San Diego, CA · Couples · Private pay · Online
Couples therapy in San Diego, both of you, one screen
Martha Fernandez, LCSW, offers couples therapy in San Diego by secure video, built around a duty roster, a hospital rotation or a grant deadline, with both of you together on one screen. You sit side by side in one private room in California and talk in English or Spanish. Sessions are 50 minutes for $450, with no insurance and no waitlist.
Census: ACS 2024 1-year, tables B12001 and B23007
Real San Diego situations
Marriage counseling in San Diego, around duty, labs and the border
Homecomings and new orders
Navy and Marine Corps families here live by deployments, training cycles and change-of-station orders. Reconnecting after months apart, or deciding whether the whole family follows the next set of orders, is a lot for two people to work out at the kitchen table.
Science careers and family plans
When one or both of you work in Sorrento Valley biotech, big personal choices often wait on a funding round, a trial result or a vesting date. If kids, a house and two careers all hinge on the same quarter, resentment can build quietly on both sides.
Weekends in Tijuana
A partner whose parents live in Tijuana or Ensenada may cross every weekend while the other would rather stay home. Time, money and obligation to relatives in Mexico can turn into the argument underneath every other argument.
Long days between Chula Vista and Carlsbad
A home in South Bay and a job in North County, or the reverse, can leave one partner on the 805 for a big part of the day. By evening there is little left for each other, and a session that needs no extra drive is one less thing to negotiate.
Your first couples session
From booking to the first fifty minutes
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Choose the couples option
In Jane, the online booking system, select “Me and my partner,” pick an open slot and save a card to hold it. You skip the intake phone call and the waitlist entirely.
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Forms, then the link
An intake and consent form arrives by email, followed by the secure video link. Both partners need to be 18 or older. If the week falls apart, move the session online with 24 hours' notice at no charge.
- 03
Sit together, in California
Join from one private room, together, on one device, anywhere in the state. A spare room in Clairemont or a closed office in Mission Valley both work, as long as nobody can overhear.
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The opening conversation
Martha asks each of you what brought you in and what you hope will change. She listens for the loop you get stuck in and helps you agree on one or two shared goals to start with. Fifty minutes, $450, in English or Spanish.
English and Spanish
Bilingual couples, close to the border
Plenty of San Diego couples run a household in two languages: Spanish with the grandparents in San Ysidro, English at work in UTC, and a mix of both at dinner. When one partner was raised in Mexico and the other in California, the same word can carry very different weight.
Martha conducts couples sessions in English, Spanish or both, with no interpreter in the room. Each of you can talk in the language you feel things in, and she moves between them as you do. The fee and the clinical approach are identical either way.
Therapy in SpanishSan Diego couples FAQ
Straight answers for both of you
My spouse is deployed. Can they join from the ship or a base overseas?
No. Both partners have to be in California, together in one private room, for every couples session. Book the weeks you are both home. In the meantime, the partner here can see Martha individually for $400; see her San Diego page.
How much is couples therapy in San Diego with Martha, and does TRICARE pay?
A 50-minute couples session is $450. Martha does not bill TRICARE or any other insurer and does not issue superbills, so there is nothing to submit and no claim attached to your name.
We just arrived on orders. Can we start before we're settled?
Yes. What counts is where you are during the session: both of you, together, in California. Once you are here, you can book the same week if a time is open.
Does San Diego couples therapy work with rotating shifts?
Jane shows every open couples slot, so you can match a session to whichever days you are both off. When a rotation changes, move the appointment yourself online at least a day ahead and there is no fee.
Will Martha take sides?
No. Her job is to make sure each of you is understood, and to keep the session on what both of you said you came for. She will point out patterns she notices, and she says them to both of you.
Keep looking
More from Martha's practice
Fees, with context
What $450 buys for the two of you
The same price for every couple and every week, paid directly by card. This is what the two of you get for it.
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One clinician for both of you
Martha sees you together, every session. No intern, no handoff, no second therapist taking one side.
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No claim for either of you
Couples work never needs a diagnosis here, and no insurer sees the session, so neither partner's record carries it.
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Two languages in one room
Each of you can speak the language you argue and make up in. Martha works in English and Spanish at once.
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Openings now
Couples times are on her calendar today. You book them yourselves, with nobody screening you first.
Your first session can be this week
Pick a time on Martha's calendar. Private pay, secure video, anywhere in California, in English or Spanish.