If you want your spouse to love you for who you are,
your spouse will first have to know who you are.It's time to reintroduce yourselves to each other.
Go deeper than a surface-level reading of online personality test results and love language quizzes and gain a more complete understanding of your psychological wiring and your spouse’s psychological wiring. You’ll discover a new way of seeing your spouse and learn how to work with each other’s personality strengths (and weaknesses) rather than against them.
The Therapy
Click here for Personality-Focused Therapy for unmarried and premarried couples.
Personality-Focused Therapy (PFT) is a new therapy developed by Dr. McMaster. The focus in PFT for married couples will first be on understanding the make-up of your personality (e.g., its structure, its strengths and weaknesses) and the make-up of your spouse’s personality. Second, you and your spouse will use what you discover about each other’s wiring to play to each other’s natural strengths while also caring well for each other’s natural weaknesses. The goal of therapy is not to get your spouse to be more like you or to change their personality, but to know yourself and your spouse so well that you feel in-sync and equipped to face any challenge together.
PFT for married couples does not require an enormous amount of time on homework or an undetermined long-term financial commitment from you, as can be the case with other therapies, and clients typically experience positive results after just a few sessions. The focus in sessions will be on solutions, not problems, so you will never be asked to fight with each other for observation or to bring up the past if neither of you thinks it will be helpful.
Dr. McMaster is a Christian psychologist, and PFT is grounded in Christian psychological theories of personality and psychotherapy as well as secular psychological theories that Dr. McMaster finds compatible with the Christian worldview. Christian clients looking for a distinctly Christian couples therapy will feel right at home discussing Scripture and faith in their PFT sessions. However, this is not a requirement, so clients who are not Christians can also benefit from PFT.
What to Expect
When you are ready to make an appointment, you will be directed to schedule your intake session online and to complete prerequisite paperwork. An intake session is 55 minutes long and will focus on obtaining background information about you, answering questions about the therapy, and a review of policies and procedures. The session after your intake will be your first PFT session.
PFT for married couples consists of core sessions during which you and your spouse will complete a personality assessment, undergo the key therapeutic intervention, and get intensive feedback. Core sessions can be spread out over time and completed in 6 weekly or bi-weekly sessions or in a ‘marathon’ format during which you will complete 6 sessions in one day. The marathon format is recommended for couples in which the spouses’ schedules do not permit regular sessions or if one or both spouses is hesitant about therapy but would like to try something new to help the marriage.
After completing the core phase of therapy, it is typically recommended that you enter into a monthly maintenance phase, where you meet every 4-6 weeks for tune-ups until you and your spouse feel comfortable maintaining your gains from therapy without the frequent support. However, a maintenance phase may not be needed if you’re both feeling confident applying what you have learned in between sessions during the core phase. After the monthly maintenance phase, couples may opt to remain in treatment for tune-ups every 12 weeks (once per quarter) or to complete treatment and be discharged from care.
Sessions will be held via video chat on a secure portal made specifically for teletherapy. You will not be required to bring anything to your sessions. Read over the FAQ and Rates & Insurance pages for more information on session logistics and payment
Quick Details
Number of Sessions
Intake
1 session
Core Phase
6 sessions, weekly or bi-weekly, typically covered by insurance
or
1 day of six sessions (with a lunch break), typically not covered by insurance
Monthly Maintenance Phase (optional)
1 session, every 4-6 weeks
Quarterly Maintenance Phase (optional)
1 session, every 12 weeks
Length of Sessions
55 minutes
Cost per Session
$262
How to Book an Appointment
Book your intake online. Core Phase sessions will be booked during your intake session