If you've drifted apart — or you tried counselling once and left feeling worse than when you walked in — press play. Tara will show you exactly how the first session goes.
No mystery, no ambush. Here's the shape of it before you ever book.
A short, no-pressure conversation. You describe what's going on in your own words — no intake grilling, no labels. By the end you'll both know whether this is a fit.
Together you walk through the relationship — the good parts as well as the hard ones. Tara looks for the strengths first, then sends you home with a couple of exercises to rebuild friendship and practise listening.
Where your ways of communicating came from, and which new ones are worth learning. Less about relitigating what went wrong, more about remembering who your partner actually is.
Tara Davidson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego. She works mostly with couples — and often with one partner on their own, because the other isn't ready yet. She's Gottman-trained, and most people who reach out have been thinking about it for a long time before they finally pick up the phone.
Her first session is deliberately built the other way round from what most people expect. Rather than opening with everything that's gone wrong, she walks couples through a timeline of their relationship and looks for its strengths. The problems get named — they just aren't the focus on day one. The reasoning is simple: this work isn't always easy, and it helps to know what you're working for before you start.
Twenty minutes to say what's going on and hear how Tara works. Nothing to commit to.
For couples whose calendars are the real obstacle — not the willingness.
It's the question Tara gets most, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a number on a page that may not apply to your plan. Bring it up at the start of your discovery call — you'll know exactly where you stand on cost and coverage before committing to anything.
Yes. It's about twenty minutes, there's no charge, and there's no obligation to book anything afterwards. It exists so you can find out how Tara works and whether she's the right person for you.
Either, and you can mix them. Tara sees couples in person in San Diego and by secure video, which tends to matter when two schedules have to line up.
That's one of the most common reasons people come to Tara. Couples often say the last time all they did was relive the same problems, or that the therapist seemed to take a side. Session one here is built the other way round — starting with what's still working between you. It isn't a promise about the outcome, but it is a different starting point.
Yes. Tara works with individuals on their relationship, and she'll be honest that it isn't quite the same as having you both in the room. Plenty of couples begin exactly this way.
One conversation, no pressure — and you'll know whether this is the right next step.