Nobody questions whether a female therapist can treat a male client. So why does gender suddenly matter the moment it's couples work? On the asymmetry the field isn't talking about.

Some men can't fully engage in couples therapy until they've had a space that's theirs first. On the clinical gap between couples work and individual work — and why sequencing matters.

You've thought about couples therapy. Maybe you've even brought it up. But the version in your head — two people on a couch while a therapist referees — isn't what this is.