Two consultation slots open every weekday. Most couples are on the phone with me within 24 hours of reaching out.
A NOTE FROM DR. O'MALLEY
$250 a clinical Hour
Self pay - No insurance
This probably isn't the first couples therapy site you've looked at tonight. And while I hope it is, it might not be the last.
So let me save you some time.
You're good at evaluating things. Read the data, weigh the options, make the call. It's most of what you do all day, and it's exactly what you're doing right now, lining up couples counselors and trying to tell them apart. Good. Keep doing it. I'd want you to.
So let me make it easy. I'm a horrible golfer, and my daughter makes fun of the way I read aloud. I do remind her I have a PhD. She remains unmoved. But I'm good at this one thing, because it's the one thing I've pointed my whole career at. Couples. Not individuals, not everything under the sun. Couples. If you've already sat through therapy that felt like talking in circles, what I do is different. I go after the pattern beneath your fights rather than refereeing the fights themselves. That's usually the part nobody's touched yet.
I keep my practice small on purpose. It holds me in the clinical work I love and know I'm good at, and it leaves room for the other half of my career, teaching as a Professor at the University of Denver, training the next generation of the very counselors you're out there comparing tonight. I'm not short on work. I tell you that so you'll believe the next part.
I just told you I'm good at this, and you have no reason to take my word for it. Every site says as much. You can't tell from a website whether someone can actually help you, and the couples who get burned are the ones who thought they could. So here's what I'd do in your shoes. Don't book me. Interview me. Twenty minutes, you and me on a zoom call, both of us finding out if this is real before anyone commits to anything. I keep two of these open every weekday, outside my client hours, because I'd genuinely rather know I can help you than fill a slot on my calendar.
And yes, you're weighing price. So am I, with everything I buy. Most couples who work with me pay my $250 a clinical hour rate. I'm not the cheapest option you'll find tonight, and I'm not trying to be. I won't make you dig for the number, and I won't make you sort out the rest alone. That's what the call is for.
Here's the last true thing I'll tell you. The stress you're feeling right now, comparing therapists at the end of a long day, doesn't lift when you finally find the perfect one. It lifts the moment you take a step you can actually take tonight.
Your job is to book the call. My job is to tell you where to start.
I'll listen to what's actually going on between the two of you, and I'll tell you the honest next step. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you to someone who is. I'd rather lose you in twenty minutes than waste your next three months.
You have enough going on. Let me carry the next step.
[ Interview me for 20 minutes → ]
You don't need your partner on the call. Bring your questions, not your whole story.
— John
John O'Malley, PhD, LPC
Does one of these sound like your house?
Find the Bad Guy
Every fight turns into a trial.
Somebody has to be guilty.
It starts over something small — the dishes, a tone, a forgotten text. Within minutes you're both building a case: who started it, who does this more, who's the real problem here. You both show up with evidence. And even when one of you “wins,” you both leave feeling like you lost — because the fight was never really about the dishes. It's two people who feel unsafe, both swinging first so they don't get hit.
The Protest Polka
One of you reaches.
One of you retreats.
Monday - Friday 11:00 - 18:30
Saturday 11:00 - 17:00
Sunday 12:30 - 16:30
One of you keeps bringing it up — asking, pushing, protesting — not to attack, but because the distance feels unbearable and you're trying to get back to each other. The other keeps stepping back — going quiet, shutting down, “can we not do this right now” — not because they don't care, but because they feel like they can never get it right, and pulling away feels like the only way to stop making it worse. Here's what neither of you can see from the inside: you are both trying to protect the same relationship. One of you protests the distance. One of you protects the peace. And every round pushes you further apart.
Freeze and Flee
The fighting stopped.
So did everything else.
This is the quiet one — and the most dangerous. You don't really fight anymore. Not because anything got resolved, but because you're both worn out from getting hurt. So you stopped bringing things up. You manage the logistics, split the calendar, co-parent, stay polite. You feel like roommates who were once in love. From the outside it looks calm. From the inside, it feels like grief.
If you read those and saw your own relationship, hear this clearly: that is not a bad sign. It might be the most hopeful thing on this page.
None of these means you've fallen out of love, picked the wrong person, or waited too long. They mean you're caught in a pattern. And a pattern is the most workable thing there is.
