Are You Managing Life Together, Yet Have Lost the Intimacy of Being Partners?
Focused relational support for couples and partnerships caught in patterns of recurring conflict, emotional distancing, resentment, or changes in intimacy and connection.
Emotional intimacy grows when protection no longer has to work so hard.
Our Approach
A Compassionate Space Where All Lived Experiences Are Welcomed
Hi, I'm Christina — a US-licensed counselor and native English speaker offering Couple and Partnerships Counseling & Relationship Intensives, along with psychosocial counseling for expats and clients in the US and Switzerland.
Care attunes to the relationship's needs rather than relying on a general communication or skill-building model. I help parts that feel stuck and hopeless about using strategies — this is where intensive work begins.
I use Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) — an approach built specifically for couples — along with EMDR and somatic work, to help you get past talking about the problem and into actually repairing it. Most couples who come to me have already tried the skills-based approaches and found that knowing what to do isn't the same as being able to do it in the moment.
My practice welcomes all lived experiences: queer and LGBTQ+ couples, polyamorous/CNM/ENM partnerships, neurodivergent-mixed relationships, expats and globally mobile couples, spiritually open and psychedelically curious, partners navigating trauma and chronic illness.
Level 2 IFS, IFIO, and EMDR Certified
Services
1,000 US dollars
From 130 US dollars
2,000 US dollars
3,000 US dollars
175 US dollars- From 90 US dollars
Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO)
What is IFIO?
We all have parts that surface in our intimate relationships. Your parts may want different things, carry distinct beliefs and values, play certain roles to help you manage and endure difficulty, and have good intentions for you. The conflicting thoughts and feelings you have may reflect parts who need some attention...and from the heart can be spoken for in the relationship. It is also possible for your parts to take in and listen from the heart even in times of conflict and discord. In IFIO, intimate relationships aren't just a place where healing is possible — they're an instrument for it. Rather than treating each partner separately, IFIO invites working with the relational system itself, helping couple and partnerships move from struggles toward genuine repair and growth.
What does an IFIO therapist do during a session?
I will help you and your partner deepen understanding of the dance that often plays out with ongoing conflict and build awareness of underlying parts protecting both of your needs and wants. I ask questions that help foster the relationship between you and your parts and guide co-regulation and attuning closer to these needs. As trust restores and more clarity is present, vulnerable parts can let go of the burdens they’ve been carrying - what you might be experiencing in current challenges at home, at work, and in your relationships. As a Level 2 trained IFS therapist, I help facilitate relational unburdening, so that you can release painful experiences and invite in more expansive qualities when you are ready while witnessing each other's healing journey together.
What makes IFIO different from other counseling approaches?
IFIO is an experiential process - meaning you and your partner are tuned into your direct experiences rather than just talking about it. IFIO can guide you with going deeper than traditional talk therapy. Because IFIO is experiential, it’s hard to put into words! There is a transcendent, intimate quality to the IFIO process that leads to a more authentic and open-hearted way of being. In my work, I often find it's not helping couples and partnerships learn skills they don't already know, it's working with their parts that don't want to use these strategies or feel so hopeless or confused about taking steps towards change.
What can you expect from doing IFIO work?
With Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO), couple and partnership clients have opportunities to deepen intimacy, resolve conflicts, make repairs, and feel more loved and understood. You will also likely experience being more Self-led! In your day-to-day life you might have more awareness of your different parts and be able to respond from a place of less reactivity in previously activating situations. You’ll have the ability to face difficult situations with more ease and experience more compassion, calm, and confidence. Whatever next steps your relationship takes can unfold with more clarity and alignment with the heart.
Christina Gerteis, LPC, LAC, NCC, MAC
My Journey
Before I specialized in couples work, I spent two decades as a trauma and addictions therapist. I saw people learn every skill and strategy available — and still struggle to connect with the people they loved most.
I also lived this. In my own relationship, during one of the hardest chapters of my life, all the standard couples-therapy tools weren't enough. What changed things was IFS and somatic work — learning to meet the parts of myself (and open to a connection for my partner meet his) with compassion instead of managing them from the outside.
That's the work I now offer couples: not more skills to master, but a way back to genuine connection, even after rupture. I live between the US and Switzerland with my husband and our pug, Grit, and I bring that same depth of presence to every couple I work with.
