Couples Therapy
in Ann Arbor
With Jennifer Janssen, LMSW
As an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, my couples therapy tends to the patterns between you as well as what’s happening inside each individual, and is deeply transformative.
Are you having the same difficult conversation over and over?
Does it feel like you’re walking on eggshells or misunderstood no matter how hard you try?
You might feel distant when there used to be closeness. Arguments around kids, work, or finances seem to never get resolved.
My focus is not on who was right or wrong, or “fixing” one partner. My focus is the relationship and how it can work better for you both.
Couples Come to Me With:
Loss of intimacy
Arguments running on repeat
Walking on eggshells
Unresolved resentment
Disconnection + communication breakdowns
Parenting tension
Financial stress
These are not random problems.
They’re part of patterns we can understand, pause, and shift out of.
Research shows EFT helps couples
both feel better during therapy,
and continue to see growth
in relationship satisfaction years later.
How My Couples Therapy Works
The work is both gentle and transformative. We slow things down and look at the cycle you get pulled into together, and do not try to “find the bad guy.”
We’ll identify the cycles where you can’t find each other, get curious about what’s fueling them, and help you have new experiences in real time. I help you each learn to make a “U-turn” to gain a new perspective on what’s beneath the reactions you’re each having and calm your nervous systems. From there, I support you in the “re-turn” to each other, but this time from a place of compassion and calm that feels brand new in its depth and ability to build lasting secure attachment.
As we go, you’ll notice more ease, more clarity, and more connection.
Modalities I Use
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Transforms your relationship by identifying the “cycle” that drives disconnection and addressing underlying attachment needs so you feel secure together.
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Helps you identify and tend to the parts of you that get activated in conflict so you can feel more secure inside and respond to your partner from a place of calm and clarity.
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Brings awareness to what happens in your body so reactions soften and connection feels safer.
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Builds communication and conflict skills so you know how to repair and move forward.
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Teaches empathetic communication to help you feel safe and connected in conversations together.
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Supports rebuilding closeness, trust, and emotional and physical intimacy.
Be on the Same Team
Change can happen fast when we uncover the cycles fueling your disconnection.
After Therapy With Me, Couples Report
Intimacy returns
Conversations that used to be hard are now easy
More warmth
Less reactivity
Easier problem solving
Looking forward to the future
About Jennifer Janssen, LMSW
My couples therapy is designed for people who want real, lasting change in how they relate.
I’m calm, compassionate, and direct. Clients often tell me they feel at ease quickly, even if coming to couples therapy was their partner’s idea. We do serious work, but there is also lightness and moments of laughter along the way.
Outside of therapy, I spend time in nature hiking and swimming in local lakes, which helps me stay grounded and present.
I’m also a parent to two children, one a pre-teen and the second a toddler, which gives me a lived understanding of how the demands of family life intersect with wellbeing and partnership.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent nearly a decade working in an environmental nonprofit, held roles in advocacy, and engaged in sociology research on women’s environmental activism. These experiences continue to shape the way I think about people within the broader systems they’re part of, and informs a more contextual, nuanced understanding of systems, relationships and change.
Education, Training and Credentials
Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW)
Master of Social Work, University of Michigan
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level I
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level I & Level II
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples Level I & II
EFT for Couples training assistant
Founding member, Emotionally Focused Therapy Community of Michigan
Sex therapy training
Infant mental health training to support parents
Training in working with parents and youth
Assertive Community Treatment Internship, Washtenaw County Community Mental Health
Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan Clinical Internship
Availability: I work with couples and individuals in person in Ann Arbor, and via telehealth throughout Michigan.
3 Steps to Get Started
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Fill out the contact form. You’ll hear back from me, and I’ll help guide next steps.
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We’ll have a short call to see if it feels like a good fit and answer your questions.
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First, we’ll meet together to start hearing about your patterns. Then each of you will have a solo session to run through more of your history and your sense of the issues. Then we’ll come back together to begin building a new way of relating.