Couples Therapy
for growth and intimacy

Carter Psychotherapy Collective
South Pasadena + Online Across California

You want this partnership to work, you’re just not sure how to move it forward.

Couples come to us stuck arguing about the same things. At the center there is lots of love, but resentment is building and it’s hard to break the cycle.

Maybe a change in your life has recently knocked things off balance: new responsibilities, or a destabilizing uncertainty.

Maybe you have differences in the way you see something important to your relationship - money, spirituality, parenting, your relationship with extended family, or making simple decisions.

Or maybe you’re considering opening up the relationship but don’t know what that shift means for closeness and trust.

Couples therapy here is for partners who want alignment, peace, and new ways of being together without feeling like you constantly have to walk on eggshells.

Relaxed couple lying in the grass. We offer expert couples therapy in South Pasadena.

The Best Time to Start Couples Therapy Is When Things “Feel Off”

It’s a myth that only “broken” relationships need therapy. Many couples reach out because they care deeply and want to stop the drift before it grows wider.

You might feel stuck in a dynamic you can’t shake or exhausted by trying to fix the same argument without success. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means your relationship deserves support.

Our therapists use a grounded, compassionate approach, blending psychodynamic, mindfulness, and attachment-focused methods with concrete communication support to help you reconnect and move forward with clarity.

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When Couples Come to Us:

“Stuck” or at an impasse
Can’t move past a recurring argument
Low intimacy
Stuck in old relationship patterns
Wanting connection and feeling unheard
Life changes (kids, jobs, distance) that threw off the balance
Considering new relationship models

What We Use in Couples Therapy

Lesbian couple connecting. We offer affirming couples therapy in South Pasadena and online throughout California.

We aim for growth with care and respect. Our work is relational, anchored in insight, and always designed so both partners be seen and safe.

- Prioritize emotional safety and secure attachment between partners.
- Understand how old attachment experiences impact your partnership now.
- They help rebuild trust, closeness, and repair old ruptures in relational connection.
Structured strategies for conflict resolution, communication repair, and shared relationship goals.
Helps you build a family culture that sustains connection even when life gets messy.
Moments of pause and awareness to help you slow down judgment and reactivity.
Cultivates clarity, empathy, and increases capacity to connect instead of defaulting to old wounds.
Activities that move beyond words into body, expression, or creating together.
Helps open pathways to emotional safety and deeper understanding when conversation alone feels stuck.
We explore the early stories, hidden assumptions, and emotional history that underlies how you relate.
We help unearth roots of conflict and gives both partners understanding of why certain issues trigger them.
Tools for emotional regulation, tolerance of discomfort, and clearer communication.
Helps both of you stay grounded during conflict, lean into vulnerability, and respond rather than react.

Meet With Us

After Therapy With Us, Couples Say:

Conversations don’t feel like landmines
They feel heard, valued, and emotionally safe again
Renewed friendship, closeness, and intimacy
Less reactivity; more pause and clarity in conflict
Stronger sense of shared direction and partnership
Confidence in navigating difficult topics together

Meet our Couples Therapists

Toph Eggers, AMFT

My work focuses on helping couples move past conflict by addressing pursuer/distancer dynamics, intimacy struggles, and creating deeper understanding. My practice is CNM affirming and sex positive.

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Alexandra Gaty, LCSW

I guide couples through major life or relationship transitions, offering insight into attachment patterns, communication strategies, and the unique needs of parents and highly sensitive or creative partners.

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Allison Carter, LCSW

Drawing from somatic therapies, attachment theory, DBT, and Gottman’s Bringing Baby Home, I help couples impacted by sexual trauma or new parenthood feel safe, supported, and able to build a meaningful family culture.

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4 Steps To
Get Started

Send us a message to share what feels like is getting in the way in your relationship.
A 15‑minute call to see if we align in values, expectations, and style of therapy.
We’ll map what’s recurring in your relationship, what’s important to both of you, and begin establishing tools for change.
Regular sessions where we build communication, connection, conflict repair, and relational safety.