The consultation comes first
The first step is a free 15-minute consultation. It is not a therapy session, and no one needs to arrive with the history of the relationship organized or agreed upon. It is a chance to name what is bringing you in, ask practical questions about fees and format, and get a sense of whether Nick's direct style fits what your relationship needs.
The consultation is also where location gets settled. Every partner who will attend sessions, whether that is two people or more, must be physically located in Texas or Florida at the time of each session. Licensure follows where each person is during the session, not where they live, so if a partner travels for work or splits time between states, raise it early.
Setting up the space
Every session happens online, since Atlas Minds offers no in-person option. Before each session, plan for a private space where everyone joining can speak without being overheard, an internet connection steady enough for real conversation, and a device charged for the full 50 minutes.
A few minutes of margin before and after can help. Arriving straight from an argument or a work call, then returning straight to chores or screens, leaves little room to think. The setup does not need to be polished. It needs to let each person speak honestly.
What early sessions can focus on
Early sessions can focus on understanding before anyone tries to change anything. Each partner gets room to describe the relationship as they experience it, including what feels good, what feels stuck, and what they are afraid of losing. Those accounts may not match, and they do not need to match yet.
From there, the work looks for the cycle: the sequence that repeats when things get hard. One person may push for resolution while another goes quiet. Someone may become certain about what a partner meant before asking. Once the cycle has a name, we can start noticing it while it is happening instead of only afterward, and the focus shifts from who is to blame to what keeps happening between you.
Sessions also make room for what you want. That might be fewer repeated fights, rebuilt trust after a broken agreement, clearer agreements as a relationship changes shape, or an honest conversation about whether to continue. The goals belong to the people in the relationship.
What Nick's role is, and is not
Nick is not a referee, a judge, or a tiebreaker. He will not decide which partner is right, and he will not steer you toward monogamy, toward opening up, or toward any conventional template for what a relationship should look like. Every relationship structure is taken as seriously as any other, whether it is monogamous, open, polyamorous, or consensually non-monogamous in another way.
Not taking sides is different from staying neutral about harm. If an agreement was broken or trust was hurt, that rupture gets direct attention rather than being smoothed over for the sake of balance. Nick's style is active: he may slow a conversation down when the familiar cycle takes over, ask each partner what is happening underneath, and help translate when the same words land differently.
Pace, approach, and what is not promised
No one can promise how many sessions change will take, or what shape it will have. Some sessions may feel like movement. Others may stay with one hard moment for most of the 50 minutes. Slowing down is part of the work, not a sign that it is failing.
Nick draws on Emotionally Focused Therapy, which helps partners see the attachment needs underneath conflict, and on Mentalization-Based Therapy, which strengthens each person's capacity to understand their own mind, and each other's, under emotional pressure. An IFS-informed lens can also help each partner get curious about the protective reactions that take over when closeness feels threatened.
Fees and paperwork
Relationship sessions last 50 minutes, at $200 per session. You pay Atlas Minds directly, because the practice is private pay and does not bill insurers. As a private-pay client, you receive a written Good Faith Estimate, and it does not commit you to a set number of sessions.
Because insurers generally require an individual diagnosis, couples therapy often is not covered. Superbills are available on request if you want to try for out-of-network reimbursement, with the result depending on your plan. For the 24-hour cancellation policy, see the Rates page.
If you are not sure whether the relationship or your own history is the better place to begin, the guide to choosing a format walks through that decision.
Individual or Couples Therapy