CHERRY NGUYEN MCKINSTRY
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Serving Washington and Arkansas via Telehealth
Specializes in Couple Therapy

man and woman holding hands for discernment therapy

Pathway to Clarity: Thoughtfully Decide, Together, on the Best Next Steps for Your Relationship with Discernment Therapy.

Ways to Book
20-min Free Consultation

Text Cherry Directly!

Submit Online Form

SESSION INFO

Certified Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist
Fees Range: $200-$275
Session Offerings: 50-min or 80-min
Not covered by insurance

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WORKING WITH ME

Discernment therapy is not couple therapy. My mission is to help you turn over every stone and have an in-depth understanding for how the relationship arrived here. In the initial sessions, we will meet 1:1 to get a clear understanding of the patterns and ruptures that have led the you both here. You can expect a lot of questions to help you organize moments of pain and stuckness, your responsibilities and contributions, and concerns for the future.
I am fully aware of the weight of the discernment process and respect the autonomy of each partner, whether leaned-in, leaned-out, or ambivalent. My goal is to help you gain a more complex understanding about what has happened to the relationship, each of your role in the cycles and failed repair attempts, and what will be needed in order to commit to working on, dissolving, or maintaining the current status quo of the relationship.

WHAT IS DISCERNMENT THERAPY?

The goal of discernment therapy is for each partner to have greater clarity and confidence in terms of decision-making for the future of your relationship. The decisions that are considered throughout discernment therapy are (1) to maintain status quo—you both may decide to keep a decision on hold for now, (2) pursue dissolution of relationship or non-contested divorce, or (3) commit to six months of couple therapy with the dissolution or divorce decision off the table during that time—while clarifying that you both are not necessarily committing to your marriage for life, but to the opportunity to utilize couple therapy, after which you can make a more permanent decision.
You should expect this to be a very short-term treatment of 5-6 sessions. The first and second session will be 1:1 with each partner for 80 minutes. I may recommend additional 1:1 sessions if needed. The following joint sessions will be very structured based on complex understandings we discover from the 1:1 sessions. This process is meant to place the relationship on the table for your clear examination.

Book 20-min Free Consultation Today!

Text Cherry Directly!

Submit Online Form

“You cannot heal relational trauma without relationship.”