The way out isn't willpower, and it isn't one more round of communication tips. It's seeing the cycle clearly, slowing it down as it happens, and finding your way back to each other. That's the work I do, and across thirty years of research, EFT brings 70 to 73% of couples from exactly where you are tonight to genuinely reconnected.
The question isn't whether your pattern can change. The research already answered that. The only question left is whether you'll take the first step. That's a twenty-minute call.
— Couple, Golden CO
"We had been to two therapists before. Both times we left feeling like one of us was the problem. John was the first one where we both walked out feeling like we had actually been heard. First session."
— Wife, Lakewood CO
"I was not sure what to expect. His office is warm and comfortable — we drove through the mountains to get there and saw elk on the way in. My husband came in with his arms crossed. I have never seen him open up to anyone that fast. The setting helped. Dr. O'Malley helped more."
— Couple, Denver CO
"We had a divorce attorney's number in my phone. We had already done the math on what splitting up would cost. I told my wife we could try one more time but I was done after that. That was two years ago. We never made that call. I am not a therapy guy but I will say this — Dr. O'Malley does not waste your time."
Dr. O'Malley combines years of clinical expertise with a heart-centered approach. His intuition, paired with evidence-based modalities, supports lasting change for couples. I trust his counseling abilities wholeheartedly. He is a remarkable professional.
As a former colleague, I admire John O'Malley's expert use of ACT and EFT to guide clients toward clarity and heartfelt connection. He creates a supportive environment where individuals gain self-awareness, resilience, and transformative insight.
John is an incredible therapist with a calm, grounded presence that helps clients feel safe and supported. His expertise in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) shines in his work with both individuals and couples, guiding them to connect more deeply.
Dr. O'Malley is one of the most knowledgeable therapists I've encountered in my career. He has a remarkable ability to foster genuine, honest communication, and to help individuals recognize and build on their deepest strengths.
John is exceptionally sharp and tracks relational dynamics in real time with a level of precision that's rare. He brings a grounded presence while also being deeply attuned and emotionally intelligent. You are in very capable, thoughtful hands with him.
Let me take it from here.
Here's the truth. Even this page, stripped down as far as I could make it, is a lot. I cut everything I could and it's still a lot, because there's no small version of deciding to get help for your marriage.
And you're reading it on top of everything else. The career that doesn't slow down. The kids, the calendar, the house, the hundred small fires you put out before anyone else is even awake. You are carrying all of it, and now this too.
So let me take this one off your plate.
You don't have to read the rest. You don't have to figure out which program, or whether the timing's right, or what to say to your partner first. You don't have to solve your relationship tonight. You just have to do one small thing, and let me carry it from there.
Book the call. Twenty minutes. I'll take it from here.
FAQ: The questions you might be asking
Do you have availability?
Yes. I keep two consultation slots open every weekday on purpose, so couples don't have to wait once they've decided to start. There are openings this week. [Book the call →]
How much does it cost? Do you take insurance?
Most couples pay $250 per clinical hour. I don't take insurance — it would require me to give one of you a mental health diagnosis, and I'm not willing to start your work that way. We'll walk through what the investment actually looks like on the call. [Book the call →]
What kind of therapy is this? We've tried therapy before.
Emotionally Focused Therapy. It has the strongest research base for couples, around 70–75% reach genuine reconnection in the studies. Most couples therapy referees your fights. EFT works on the cycle underneath them — the part that keeps producing the same fight no matter how well you communicate. If your last experience felt like talking in circles, that's the part nobody touched. [Book the call →]
My partner isn't on board. Can I start alone?
Yes — reaching out before your partner is fully on board is one of the most common ways this work starts. I do ask that both of you join the 20-minute call when we get there, because nobody becomes "the problem" that way. Getting your partner to the call is often the first thing we figure out together. [Book the call →]
We've tried therapy before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
Most couples therapy teaches you to argue more politely about the same problem. That stops working after a few months. I work on the cycle that keeps producing the fights, not the fights themselves. The 20-minute call is the cleanest way to feel whether this lands differently. If it doesn't, I'll tell you — I'd rather you find the right therapist than try to be one I'm not. [Book the call →]
Have a question first?
If you're not quite ready for the call, send me a question instead. I personally review every message that comes through this form and reply within one business day. No funnel, no follow-up unless you want one, no being added to anything.
You can write a paragraph or one sentence. You can ask about how I work, what to expect, whether your situation is something I see often, or anything else that would help you decide. Whatever's on your mind is fine.