Couples Therapy in Denver
Relationships can be hard, especially when emotions run high or communication breaks down. Our Couples DBT Program — based in the Denver Tech Center and offered statewide online — helps you navigate emotional intensity, improve communication, and repair trust.
What Is Couples DBT?
Couples DBT is different from traditional couples therapy. Instead of just talking through issues, you'll learn how to analyze ineffective behaviors and replace them with skills that actually work. DBT helps you stay calm, listen better, and respond in ways that bring you closer — not further apart.
You and your partner work directly with a DBT-trained clinician who guides the process with empathy, structure, and clarity.
How the Program Works
Assessment
Joint sessions, detailed intake, and a computerized assessment that highlights your specific strengths and struggles. Your therapist creates a customized plan outlining shared goals and treatment focus.
Weekly Sessions
Weekly therapy sessions combining communication work with practical DBT skills. We focus first on creating safety and understanding, then shift into reducing conflict and deepening connection.
Maintenance
Once you've built a solid foundation, biweekly or monthly sessions for continued support. These tune-ups help you stay grounded, practice new skills, and keep the progress going.
Skills You'll Learn Together
Couples DBT focuses on concrete, evidence-based tools that shift how you relate, repair, and reconnect.
Mindfulness
Stay present during difficult conversations instead of reacting
Emotion Regulation
Manage intense feelings without escalating conflict
Validation
Understand and acknowledge your partner's experience
Boundary Setting
Express needs clearly while respecting your partner's
How Couples DBT Compares to Gottman and EFT
Three evidence-based couples approaches — with real differences in what they teach and who they fit best. FRTC specializes in DBT, but the right fit depends on the couple.
Couples DBT
- Intended couples
- Couples navigating emotional intensity, reactivity, mood swings, trauma, or when one partner carries a diagnosis like BPD.
- Approach
- Evidence-based skills — mindfulness, emotion regulation, validation, and direct communication — practiced in session and at home.
- Format
- Weekly sessions with homework and structured skill-building. Most couples do 3–6 months, then biweekly tune-ups.
Gottman Method
- Intended couples
- Couples wanting to strengthen communication habits and shared meaning across a long-term relationship.
- Approach
- Research-based relationship framework covering communication patterns, bids for connection, conflict management, and shared rituals.
- Format
- Weekly sessions following a structured assessment and treatment plan, often over 6–12 months.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Intended couples
- Couples wanting to rebuild emotional closeness or reconnect after a rupture in trust.
- Approach
- Attachment-based work that slows down emotional cycles and helps partners reach for each other from a more vulnerable place.
- Format
- Weekly experiential sessions, typically 8–20 sessions, focused on deepening emotional engagement.
All three approaches have strong research support. We offer Couples DBT because it's what our clinicians are trained in — and because its emphasis on concrete, practice-between-sessions skills tends to produce durable change across a wide range of relationships. If you'd like help deciding, reach out and we'll give you an honest read.
When Is It Time for Couples Therapy?
The sooner, the better. Most couples wait too long. If your relationship has been feeling tense, unbalanced, or emotionally distant, therapy can help shift things before they fracture.
Meeting you where you both can get there.
Our office at 5300 DTC Parkway, Suite 450 serves couples from across the south Denver metro, with easy access from I-25 and Belleview.
We're a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Program™ — a rare designation in Colorado. Our Couples DBT Program is overseen by Tanner Oliver, LCSW, FRTC's General Manager. Every couples clinician at FRTC is trained and supervised in DBT — not dabbling in it.
Outside the metro, or schedules that don't line up for in-person? The full program runs identically over secure video for any couple located in Colorado.
In-person at our Greenwood Village office. Telehealth statewide in Colorado — as long as both partners are physically in Colorado during the session.
Ask us — we can almost certainly see you online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from Denver couples considering the program.
How much does couples therapy cost in Denver?
Does insurance cover couples therapy in Colorado?
Where are your couples therapy sessions held in Denver?
Who leads the Couples DBT Program at FRTC?
What is Couples DBT, and how is it different from traditional couples therapy?
Who is a good fit for Couples DBT?
Can we do couples therapy online in Colorado?
How long does the program take?
What if we've tried couples therapy before?
Do both partners need to participate equally?
Can we do Couples DBT alongside individual therapy?
“Healthy couples are not couples without conflict. They are couples who have learned to have conflict without destroying connection.”
Who you'll be working with.
Licensed clinicians, led by a Certified DBT Clinician™. We meet weekly as a consultation team so every client gets the collective expertise — not one therapist working alone.
Ready to Reconnect?
Whether you're facing a crisis or just want to communicate better, our Couples DBT program is designed to help you repair and move forward.