Dr. Angelo MussoniMSc Clinical Psy · Couples Therapist · Trainer

Couples therapy with the Gottman Method

For international and intercultural couples, online and in Rimini

I work with couples whose lives cross cultures, languages and borders. Sessions are in English or Italian, online or in my studio in Rimini.

Book a free 30-min info call

After you book your call, I’ll be in touch.

A framed picture of two hearts made of dried flowers next to a plant, in the studio
In my studio in Rimini

Who I work with

My practice is focused on couples and relationship difficulties.

Typically, the couples who contact me are international and intercultural couples, expats, LGBTQIA+ couples and neurodiverse partners, navigating life and love across cultures, languages and borders.

I work with couples to build a mutual alliance, including around each partner’s individual story (trauma, ADHD, neurodiversity, grief) and recovery from infidelity.

Couples with children. When children arrive, time, sleep, money and desire change — and so does the way you fight. I work with couples expecting a baby, with new parents, with parents of teenagers, and with couples deciding whether to separate. The session remains a couple session: your children are not in it, but they are always in the room.

  • OnlineBy video call
  • In personAt my studio in Rimini
  • LanguagesEnglish and Italian

The Gottman Method

Three crocheted dreamcatchers with colored ribbons, hanging from a branch in the studio
Looking for the dream within conflict

The Gottman Method is built on decades of research with thousands of couples. John Gottman identified the communication patterns most associated with divorce and relationship breakdown, in the short and long term.

From that research and the clinical experience of John and Julie Gottman came the Sound Relationship House, the theory at the core of the method. It brings together the components that research has shown to be central to a couple’s satisfaction and stability.

I use the method because it integrates emotionally focused, existential, humanistic and cognitive-behavioral techniques, along with neuroscience and Porges’ polyvagal theory. That lets us look at a couple’s difficulties as a whole. I integrate it with EFT (Sue Johnson, Externship), PACT (Stan Tatkin, Level 1), PET-C (Brent Atkinson) and DBT for couples, drawing also on CBT and ACT, from a diversity-affirming perspective.

The Gottman Institute authorizes me to use the Gottman Relationship Checkup, a structured assessment of a couple’s strengths and areas of challenge, based on the Gottman research.

Gottman Relationship Checkup approved member badge

What we'll work on together

The work follows the Sound Relationship House. In therapy we work to:

  • Maintain a positive emotional connectionTurn toward each other in everyday moments, not only in a crisis.
  • Repair negative interactionsStop an argument from escalating and find your way back to each other.
  • Manage conflictDiscuss your differences without damaging the relationship.
  • Build “love maps”Know each other's inner world: worries, stresses, joys and hopes.
  • Nurture affection and admirationKeep alive the respect and appreciation you have for each other.
  • Accept your partner's influenceLet your partner's views and feelings count when you decide together.
  • Solve solvable problemsWork step by step on the problems that can be resolved.
  • Overcome blocks and gridlocked conflictsUnderstand what lies beneath the arguments where you keep getting stuck.
  • Create a sense of shared meaningBuild the rituals, goals and values that make the relationship yours.

How we work

Assessment

I assess the couple system: strengths and areas of difficulty, according to the Sound Relationship House theory and Attachment Theory.

Goals

We agree on shared goals to work on, and a first draft of strategies to reach them.

Action plan

At the end of the session we agree on an action plan to put into practice. You give me feedback on the session that has just ended.

Review

At the start of the next session you tell me how it went with the plan, and we decide the theme of the new session.

When couples reach out to me

If you recognize yourself in one or more of these situations:

Talking and arguing

  • When you try to talk about a problem, you hurt each other and go around in circles without solving anything.
  • You feel criticized, belittled or not taken seriously by your partner.
  • You avoid conflict, or you explode at each other in aggressive and disrespectful ways.
  • Conflict brings high physiological activation: for example, your heart rate rises noticeably.
  • You argue regularly and feel you are talking to a stone wall.
  • You feel you are not listened to when decisions are made.

Trust and commitment

  • You are uncertain or ambivalent about continuing the relationship.
  • You have repeatedly considered divorce or separation, with or without having spoken to your partner.
  • There has been a betrayal or another serious event that broke the trust between you, and you do not know how to rebuild it.

Closeness and daily life

  • You feel emotionally distant and alone when you are together.
  • Your attachment styles differ: one of you finds the other too distant, and the other finds the first too dependent.
  • Your sexual intimacy has decreased, or there are difficulties with it.
  • You find it hard to manage parenting and the changes that come with a new child.
  • You disagree about how to manage money.
  • You feel you are repeating a pattern you have already lived with other partners or in your family of origin.

FAQ

Both. I see couples online, and in person at my studio in Rimini.

Yes. Sessions are in English or Italian, and I work in English regularly. When one partner speaks Italian and the other English, we move between the two languages during the session.

Individual sessions last 60 minutes. Couple sessions last 90 or 120 minutes. The length depends on what we agree and on what you need.

Indicative rates: €110 for an individual session (60 minutes) and €170 for a couple session (90 minutes). Intensives and the assessment package: quote on request. Rates may vary depending on the characteristics of the service provided.

Some sliding-scale places are available, subject to availability.

With a free 30-minute info call. After you book your call, I’ll be in touch.

It’s common for one partner to be more motivated than the other. Sometimes the info call helps you reach a shared decision.

Yes, I work with a waiting list. I’ll give you an indicative timeframe when I reply to your info call request.

Start with a call

A free 30-minute info call, to ask your questions about how I work. After you book your call, I’ll be in touch.

Book a free 30-min info call

Online or in person in Rimini, in English and Italian.