These experiences have led me with great purpose in sharing with couples and partnerships what is possible through IFS, IFIO, EMDR, and somatic integration. Healing, reconnection, and loving fully is possible even in life's most difficult moments. Moving beyond simply knowing and applying skills, there is a space for courageously sharing and listening with the heart. A space for opening towards repair when there has been rupture. Moments for rediscovering and redefining after conflict with compassion and deepened intimacy. I can help you there.
IFS Training
Level 1 Trainers Richard Schwartz, Nancy Sowell, Melissa Costa, and Fatimah Finny CHA
Level 2 Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) Trainers John Palmer and Sallie Ingle, Wind Horse Hill, Spicewood, TX
Additional IFS Training
IFS consultation groups with Lead trainer Sue Richmond, LCSW and Assistant Trainers Amy Crawford, PhD, LMFT, and Sallie Ingle, LPC-S
Program Assistant (PA) for Level 1 trainings in-person and online 2025 and 2026
IFS Treatment for Chronic Pain - Nancy Sowell IFSI 2026 and CHA 2025
The Sacred Nervous System: A Relational Pathway for Self and IFS - Steve Chee and Richard Schwartz IFSI
IFS Workshop: Couples Therapy - Larry Rosenburg CHA
Unattached Burdens and Guides Workshop - Robert Falconer IFS Healers Community
Self-Led Sexuality - Patricia Rich Life Architect
Highly Conflictual Couples - Mary Kruger Life Architect
IFS Worshop: Children and Adolescents - Leslie Petruk CHA
Integrating EMDR into the IFS Process - Daphne Fatter Life Architect
IFS Therapy: A Spiritual and Energetic Approach - Kay Gardner Life Architect
IFS Workshop: OCD - Melissa Mose CHA
Additional Training and Certification
Integrating Somatic Techniques in Therapy 3 Month Intensive - Gabor Maté, Deb Dana, Janina Fisher, Susan McConnell, Michael Mithoefer, Efu Nyaki, Elia Mrak Life Architect
When There Are No Words: Reprocessing Early Trauma & Neglect Held in Implicit Memory - Sandra Paulson Denver, CO EMDRIA
Flash-TEP - Elan Shapiro ConnectEMDR
The Flash Technique: Basic Principles and Protocols - Philip Manfield EMDRIA
Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol and Group Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP/G-TEP) Salt Lake City, UT EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs
Ukraine War: How EMDR Is Helpful with Trauma and Grief - Roger
Solomon, Ph.D. EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs
Advanced Training: EMDR Mixed Bag - Robin Shapiro Kase and Co.
Advanced Training: IFS Informed EMDR - Crystal Hines Kase and Co.
EMDRIA Certified Eye Movement De-sensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) Fort Collins, CO Humanitarian Assistance Programs
Certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) Durham, NC
US Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the states of Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas and National Certified Counselor (NCC)
US Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC) in Colorado with board certification of Master Addiction Counselor (MAC)
MA dual degree in Counseling Psychology and Organizational Consulting, Portland, OR Pacific University
With over 20 years of practice in outpatient, community-based, residential, and hospital settings, I am honored by each moment with others healing.
I have a life long passion for learning how the mind and body connect in healing and transformation. Meditation, urban community farming and seasons for growing off the land, kitchen rave vibes and cooking, soaking in hot springs, and down any trail gives way to my greatest joy. Living in many different communities across the US and traveling to many countries, I have discovered ways to alleviate suffering and expand creativity, compassion, and sound living I would like to share with you!
I serve on both the Rocky Mountain and Louisiana Trauma Recovery Network (TRN) providing pro bono EMDR support for those impacted by recent event trauma including natural disasters and community violence.
*Current August/September 2026 group and individual offerings for those impacted by Aspen Acres wildfire in Colorado.
Contact for referrals or interest in support:
Rebecca Albright
Colorado TRN Coordinator
ralbright@tlcforfamilies.com
(719) 648-3218
I also provide individual IFS coaching to expand your optimal potential, as well as consultation and practice groups for those seeking to deepen their learning and understanding with IFS. Telesupervision offered to those seeking LAC and LPC licensure in Colorado. Please contact me for more information as you are interested in learning more about my methods and opportunities available.
Credentials can be verified at:
https://ifs-institute.com/practitioners/all/147071
https://www.toniherbineblank.com/therapist-directory.html
https://www.emdria.org/directory/people/christina-gerteis/
LA Lpcboard.org, TX bhec.texas.gov, CO dpo.colorado.gov
