People ask what this costs before they ask anything else, and I have never once minded. You are about to tell a stranger the worst things about your marriage. Wanting to know the price first is not crass, it is sensible. So here it is, without the dance.
I am not cheap. I am also, and I say this to almost every couple who asks, probably less expensive than your wedding cake was. That is not a joke at your expense. It is the actual comparison worth making, because one of those things was for one afternoon and the other one is for the next 30 years.
The number
A 90 minute session in my office is $315. The 3 session package is $700, and that is the one most couples take, because it is what the work actually needs.
If you want the full list: in my office, 50 minutes is $175, 90 minutes is $315, and a 180 minute intensive is $630. On video, 25 minutes is $87, 50 minutes is $175, 90 minutes is $315, and 120 minutes is $420. There is a free 25 minute call before any of that, which exists so you can find out whether you can stand me before you pay me.
I am self pay only. I do not bill insurance and I am not going to pretend that is a feature. It is a consequence of what I am. I am a coach, I do not diagnose anybody, and there is no code to submit. If insurance is the deciding factor for you, that is a real constraint and I will say so plainly on the free call rather than talk you around it.
The honest headline
$700 for three 90 minute sessions. Free 25 minute call first. Self pay, no insurance, no diagnosis, no package you have to keep renewing.
What the money actually buys
Ninety minutes, not fifty. That difference is most of the value and it is worth explaining rather than asserting.
In a 50 minute hour with two people in the room, you get maybe 15 minutes each of real talking, and the last 10 are spent putting everybody back together so they can drive home. That is not enough time to get to the thing under the thing. Couples spend the first half hour being polite and performing the version of the argument they have already rehearsed. The useful part starts after that, and a 50 minute session ends right as it arrives.
I also keep half an hour clear between every appointment. Two reasons, both practical. Miami traffic is what it is and I would rather you arrive 10 minutes late than arrive wound up. And sessions run long, because in this work emotions run hot and I am not going to stop you mid sentence because a clock says so. I want you finishing the session feeling steady and connected, not walking straight out to your car raw.
The 50 minute hour
Ninety minutes with room around it
Two people splitting 50 minutes, so roughly 15 minutes each of real talking.
Ninety minutes, which is long enough to get past the rehearsed version of the fight.
The session ends exactly when the useful part starts.
Half an hour kept clear afterwards, so nothing has to be cut short.
You leave raw and drive home in silence.
You leave steady. That is deliberate and it is built into the pricing.
Open ended. Nobody says how long this goes on.
Three sessions, then an honest conversation about whether to continue.
Why it is three sessions and not twenty
The package is three because three is what the work takes, not because three is a nice number to sell.
My program is Emotionally Connected Couples Coaching, and it runs on three moves: Connect, Correct, Create. Connect is getting the two of you back into the same room emotionally, which usually takes the first session and sometimes takes most of it. Correct is the specific pattern that keeps eating you, and that is session two. Create is what you are building instead, which is session three and is the part almost nobody gets to in open ended work, because open ended work never runs out of problems to discuss.
I am not interested in being your standing Tuesday appointment for two years. If you need that, you probably need a licensed professional rather than a coach, and I will tell you so.
What the three sessions do
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Connect. Get the two of you back in the same room emotionally, which is not the same as both being on the sofa.
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Correct. Name the one pattern doing the most damage and interrupt it while I am watching.
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Create. Decide what you are building instead, because stopping the fight is not the same as having a marriage.
How to tell if it is worth it for you
Here is the test I would use if I were you, and it has nothing to do with me.
Work out what the last 12 months of this have already cost you. Not in money. In evenings that went sideways, in the version of yourself your kids have been watching, in the conversations you stopped starting because you already knew how they end. Then ask whether $700 is a serious number against that. For most couples who call me it is not a serious number, it is just a number they have to actually decide about, which is a different and more uncomfortable thing.
That said, I would rather you kept your money in a few specific cases, and I will say so on the free call. If there is physical, sexual or mental abuse in the marriage, if there is a mental health condition that needs treating, or if there is an active addiction, coaching is the wrong tool and I will point you at the right one. I do not take those cases and I do not take drug, alcohol or gambling work.
Is this the right spend right now?
Probably yes
You are disconnected, you are arguing about the same three things, one or both of you has quietly started wondering how this ends, and nothing on the referral list applies.
Book the free 25 minute call and find out.
Probably not yet
There is abuse, an untreated mental health condition, or an active addiction in the picture.
That needs a licensed professional first. Tell me on the call and I will point you somewhere useful.
Work out what the last 12 months of this have already cost you, and then decide whether $700 is a serious number.
Matthew W. Hoelscher, PCC
The cheaper options, honestly assessed
There are cheaper ways to do this and some of them are genuinely good, so here they are.
Read first. There are years of free material on this site and it is not a lead magnet with the useful parts removed. Start with what a parent marriage actually is, because a lot of couples read that and realize they have been trying to solve the wrong problem. If the issue is distance rather than conflict, emotional neglect is the one to read. If trust is the thing, rebuilding trust covers the ground.
Take the 25 minute video session at $87 instead of a 90 minute one. It is not the full program and I will not pretend it is, but it is enough for one specific stuck thing and it costs less than a dinner out.
Or take the free 25 minute call and stop there. Plenty of people do. I would rather have an honest 25 minutes with somebody who then decides not to work with me than take $700 from somebody I cannot help.
What it is actually like to turn up
My office is attached to my home in Kendall, and I want you to know that before you arrive rather than after. It is a residential address. Your car is my waiting room. Follow the stone path to the front door, ring the Nest doorbell, and I will come out. If you would rather text me when you pull up, do that instead and I will come and get you.
Fair warning about me, because it is better said now than discovered in session one. I am blunt, direct and honest, and I am those things affectionately rather than coldly. If I push too hard or too fast, or I say something that lands wrong, you tell me in the moment and we fix it there. I need you practicing direct communication with me every bit as much as you need to practice it with each other. That is not a side effect of the work, it is the work.
I run video sessions in all 50 states and DC. I prefer people in the room, because I get far more from watching two people react to each other than from watching two faces on a screen. But most of my couples have young kids and impossible schedules, and a video session that happens beats an office session that keeps getting moved.
Questions couples ask
What does marriage coaching cost in Miami?
A 90 minute session in my office is $315, and the 3 session package is $700, which is what most couples take. Shorter and longer options run from $87 for a 25 minute video session to $630 for a 180 minute intensive. There is a free 25 minute call before any of it.
Do you take insurance?
No. I am self pay only. I am a coach, I do not diagnose anyone, and there is no code to bill. If insurance is the deciding factor for you, say so on the free call and I will tell you straight rather than talk you around it.
Why is the package three sessions?
Because the work runs on three moves: Connect, Correct, Create. Getting you back in the same room, interrupting the pattern doing the damage, and deciding what you are building instead. Open ended work rarely reaches the third one, because it never runs out of problems to discuss.
What if it is not working after the first session?
Tell me. That is the whole answer. If my style is not going to work for you, I would rather know in session one than take your money for three. Say it, shake my hand, and we are done.
Is there anything you will not take on?
Yes. I do not work with drug, alcohol or gambling addiction, and I do not take cases involving domestic violence. If there is physical, sexual or mental abuse, an untreated mental health condition, or an active addiction, that needs a licensed professional and I will point you toward one.
The free call is 25 minutes and it costs nothing. You will know inside 10 whether you want to work with me, and I will tell you honestly if I think somebody else is a better fit.