Couples Therapy
Somatic couples therapy
Available in-person in Brooklyn, New York and virtually throughout New York, Massachusetts, and Florida.
Who This Is For
My primary focus is relationships.
I work with married couples, committed partners, pre-marital couples, LGBTQ+ couples, interracial and intercultural partnerships, and couples navigating the specific relational complexity that comes with significant income disparity or professional visibility. Many of the couples I see are parents who want to stop passing inherited relational patterns on to their own children.
People often come in when something has been quietly not working for a long time, or when a specific rupture — betrayal, growing apart, chronic conflict — has made the status quo impossible to maintain. Some come wanting to know whether to stay. Others come wanting to go deeper in a relationship that's already strong.
Available in Brooklyn, New York. Virtual sessions in New York, Massachusetts, and Florida.
Approach
How couples therapy works.
My couples work draws primarily on Relational Life Therapy, developed by Terry Real, and Intimacy from the Inside Out, the Internal Family Systems couples model. Relational Life Therapy addresses the patterns couples bring into the room: the dance of grandiosity and shame, the inherited models of connection and disconnection that most people mistake for personality.
Somatic Experiencing is integrated throughout, addressing what the body is holding that conversation alone cannot reach. Additional approaches include Emotionally Focused Therapy, Gottman Method, Imago Relationship Therapy, and Nonviolent Communication, woven in based on what each couple actually needs.
“Francesca was pivotal in helping us navigate one of the most difficult periods of our lives. She never defined success as staying married at all costs or pushed us toward any particular outcome. Instead, she helped us move through fear, guilt, shame, and long-held assumptions so we could become truly honest about what each of us—and our family—needed to thrive.
That honesty led us somewhere we never imagined: ending our romantic partnership and rebuilding our family around friendship, respect, and co-parenting. More than two years later, we have each built happier, more authentic lives, continue to spend meaningful time together as a family, and are raising two happy, secure girls.
Francesca helped us find not the life we thought we were supposed to preserve, but the life in which our family could genuinely flourish."
E.F. · Couples Client
What to Expect
In couples therapy, we will:
Honor What's Actually There
We start by identifying the pattern — the cycle of conflict, disconnection, or pursuit and withdrawal that keeps repeating. We work with the hurt and protective parts that are acting out, rather than treating surface behavior as the problem itself.
Move from Individual to Relational Empowerment
You learn to be accountable for your current behavior, tend to the hurt parts of yourself, and show up differently in the present moment with your partner. The goal is not just understanding — it's a genuine shift in how you relate.
Build Real Intimacy
We work toward what Relational Life Therapy calls "full respect living" — practicing respect and intimacy moment to moment. We learn to repair ruptures and move through the natural cycle of harmony, disharmony, and repair without losing each other in the process.
Create Lasting Change
What often evolves is a deep, fundamental shift in who you think you can be with yourself and others, and how you show up relationally. Not just better communication skills, but a genuine characterological transformation.
"Our work with Francesca began during a period of transition within a multi decade marriage. Her warm, empathetic approach helped us reveal the feelings behind our questions and redefine our common ground. Francesca's personal experience and wide-ranging professional expertise is particularly suited to working with us as a couple from different racial and class backgrounds."
D. and M. · Couples clients
"Working with Francesca has been completely transformative for our relationship. From day one, she created a safe space where we both felt truly seen. She has a remarkable ability to untangle complex emotions, translating our individual thoughts into a shared language that finally allowed my partner and me to understand one another. Through her patience and adaptable approach, we were able to heal what I thought was an unhealable wound, reaching a place of profound peace and happiness. I only wish we had found her sooner."
C.F. · Couples Client
Also at Maximé Clarity
Need more intensive support?
For couples who need more than weekly sessions can offer, Relational Intensives at Maximé Clarity provide immersive multi-day formats designed for the depth the moment requires.
Common Questions
About Somatic Couples Therapy
What is somatic couples therapy, and how is it different from traditional couples counseling?
Somatic couples therapy works at the level of the nervous system and the body, not just insight and conversation. Traditional couples counseling often focuses on communication skills and cognitive understanding — which can be useful, but leaves untouched the deeper patterns that drive reactivity, disconnection, and recurring conflict. Somatic approaches address what's happening beneath the surface: how each partner's history is showing up in real time, in the room, in the body. The work tends to move faster and go deeper because it doesn't rely on understanding alone.
What modalities does Francesca use with couples?
The primary frameworks are Relational Life Therapy, developed by Terry Real, and Intimacy from the Inside Out, the Internal Family Systems model for couples. Relational Life Therapy addresses the patterns couples bring into the room — the dance of grandiosity and shame, the inherited models of connection and disconnection. Intimacy from the Inside Out creates language for the internal dynamics that show up in relational conflict. Somatic Experiencing is integrated throughout to address what the body is holding that conversation alone cannot reach.
Do we need to be in crisis to start couples therapy?
No. Many couples come in because something has been quietly not working — not because they're at a breaking point. The work is equally effective for couples who want to deepen what's already present, address a pattern before it becomes a rupture, or navigate a transition together. That said, the work is also well-suited for significant ruptures, betrayal, and situations where the relationship's future feels genuinely uncertain.
Does Francesca work with interracial or intercultural couples?
Yes — this is a particular area of focus. Interracial and intercultural partnerships carry a specific relational weight that generic couples therapy often fails to address: the ways that race, culture, family-of-origin expectations, and lived difference shape how each partner experiences safety, belonging, and conflict. Francesca is a Haitian-Dominican Italian-American practitioner with fifteen years of clinical experience working at exactly this intersection. Couples in this work don't have to spend sessions explaining context that the therapist should already understand.
Where does couples therapy take place, and is virtual therapy available?
In-person sessions are available in Brooklyn, New York. Virtual couples therapy is available for clients in New York, Massachusetts, and Florida — the states in which Francesca holds clinical licensure. Sessions are conducted via a HIPAA-compliant platform. Virtual sessions are genuinely effective and not a lesser alternative for couples who cannot access in-person work.
How do I know if couples therapy is the right fit for us?
A brief consultation call is the right place to start. You'll have a chance to describe what's bringing you in — what's been happening, what you've tried, and what you're hoping for. From there, Francesca can speak to whether the timing and fit make sense, and what the work would likely look like for your specific situation. The consultation is not a sales call — it's a genuine conversation about whether this is the right next step.