We help couples and individuals strengthen relationships in Encinitas and virtually throughout California.

Integrative Couples Therapy

Cristina Trette, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

I am Cristina Trette, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Founder of Integrative Couples Therapy.

If you are here, it is likely because your relationships matter deeply to you. You may be preparing for marriage and want to protect the love you share. Or, you may be having the same fight over and over again, feel more like roommates than lovers, facing the aftermath of betrayal, noticing the loss of sexual intimacy, or feeling uncertain about the future of your family. Whatever has brought you here, this is a place to slow down, take a breath, and be supported.

At Integrative Couples Therapy, we help couples and individuals strengthen relationships. Our work focuses on helping people feel more understood, connected, and secure with the people that matter the most. Our team is trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy, an evidence based, attachment oriented model that helps relationships grow stronger. We believe that loving relationships are at the heart of a meaningful life, and with the right support, meaningful change is possible. Welcome.

Our Specialties

  • We help couples and individuals improve communication by helping you slow down conversations and making space for what is really being said underneath the words. Together, we work to shift patterns that lead to misunderstandings, defensiveness, or shutdown, and build ways of speaking and listening that feel clearer and more respectful. Over time, communication becomes less reactive and more connected, making it easier to feel understood and close again.

  • Our work is rooted in attachment and the understanding that emotional connection is a basic human need. Whether you are in couples therapy or working individually, we focus on strengthening your sense of emotional safety, responsiveness, and trust in connection. By supporting secure attachment, relationships become more stable, resilient, and able to grow through both closeness and challenge.

  • Sexual intimacy is often closely tied to emotional connection and trust, and it can be affected by stress, life transitions, relationship challenges, or past experiences. We work with couples and individuals to create a supportive space to talk openly about intimacy, desire, and eroticism, at a pace that feels comfortable and respectful.

  • We support parents at every stage of family life, working with couples, individuals, and coparents as relationships grow and change. Our approach is rooted in attachment and focuses on strengthening the emotional bonds that help families feel connected. Whether you are navigating early parenthood, raising children or teens, managing mental health challenges, or coparenting through separation or divorce, we help you slow down, understand patterns, and build secure parent-child and parent-parent relationships.

  • Infidelity and betrayal can shake the foundation of a relationship and deeply affect all involved. We offer both couples therapy and individual therapy to support you through this process, meeting you where you are and honoring the complexity of what you are facing. Whether you are working together to rebuild trust or healing individually, we provide a steady, non-judgmental space to process the pain, understand what happened, and move forward with greater clarity and care.

  • We support couples and individuals navigating relationship transitions, including separation, divorce, breakups, or uncertainty and ambivalence. We offer a confidential and thoughtful space to help you slow down, find clarity, and move forward. Whether you are working toward repair or reshaping your relationship, our focus is on helping you communicate with respect, protect what matters most, and cultivate intention and care.

Services

  • Couples Therapy

    Couples therapy is designed for couples wanting to work as a team to improve communication, resolve conflict, and enhance intimacy.

  • Premarital Counseling

    Premarital counseling helps couples that are dating, or preparing for marriage to create a solid foundation while developing relationship skills.

  • Couples Therapy for One

    Couples therapy for one is designed for individuals that want to focus on strengthening their relationship, without their partner present.

  • Individual Therapy

    Individual therapy assists those wanting personal support, including help with anxiety, depression, infidelity, trauma, and loss.

  • Coparenting Therapy

    Coparenting therapy supports parents who are separated or divorced to work together in the best interest of the children.

  • Couples Workshop

    Our couples workshop offers a structured space to strengthen communication, deepen connection, and learn practical tools alongside other couples.

Our Team

  • A smiling woman with shoulder-length blonde hair wearing a white collared shirt and pearl earrings, standing next to a wooden wall outdoors.

    Cristina Trette

    Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

  • A woman with brown hair smiling, standing next to a wooden wall outdoors.

    Cara McDowell

    Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

  • Smiling woman with brown hair wearing a light blue blouse with embroidered neckline, standing against a wooden wall outdoors.

    Marissa Massimini

    Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Our Mission and Values

At Integrative Couples Therapy, we believe secure and loving relationships are central to wellbeing, and with the right support, people and relationships can heal, grow, and flourish. We envision a world in which relationships are cherished, where seeking therapy is free of stigma, and the importance of love, connection, partnership, and family are recognized and valued.

Relationships Are Central

Connection is at the heart of our work. We aim to be accessible, responsive and engaged in our interactions with clients, as a team, and in our personal and family lives.

Professional Maturity

We practice with care, consistency, and ethical responsibility. We bring emotional maturity, dependability, and steadiness to our work, creating trust and security for our clients and as a group.

Commitment to Learning

We value curiosity, learning, and ongoing professional, personal, and relational development. We continually refine our skills, seek consultation, and stay current in our work.

Belief in Transformation

We believe meaningful growth and change is possible for people and relationships. Even in times of distress, we hold hope for healing and repair, and support lasting shifts that strengthen connection and wellbeing.

Whole Person Wellbeing

We know that relationships, family patterns, careers, histories, and overall health and wellness are deeply interconnected. In addition to therapy we aim to equip our clients with education, practices that integrate mind, body, and heart, and referrals to trusted providers and resources in our community, when indicated.