Couples Counseling Programs
in Golden, Evergreen, and Genesee
Most couples searching for a marriage counselor, couples therapist, or relationship counselor don't need open-ended weekly therapy — they need a structured program with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The seven programs below are built that way. Each one is designed for a specific relationship situation — crisis, affair recovery, premarital preparation, discernment, sex therapy, structured reconnection, or preventive assessment. Every program begins with a joint session and individual meetings with each partner. Every program has a defined number of sessions, a published timeline, and transparent pricing. And every program is built on Emotionally Focused Therapy, the couples therapy model with the strongest research base in the field.
For couples who prefer ongoing work outside of a defined program — or who've already completed one — individual sessions are available at $305 per session. Most couples, however, find that a structured program produces meaningful change faster than open-ended weekly work. Couples working with an EFT specialist typically reach recovery in ten to twelve sessions. Couples working with a generalist often stay in therapy for a year or longer without a clear endpoint. The programs below are designed to give you the structure and the ending.
O'Malley Counseling serves couples in Golden, Evergreen, Genesee, Conifer, Morrison, Lakewood, and the broader Colorado foothills — with in-person sessions in Golden just off I-70 and telehealth available throughout Colorado. Dr. John O'Malley, PhD, LPC, NCC, trained directly under supervisors internationally certified by the International Centre for Excellence in EFT. Every couple starts with a free 20-minute consultation to determine which program is the right first step.
A NOTE FROM DR. O'MALLEY
Start here.
Everything else is detail.
I built to discuss all the focuses because the right couple wants to see the work before they commit. The programs below are real. The structures are real. The pricing is real. Many couples find this page helpful.
For just as many, it is overwhelming.
If that is you, the best move is not to figure out which program is right. The best move is to book the free 20-minute consultation. In that call, I will listen to what is actually happening in your relationship right now, and I will tell you exactly which program is the right starting point. You do not have to diagnose your own relationship to get help with it. That is what I do.
Here is what is true for every couple who works with me. Everyone starts the same way, with the Couples Assessment. Six hours of structured clinical work that gives me a complete picture of the two of you before we build anything. From there, most couples continue into the Twelve-Week Commitment, where the actual change work happens. The Assessment tells us what is wrong and or what is going on. The Twelve-Week is how we fix it.
You can read the rest of this page if you want to. You have enough going on. Let me handle the focus.
John O'Malley, PhD, LPC
All program commitments are billed at $250 per session. Session-by-session work without a commitment is $305.
For couples who need help Now
Relationship Urgent Care is built for the moments that can't wait. The hour after an affair is disclosed. The day one partner says "separation" out loud. The week after a fight that changed something.
When you reach out, we move fast. First session within 24 hours. All six clinical hours completed within 72 hours of that first call.
It's the same Couples Assessment I do with every couple, just on a compressed timeline. Two hours together so I can see the pattern. One hour with each of you alone. Then a two-hour feedback session where I tell you exactly what's happening in your relationship and what we do about it.
Available in person in Genesee and via secure telehealth across Colorado.
12 Week Program
The program that anchors this practice. Over twelve weeks, RECONNECT walks couples through the full arc of Emotionally Focused Therapy — from identifying the cycle that's been running the relationship, to rebuilding the emotional bond underneath it. Built specifically for professional couples in their thirties, forties, and fifties who are thriving in their careers, their parenting, their friendships — just not in the partnership that's supposed to hold it all together. The program includes one joint intake, individual meetings with each partner, and nine working sessions, along with structured practice tools and weekly progress tracking so change is measurable, not aspirational.
Rebuild After Betrayal
For the couples who chose to stay and now have to do the work of figuring out what happens next.
Rebuild After Betrayal is structured infidelity recovery for couples in the months after an affair has been disclosed. The work moves through three phases. Stabilizing the immediate fallout. Understanding what made the relationship vulnerable. Rebuilding attachment and trust through disclosure conversations most weekly therapy never actually holds.
Grounded in Emotionally Focused Therapy and the leading research on affair recovery.
Available in person in Genesee or via secure telehealth across Colorado.
Before We Do
Before We Do is twelve-session premarital counseling for engaged couples who treat the lead-up to their wedding as seriously as they treat the wedding itself. The work pairs a comprehensive relationship assessment with structured sessions across the five domains that predict long-term marital outcomes. Communication patterns. Conflict styles. Financial expectations. Family-of-origin dynamics. Physical intimacy.
Grounded in the research on what actually differentiates thriving marriages from struggling ones.
Available in person in Genesee or via telehealth across Colorado.
Stay or Go
For the couples who are stuck at the hardest question in any marriage — should we stay together or separate. Stay or Go is a short, structured discernment counseling program built on the Doherty protocol, designed specifically for couples where one partner is leaning toward leaving while the other is still fighting for the relationship. The program is not therapy in the traditional sense. It is a decision-making process — three focused sessions beginning with a two-hour joint intake that includes individual time with each partner, followed by two follow-ups that move you toward a clear, informed choice. The goal is clarity in under thirty days. Not pressure to stay. Not a push toward divorce. Available in-person in Golden or via telehealth throughout Colorado.
