirming and welcoming to all couples regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationship structure.
Does insurance cover couples therapy?
Coverage varies by plan. We accept Partnership Health Plan and can provide documentation for out-of-network reimbursement. Contact us to discuss your options.
Take the First Step
Seeking couples therapy is not a sign that your relationship has failed — it is a sign that your relationship is important enough to invest in. We are honored to walk alongside couples as they navigate challenges, deepen understanding, heal old hurts, and create healthier, more connected relationships.