Honey, I Shrunk the Couples Counselor

Two survivors of pandemic parenting needed a relationship tuneup. Could a new virtual therapy module called Ours do the trick?

Excerpt below by Hannah Seligson at The New York Times

On a recent sticky summer evening, Andrew and I assumed our trademark marital position: hovered over the iPad in bed.

But this time it wasn’t to binge-watch the new season of “Borgen” or “The Bear.” Instead, the screen was glowing with … an interactive couples therapy module.

It could be argued that couples counseling is having a moment: The psychotherapist Esther Perel has reached rock star status, and the Showtime series “Couples Therapy” is three seasons in, with more on the way.

But navigating real-life couples counseling, like so much of the health care system, can be expensive and laborious. If you want a therapist who takes your insurance (assuming you have some), you need to put in the work (and a lot of it — many therapists don’t accept insurance). And without insurance, sessions can cost hundreds of dollars. And if you want to do it in-person, there are many scheduling hurdles, especially for working parents, which we are.

These are some of the problems that Ours, a new relationship platform that’s a hybrid of live counseling and online modules, is hoping to solve. It was founded in 2020 by Jessica Holton and Adam Putterman, who came from consulting backgrounds, and Elizabeth Earnshaw, a marriage and family therapist with a large online following.

Backed by investors like TMV (a venture capital firm), Serena Williams and Andy Dunn, Ours debuted in the spring, offering counseling “for relationships of all kinds — new connections, serious relationships, recently engaged, the married crowd and everything in between” — though the website emphasizes the premarital. (Later this year, Ours plans to roll out life-stage specific programs, such as ones centered on expecting a child or moving to a new city together.)

To read more about what Hannah thought about OURS click here.