My ongoing therapy practice is often full. For couples who want help sooner, I offer Couples Therapy Intensives.
Kimberly Schildbach Therapy
Couples Therapy for Infidelity, Conflict & Relationships in Crisis
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) for infidelity, sexual secrecy, high-conflict relationships, and couples in crisis.
Discernment Counseling for couples considering separation or divorce.
Weekly therapy and intensive options available.
Massachusetts | Connecticut | Washington | Florida
When the Defenses You Use
Keep You From Getting
the Love You Want
The sigh that tells you he doesn't care, the eye roll that makes you wonder why you still try. One of you is pursuing for closeness and answers, the other is laying low to ward off the painful fights you both know are coming. Push and pull. Come here, go away. A pattern you can’t break on your own. You're both walled off in opposite corners of the boxing ring, gloves up, ready to strike and defend, while desperately hoping your partner will give you a sign that they care.
And when pain has been added to pain - the aftermath of infidelity, the resignation that develops after years of conflict, and the hopelessness leading to relentless bickering, shutdowns, and the possibility of divorce - it can feel like watching your shared dreams unravel.
You need to know you really matter to your person - or you need a way out of limbo. And you need it now.
This is not weekly therapy as usual. We are not circling the same arguments for months. We are not staying at the surface of communication skills. We are not doing "find the bad guy" therapy.
This is for couples ready to look at their part in the relationship, not just blame their partner.
This is for couples who are ready to do the emotional work to repair their relationship - or to make a clear, honest decision about whether to try.
This is where “something better” stops being just an idea - and becomes something you actually move toward.
How I Help
Specialized couples therapy in all of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, and Florida.
You’re in the aftermath of an affair or breach of trust (current or in the past) and you're tired of having the same argument on repeat. For the injured partner who can’t focus on normal life because your mind keeps pulling them back - to the disclosure, to the images, to the lies. For the partner who wants to repair the relationship but keeps getting it wrong - offering apologies that don’t land, becoming defensive when they feel accused, or wondering how you did this to someone you love.
When the two of you have said it all and it still isn't getting you closer to feeling good with each other. Couples therapy for infidelity helps give you the tools you need to talk about the affair and all your relationship's difficulties so you can risk hoping again.
Your relationship has become more about conflict than connection. You're great at dealing with the logistics of life but you feel more like roommates than lovers. You're tearing through life, making deals (breaking hearts) but your lives are running in parallel rather than on the same track. And the worst thing is, you can see the distance growing but have no idea what to do about it.
When you're ready to stop having the repeated arguments (heard it all!) where nothing changes.
You picked each other for a reason - couples therapy helps you slow things down enough to remember what brought you together, and rebuild from there.
You’re leaning toward divorce - but still unsure - and your conversations keep repeating themselves, without resolution. You’re trapped in a circular argument with yourself - stay? go? stay? You’re exhausted by this feeling of limbo and uncertainty and you're ready to find a way out.
Discernment Counseling is a proven, supportive process to help you decide whether you have the energy to fully commit to rebuilding the relationship or to separate in a way that is respectful and based on a carefully thought-out decision. So you can look back and say, “We did everything we could to make the best decision.”
The conflict has become so intense between you that you're saying and doing things that don't align with your who you are - doing and saying things you never thought you'd do. You're wondering if this is how you'll always be with each other, or if there's a way back to the feelings you felt in the past - the ones that now seem long gone.
The problem isn't that you don't care about each other. The problem is that the hurt and anger have taken over the conversation.
You're ready to do something courageous because you miss your person. You're tired of talking and ready to get to work.
About Me
Kimberly Schildbach
MEd, LMHC, MFT
Certified Discernment Counselor
she/her
MY APPROACH
I work with couples in a moment of crisis - facing infidelity, battered by high conflict, sexual secrecy, relationships on the brink of separation – when trust has been broken, emotions are escalating, or one of you is no longer sure the relationship can continue.
I use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Discernment Counseling to help you understand the patterns driving disconnection and get clear about whether repair is possible and what it would require.
Therapy is not one-size-fits-all. I tailor the process to the way you naturally think, feel, communicate, and connect. I welcome and support all couples, including LGBTQ+ couples, neurodiverse couples, ENM couples, and couples where one or both are sex workers. I want you to have the best version of your relationship.
SELECTIVE BY DESIGN
I work with a small, carefully selected number of couples so I can stay deeply focused on your process.
This work requires honesty, emotional risk, and a willingness to look at your role in the dynamic.
It is not a fit for every couple.
Stop Waiting. Start Knowing.
When your relationship isn’t working, waiting for it to improve on its own without professional direction means you're actively watching it get worse.
Working with me offers a structured, focused process to help you understand what’s actually happening between you and what you can still repair.
You don’t have to guess your way through this alone. End the confusion now and move towards clarity with my guidance.