About Dawn Smith

Dawn Smith is a certified premarital counselor with more than a decade of experience researching mental health, decision-making, and the neuroscience of habits. She has supported over 1,000 couples in moments of transition and crisis, along with many more through her workshops, publications, and national speaking engagements.

Her personal experience with neurodiversity, mental health, and high-intensity relationships shapes her work profoundly. Dawn openly shares how learning to navigate these challenges helped her develop tools that strengthen connection, build trust, deepen intimacy, and break generational patterns of stigma, silence, and disconnection.

Dawn has been invited to speak on deepened communication, habit formation, high-impact decision-making, and relational wellbeing on stages across the country, including:
Creative Mornings, The Global Love Institute, ORACLE, VISTAGE, the Georgia Hospital Association, Society for Simulation in Healthcare, USC, UCLA, Team Rubicon, UNICEF, Intrepid Health, and the TEDx Stage (2024).

How Do I Know If We Should Stay Together or Break Up?

Most couples considering couples counseling are asking one core, painful question:
“Is this relationship repairable?”

You might also be wondering:

• Can we rebuild after betrayal?

• Are we just roommates now?

• Why do I feel unappreciated or unheard?

• Are we stuck in the same fight forever?

Relationship coaching helps you decide whether you’re choosing repair, clarity, or compassionate separation—without dragging things out for months or years.

This process works especially well when you:

• can’t tell whether the relationship is fixable

• feel emotionally exhausted

• want honesty and direction, not vague “talking about feelings”

• prefer structured steps and practical tools

Is Couples Counseling Going to Help Us?

It depends on what you’re experiencing.

Couples counseling is often ideal for:

• untreated trauma

• significant mental health challenges

• addiction recovery

• past wounds that need in-depth processing

• patterns rooted in childhood attachment injuries

Relationship coaching, however, is more effective when you need:

• actionable tools

• communication skills

• trust-building frameworks

• clarity about the future

• support navigating betrayal

• help with conflict cycles

• new intimacy patterns

• strategy, structure, and accountability

Coaching focuses on forward movement, not diagnosis. That’s why so many couples choose coaching after traditional therapy hasn’t created change fast enough.

What If My Partner Doesn’t Want to Do This?

This is extremely common—especially among couples where:

• one partner is conflict-avoidant

• one partner fears being “ganged up on”

• cultural stigma makes therapy feel uncomfortable

• neurodivergent communication styles cause shutdown

• previous counseling experiences felt unhelpful

In relationship coaching:

• we start with your goals, not blame

• we build safety instead of pressure

• we break the process into approachable steps

• your partner never feels “wrong,” “broken,” or “at fault”

Many reluctant partners end up loving sessions because coaching feels collaborative, solution-oriented, and judgment-free.

*What About Confidentiality?*

Can We Really Talk About Infidelity, Addiction, Mental Health Challenges, Open Relationships, Trauma, or Sexual Challenges?**

Yes—absolutely.

Relationship coaching provides a space where you can talk about:

• infidelity

• emotional affairs

• rebuilding after porn addiction

• drinking or substance concerns

• open relationships / non-monogamy

• mismatched sexual desire

• trauma responses

• ADHD-impacted communication

• resentment buildup

• growing apart

You can bring it all.
Nothing is “too messy.”
And nothing is off limits.

However— and this is important— these sessions are not here to solve serious underlying challenges, and are NOT a substitute for therapy. If something feels beyond the scope of this work, we can refer you to other members of our collective or to others who may best be able to support your unique needs, either instead of, or in addition to, our sessions together.

Could Relationship Coaching Be a Better Fit Than Couples Counseling?

For many couples—yes.

Here’s why:

A Safe, Inclusive Space

Judgment-free support for couples of all backgrounds, identities, and relationship structures.

Goal-Oriented Sessions

You’ll choose whether to work toward repair, understanding, or thoughtful separation.

Practical, Research-Based Tools

Strategies from the neuroscience of habits, emotional regulation, communication, and attachment.

Influence From the Gottman Institute

Your sessions incorporate frameworks grounded in decades of empirical research on:

• what makes relationships succeed

• what erodes trust and connection

• how to reduce criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and emotional overwhelm

Tailored Plans That Fit Real Life

Whether you’re navigating trauma, betrayal, ADHD, cultural differences, parenting stress, or emotional distance, we’ll create a plan that supports both of you.

Coaching vs. Therapy: What’s the Real Difference?

Therapy helps you:

• understand trauma

• process childhood wounds

• address mental health concerns

• work through past experiences

Coaching helps you:

• navigate real-time communication

• repair trust

• handle conflict

• build connection

• deepen intimacy

• create new relational patterns

• move forward with clarity

Most couples benefit from both.
Coaching doesn’t replace therapy—but it can dramatically accelerate change.

What Happens Next?

If you’re considering couples counseling but want a more practical, forward-focused alternative, relationship coaching might be the exact support you need.

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Schedule a Free Consultation to chat about your unique situation and see if coaching is the right fit. If it’s not the right fit, it may be that another member of our collective specialized in therapy, somatic work, financial support, divorce mediation, or legal advice could help.