Gail & John Kaplan, Co-Directors of Marriage Labs

Founded (1992) 

Are you and your partner dropping "bombs" on one another?

Do you sometimes wonder what happened to the good parts of your relationship?

If you believe that things could be better, it is not a failing on your part. It just means that you are thinking of the possibilities that exist in your relationship. 

Marriage Labs can help you realize those possibilities.

Marriage Labs works with any couple in a committed relationship willing to look at the many complicated situations which present potential bombs needing to be defused.

Marriage Labs can improve communication, assist you and your partner in addressing issues of sex, time, money, and the sometimes contradictory expectations facing men and women today and help you both learn to better balance work and family life!

Marriage Labs offers a variety of teaching formats including groups, courses, seminars, workshops and couples counseling to help you and your partner rekindle those feelings that first brought you together.

Marriage Labs is based on the belief that it is normal to have problems in any committed relationship and that the goal is gaining skills to successfully manage these difficulties. Relationships move through predictable developmental stages which challenge each partner and Marriage Labs offers a helpful perspective along with concrete tools. Marriage Labs also specializes in prevention working with couples engaged to be married by completing an inventory of potential problem areas and mapping out a practical strategy aimed at greater relationship satisfaction.

John D. Kaplan, LICSW is the Founder and Co-Director of Marriage Labs and a certified Couples Communication^R trainer. John was the Clinical Director at a community mental health center where he worked for over twenty years training therapists in Group and Family Systems work. He has been in the Mental Health field for over thirty years as a clinician, supervisor, and educator while consulting to various schools, parent groups, community agencies, and family owned businesses.

Gail Kaplan, LMHC is the Co-Director of Marriage Labs.  Gail is a nurse and psychotherapist and has been in private practice working with couples and individuals for over twenty years.  Other areas of expertise include mind body relaxation training, behavioral health management and women’s issues.

  

About Marriage Labs

 

Marriage Labs is a comprehensive psycho-educational program for couples who want to improve the quality of their relationship.  It can be utilized as Marriage Enrichment for those whose marriages have lost the excitement that once existed and for Marriage Assessment for those who are questioning the viability of their relationship.  Marriage Labs is also particularly useful as a premarital program to help couples get off to the right start; a kind of Marriage Insurance.

 

To achieve the optimum results from Marriage Labs, it is suggested that couples enroll in a “Boot Camp.”  This is a short term series of sessions geared to looking at various aspects of relationship functioning.  Current themes are explored along with each individual’s history in order to create a context for issues.  During the time of the Boot Camp, couples are encouraged to enroll in a Couple Communication Course to learn a healthy model for adult conversation.  Following the completion of the Boot Camp and the Couple Communication Class many couples elect to enroll in a Gender Dialogue Group which is a monthly seminar to discuss a variety of issues related to relationship.  These serve as a booster shot to help reinforce the new and healthy patterns established during the course of Marriage Labs work.

 

Marriage Labs was built upon the belief that all problems are shared 50 – 50.  There are no “good guys” or “bad guys” but we each contribute equally to the dynamics of the relationship.  Couples tie complicated knots together and it is the role of the Marriage Labs Counselor along with the couple to untie these knots.  Each person is encouraged to look at his/ her role in a problem posed rather than pointing the finger at the other as one can only change themselves they cannot change the other.  Along with communication skills, tools of relationship building are offered in an attempt to change destructive patterns. 

 

Kate, 43 “our last couple’s therapy experience was dreadful.  We fought a lot more and got worse not better.  I’m so glad my neighbor told me about Marriage Labs as we learned a lot.  We are on the same page for the first time in a long time.  It’s nice to know that we’re not crazy but just like a lot of people who are struggling with normal problems.”

 

Bill, 27 “when my fiancé first suggested we go to Marriage Labs, I did not want to go.  Our wedding was five months away and I figured if we had to go to counseling before we got married there really was something messed up.  Boy do I feel like an idiot!  Everyone getting married should have to do something like this.  We learned so much and now go back for a quick ‘booster shot’ when we get into a jam.”

 

Carla, 58 “my divorce lawyer referred us to Marriage Labs as he thought we needed to give it one last shot and I’m so glad we went.  Not only did it save our marriage – we fell in love all over again.”

 

Dick, 37 “with three young kids our marriage had really taken a back seat.  Marriage Labs helped us to reprioritize and pay attention to each other again.  Thank you.”