Relationships and couples
Couples and relationship counseling in Arkansas.
Come together, on your own, or as a family of adults. Kristen I. Speer, LPC, meets you by secure video.
or call 479.777.2776
- Telehealth across Arkansas
- Adults 18 and over
- Free 15-minute video consultation
What brings people in
The same argument, over and over.
Most couples don't come in over one bad fight. They come because the same fight keeps happening.
It starts somewhere small. One of you says something, the other hears something else, and within a minute you're both back in a spot you know by heart. You know your lines. You know theirs. Knowing them hasn't made it stop.
Sometimes there's no fight at all, only distance. Two people running a household well and hardly talking. Polite where you used to be close. Keeping the peace by leaving the important things unsaid. That's harder to name than an argument, and just as worth bringing in.
Being stuck in a pattern isn't the same as being with the wrong person.
Relationship issues are one of Kristen's three main focus areas on Psychology Today, with depression and anxiety. She works with adults, whether you come alone, as a couple or as a family. See every area she works in.
In her words: "Sometimes we need an outside perspective to help us find a new path or work through old ones."
Who comes, and how
Together, on your own, or as a family.
You don't need both partners in the room to work on a relationship.
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The two of you, in the same session
Married, not married, engaged, or somewhere in between. Some couples come in the middle of something hard. Others come before the wedding, on purpose, to settle things while they're still easy to settle. Kristen's list includes both marital and premarital counseling.
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Just you, working on the relationship
Your partner won't come, isn't ready, or isn't in the picture anymore. Your side of it is still yours to work on: how you respond, what you want, and what you won't keep doing.
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A family of adults
Adult siblings. Grown children and the parents they still argue with. The reshuffle when an aging parent needs care and nobody agreed who would give it. Family conflict is on her list, and everyone in the sessions is 18 or over.
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After infidelity
When trust breaks, both people want to know if it can be rebuilt, and neither can answer that the week it comes out. Therapy can be a place to work through what happened before either of you has to decide.
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Divorce and separation
Deciding whether to stay. Ending things as decently as two hurt people can. Finding your feet afterward. And if you have children, raising them together after the marriage ends.
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Codependency and attachment patterns
Losing yourself in someone else's moods. Holding on too tight, or keeping everyone at arm's length. The same kind of relationship with different people, over and over. These patterns tend to follow you from one relationship to the next, which is why they're worth looking at.
Wondering about cost? The insurance and rates page covers her in-network plans, superbills for out-of-network benefits, and self-pay. Ask your insurer whether your plan covers couples or family sessions.
LGBTQIA+ ally, sex-positive
Every kind of relationship is welcome.
Kristen describes herself as an LGBTQIA+ ally and sex-positive. Her Psychology Today profile names polyamory and ethical non-monogamy too.
Same-sex couples, partners where one or both are trans, relationships with more than two people, couples who wrote their own agreements: you deserve to spend the hour on the real problem, not on explaining yourselves.
Gender identity is on her list too, whether you're working through it yourself or a relationship is working through it with you.
The approaches
Approaches she draws on, including Gottman.
Kristen doesn't use one method for everyone. Here's her own list.
"I pull from CBT, psychodynamic, attachment based, solution-focused, trauma-informed, DBT, somatic techniques, EFT, and Gottman therapies."
Gottman, on that list, was built for couples. Her practice portal also lists family and marital therapy.
Which ones your sessions draw on depends on who comes and why. You and Kristen work that out once she's met you.
Life transitions
When life changes one of you.
Sometimes the relationship hasn't gone wrong. One person in it has changed. A new baby. A job that ends. Children leaving home. A parent who needs care. A body going through perimenopause. The other person is still relating to the earlier version, and you both feel the gap without quite being able to name it.
Perimenopause and menopause are a common version of this. They have their own page, with a section on what that season can do between two people.
If you're not safe
If someone in the relationship hurts you.
Domestic violence and emotional abuse are both on Kristen's list, and her background includes work in domestic violence settings.
If someone in your relationship frightens you, controls you or hurts you, you don't have to raise it in a joint session. You can tell Kristen on your own first, in a consultation or a call of your own, before anyone else is in the room. Sessions are by video wherever you are, so choose a time and a place where you can talk without being overheard.
If you are in danger right now, call 911. You can also reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at any hour at 1-800-799-7233. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). Therapy is not emergency care.
At home, together
Couples counseling from your own living room.
A lot of couples counseling stops before it starts: two jobs, children, and a drive each way, all to get two adults into one office at the same hour. Then comes the drive home, in a small car, with everything that was said still in the air.
By video, the session starts where you already are. No sitting side by side in a waiting room pretending to read. No running into a neighbor on the way out. When the hour ends you're already home, with room to go to separate corners for a while if the evening needs it.
Every session Kristen offers is by secure video, for adults anywhere in Arkansas.
Before you book
Questions about couples counseling.
Should we come together, or on our own?
Come together if you both want to work on how you are with each other. Come alone if you're still sorting out what you want, need to say something without an audience, or one of you isn't ready. The request form asks whether care is for you, or for you and your partner, so you can say which from the start. The free consultation is a chance to check the fit.
What if my partner won't come?
Then come on your own. A relationship is two people's habits meeting, and working on your half is real work, not a consolation prize.
Is this only for couples in crisis?
No. Plenty of couples come while things are mostly fine, because one conversation keeps going badly or a big change is coming. Premarital counseling is on Kristen's list too. You don't have to wait until it's an emergency. If it already is one, therapy is not emergency care: call or text 988.
Does Kristen work with families?
Yes, families of adults. Everyone in the sessions is 18 or over: grown children and their parents, adult siblings, or a family working through a conflict, a loss or a change in who looks after whom. She doesn't see children or teenagers.
Is it all by video?
Yes. There's no in-person office. Couples, individuals and families all meet Kristen by secure video from anywhere in Arkansas. The free consultation is by video too, or by phone at 479.777.2776 if you would rather.
Free consultation
Talk with Kristen, together or on your own.
Your first step is a free 15-minute consultation by video, or by phone if you would rather. It's a conversation, not a commitment.
or call 479.777.2776
Pick a day and time from Kristen's calendar. The form runs on SimplePractice, the secure system she uses for sessions. She confirms every request.