In Person in Denton and Telehealth across Texas for LGBTQ+ Couples
As a millennial gay woman from the South, I’ve experienced religious discrimination and family estrangement firsthand. My own path to personal and relational healing, along with 15 years of couples work, shapes everything about the way I practice at Rogue Haven Counseling and Wellness.
Searching for LGBTQ+ Couples Therapy Beyond Affirming?
A therapist who doesn’t need the backstory
Many gay and lesbian couples still carry anxiety into their first couples therapy appointment. Will the therapist really get it? Will we spend the first few sessions explaining minority stress, navigating questions about our families, or working around assumptions built for straight couples? That exhaustion is real and it shouldn’t be part of your therapy.
I’ve lived these questions too. At Rogue Haven, this isn’t a general practice that happens to accept everyone. It’s work informed by frameworks built specifically around LGBTQ+ relationships and the dynamics that shape them. That includes the Gottman Institute’s research on same-sex couples and the affirming clinical model developed by Joe Kort, PhD, two of the most respected voices in LGBTQ+ relational health. Because competency in this space requires ongoing engagement, not a one-time credential, I continue to pursue training specifically focused on these areas.
Your Spirituality is Welcome Too
I work with couples across the full spectrum of faith and spirituality. That includes couples who are still active members of a church or religious community, those who have deconstructed from their faith or are somewhere in the middle of that process, and partners who don’t share the same beliefs at all. Navigating those differences is often part of what brings couples to therapy, and it’s work I’m well equipped to support.
Having lived and traveled extensively in the Middle East and Asia, I bring familiarity with a range of faith traditions and cultures that goes beyond a textbook understanding. Whatever your spiritual journey, or lack thereof, looks like right now, you don’t have to sort that out before you walk in the door.
LGBT First Responder Couples
After working in law enforcement myself, I understand what high-stakes professional stress does to a relationship from the inside. Gay and lesbian couples in first responder roles, medicine, teaching, and other high-demand professions carry a particular kind of weight. The job itself, the identity layer on top of it, and a relationship that often absorbs both.
I’m especially positioned to work with LGBT first responder couples in the DFW area and with couples across high-stress professions who need a therapist who doesn’t need that world explained to them either.
Focus Areas
Gay and lesbian relationships carry all the same pressures any couple faces — and then some. These are the areas we focus on most:
- Minority stress and external pressure
- Communication breakdown and conflict cycles
- Intimacy and emotional connection
- Internalized shame and its impact on partnership
- Family of origin wounds
- Codependency and enmeshment
- Differences in faith, spirituality, or deconstruction
- Recovering from betrayal or broken trust
- Substance use and recovery — one or both partners in sobriety, alcohol or substances affecting the relationship, or rebuilding trust after addiction
- Relationship structure and agreements
- Navigating milestones — marriage, parenting, finances, chosen family
- High-stress professions and burnout inside the relationship
How We Work Together
My couples work is grounded in Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), two of the most research-backed approaches available. I also draw on Relational Life Therapy (Terry Real) and the Developmental Model (Ellen Bader) to bring additional structure when couples need it, particularly around relational patterns that go deeper than communication skills alone.
Within that foundation, I specifically draw from the Gottman Institute’s research on same-sex couples and the affirming clinical model developed by Joe Kort, PhD, two of the most respected voices in LGBTQ+ relational health. These frameworks recognize that gay and lesbian couples face relational stressors that many traditional couples therapy models were simply not designed to address. Competency in this space requires ongoing engagement, not a one-time credential. I pursue continuing training specifically in LGBTQ+ relational health
Ready to Get Started?
Weekly couples therapy is $150 per session. My office is located in Downtown Denton, with access to private spaces beyond my office for experiential work when needed. I offer nontraditional hours for busy couples. Telehealth is available across Texas for those who prefer it or aren’t local to the DFW area. For couples who want to do more concentrated work, I offer customized couples intensives on weekends.
If this feels like the right fit, I’d love to hear from you.
Jay Krenek is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 15 years of experience working with individuals and couples in Denton, TX. She sees clients in-person and via telehealth across Texas. Her practice, Rogue Haven Counseling and Wellness, specializes in LGBTQ+ affirming therapy and couples counseling. Surrounding areas include: Northlake, Highland Village, Southlake, Argyle, Ponder, Justin, Keller, Krum, Decatur, Valley View, Sanger, Gainesville, Flower Mound, Corinth, and the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.