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Couples Therapy for New Parents in Los Angeles

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You love your baby. It's the two of you that has gone quiet. The nights are broken, the days run on logistics, and somewhere in the blur you became co-managers of a household instead of partners. Maybe you are keeping score about who does more. Maybe you snap, apologize, and never get to what is actually wrong. Maybe you miss each other and cannot find the time or the words to say it.

 

I'm Dr. Jené Verchick, a licensed clinical psychologist with 26+ years of experience. I help new parents in Los Angeles get back to each other while they learn to parent together. I work by video, which for most new parents is the only way it realistically happens.

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My Approach

 

Becoming parents is one of the biggest stress tests a relationship ever goes through, and generic communication tips do not touch it. I work primarily from the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). The Gottman Method has specific, research-backed work for couples having a baby: protecting friendship and fondness, managing conflict when you are depleted, and sharing the mental load. EFT helps with the deeper part, the disconnection and loneliness underneath the bickering, so you feel like a team again instead of two tired people trading shifts. Underneath both is attachment: how you reach for each other under stress, and how to repair it when you miss.

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What I Help With

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• The same fight on repeat about who does more, with no resolution

• Drifting into co-parents and roommates instead of partners

• Resentment over the invisible labor and the uneven load

• Lost physical and emotional intimacy after the baby

• Snapping at each other from sheer exhaustion

• One partner feeling alone in it while the other checks out

• The identity shift, missing who you were before

• Disagreements about parenting, family boundaries, and whose way is right

 

Why Work With a Psychologist for This

Many therapists list couples work as one service among several. I'm a licensed psychologist with a doctorate and 26+ years, and couples work is the core of my practice. New-parent strain is common, deeply workable, and not a sign your relationship is failing. It is a sign two exhausted people need a little help finding their way back.

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If what you are carrying is more individual, the depression, anxiety, or intrusive thoughts of the postpartum period, see my postpartum therapy page. This page is for the two of you, together.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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What approach do you use?

With couples I work primarily from the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), both research-backed. The Gottman Method has dedicated work for couples having a baby; EFT rebuilds the emotional connection underneath the conflict. When I see a pattern between you, I name it and help you respond differently, with care, because this is a tender time.

 

How early should we start? Can we begin during pregnancy?

Earlier is better, and during pregnancy is ideal. Couples who do some of this work before the baby arrives, or in the first months, tend to struggle less and recover faster. You do not need to be in crisis to start. Getting ahead of it is the whole point.

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How is this different from individual postpartum therapy?

Individual postpartum therapy treats one person's depression, anxiety, or intrusive thoughts. This is couples work: the relationship between you, the communication, the resentment, the reconnection. 

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We are exhausted and can barely leave the house. How does this work?

All sessions are by video, so there is no commute and no need to arrange childcare. Most new parents I see meet during a nap, after bedtime, or with the baby right there. We work around your life, not the other way around.

 

What if only one of us is ready?

That is common, and it is workable. Often one partner reaches out first while the other is skeptical or just too tired to imagine it. You do not both need to arrive convinced. You need to be willing to show up.

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Working With New Parents in Los Angeles

When you are ready, reach out. Email, call, or use the contact form. The first conversation is about fit, making sure my approach makes sense for where the two of you are right now.

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