Intimacy Rebuild
For the couples who are still partners in every other way — but haven't been lovers in a long time. Intimacy Rebuild is a structured ten-session sex therapy program for couples addressing the places most weekly therapy avoids — mismatched desire, the slow drift that happens after children arrive or careers demand more, the quiet resignation of physical distance that nobody wants but neither partner knows how to name. The program works at two levels simultaneously: the emotional architecture underneath desire, and the practical patterns that either invite intimacy back into the relationship or keep pushing it further away. Delivered by a clinician completing advanced AASECT certification — the credential most Denver-area therapists don't have. Available in-person in Golden or via secure telehealth throughout Colorado.
Relationship Checkup
For the couples who would rather get ahead of a problem than wait until it becomes one. The Relationship Checkup is a five-session preventive program built around the Gottman Relationship Checkup — a validated clinical assessment used by couples therapists nationwide to score a relationship across five core dimensions: friendship and shared meaning, conflict management, how partners handle differences, levels of trust and commitment, and physical and emotional intimacy. The program pairs the assessment with structured conversations about what the results actually mean for your specific relationship. Most couples leave with a clear picture of where they are strong, where they are drifting, and what a healthy next step looks like — whether that is continued work together, a move into the RECONNECT Program, or simply the reassurance of knowing things are better than they feared. Available in-person in Golden or via telehealth throughout Colorado.
Which couples counseling program should we start with?
Couples searching for a marriage counselor in Golden, a couples therapist near Evergreen, or a relationship counselor in Genesee almost always face the same problem. The list of programs sounds useful, but only one is right for where the relationship actually is. The clearest way to figure out which one fits is the free 20-minute consultation. In that call, Dr. O'Malley listens to what is happening right now, what the two of you have already tried, and what you are hoping will be different six months from now. The recommendation comes from that conversation, not a decision tree.
Every couple starts the same way. The first step is the Couples Assessment, a six-hour structured assessment that gives Dr. O'Malley a complete picture of the relationship before any treatment plan is built. Couples in immediate crisis start with Relationship Urgent Care, which is the same Couples Assessment delivered in 72 hours instead of four to six weeks. Couples preparing for marriage start with Before We Do. Couples uncertain about whether to stay together start with Stay or Go. Couples who want a preventive read on the relationship start with the Relationship Checkup.
After the Assessment, most couples continue into the Twelve-Week Commitment, where the actual change work happens. The consultation is free and there is no obligation to book afterward.
Do the programs build on each other, or do couples only work with one?
Couples throughout Golden, Evergreen, Genesee, and the surrounding foothills communities almost always work in more than one program over time. The architecture is designed for that.
Every couple begins with one of the six-hour Assessment programs. Most continue from there into the twelve-week structured work, either the standard Twelve-Week Commitment or a focused track like Rebuild After Betrayal or Intimacy Rebuild. Couples who complete a Twelve-Week and want to go deeper can move into RECONNECT, the advanced program for couples who have already done the foundational work.
Pricing is built to reward couples who stay. Any commitment to a program is billed at $250 per clinical hour. Once a couple has completed a Twelve-Week, they keep the $250 rate for any session-by-session work after that, indefinitely. The work doesn't end when the program does, and the rate doesn't change.
What if we want regular couples therapy instead of a structured program?
Some couples in the Golden and Evergreen area come to the practice already knowing they want open-ended weekly couples therapy rather than a defined program. That option is available at $305 per clinical hour without a program commitment.
For most couples seeking change in their relationship, however, a structured program produces clearer and faster results than open-ended weekly work. Couples who work with an Emotionally Focused Therapy specialist in a structured program typically reach meaningful recovery within ten to twelve sessions. Couples in open-ended weekly therapy often stay in treatment for a year or longer without ever reaching a clear endpoint. The programs are not rigid. They are structured precisely to give you the beginning, middle, and end that open-ended therapy so often lacks.
The pricing reflects that distinction. Any commitment to a program is billed at $250 per clinical hour. Session by session, with no commitment, is $305.
How quickly can couples in Golden, Evergreen, or Genesee get started?
Most couples book their free 20-minute consultation within 24 to 48 hours of reaching out through the contact form. From the consultation, the timeline to begin depends on which program is the right fit.
Couples accepted into Relationship Urgent Care have their first session within 24 hours of the consultation and complete all six clinical hours within 72 hours. The concierge version of Urgent Care delivers the same timeline in the couple's home for couples whose situation requires that level of privacy or convenience.
The Couples Assessment, the Twelve-Week Commitment, and every other program usually begin within one to two weeks of the consultation. Couples living in Golden, Genesee, and Evergreen generally schedule in-person sessions in the Golden office off I-70. Couples elsewhere in Colorado often choose the secure telehealth option available for every program. Whether the first step is in person or virtual, most couples go from first inquiry to first working session within two weeks.