Marriage Therapy Radio is a podcast hosted by marriage therapist Zach Brittle that addresses common struggles in relationships, such as conflict, communication, sex, and infidelity. The show aims to help couples understand the science behind strong relationships and find new ways to connect. Each episode tackles specific topics like money, in-laws, and future dreams, offering practical advice and insights. The podcast is designed for couples at any stage, whether they are considering divorce or simply want to deepen their bond.
Episodes
Ep. 450 Grief, Heartbreak, and Doing the Work with Robin Ducharme
Zach welcomes back Robin Ducharme, founder of Real Love Ready, for the first of three conversations. The last time listeners heard from her, she was here with her partner, Hector. This time she comes alone. Her mom died three months ago, and a few weeks later, she and Hector broke up. Robin calls it a double whammy, and she doesn't soften what it did to her: "It fucking took me down."Robi
Ep 449 Stop Keeping Score in Your Marriage, w/ Jonathan & Meredith Van Viegen
Zach sits down with couples therapist Jonathan Van Viegen and his wife Meredith, who are calling in from the surf town in Panama where they run a surf lodge and raise their two daughters. Jonathan built a huge following on Instagram by saying what he actually believes about marriage, and his first book, Choosing Us, comes out this month. Zach starts by asking what it’s like to be a “marri
Ep 448 Get Off the Couch. That's Where Life Happens w/Peter & Luisa Csathy
Zach sits down with Peter and Luisa Csathy, together 33 years and married 30. Peter is a media and tech guy who started his career as an entertainment lawyer, and for their 30th anniversary he secretly wrote Luisa a book: Hiding in Plain Sight: 10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage & Family. Zach wants to know two things: how a lawyer and tech executive ended up with opinions about marriage,
Ep 447 How to Parent an Adult Child Who’s Stuck, with Kim and Tom Muench
Zach sits down with Kim and Tom Muench, married 34 years and parents of five kids who range in age from 21 to 39. Their story started before they did. Their parents were close friends who lived in side-by-side townhomes, Tom once babysat Kim and her younger brothers, and teenage Kim mostly thought of him as a dork. Years later, Kim moved in next door with her 3-year-old son, Nick, needed
Ep 446 How a 45-Year Marriage Works w/Meg Staley and Jerry Gretzinger on Rules, Resentment, and Recovery
Zach has watched the People Make Games documentary about Jerry's Map twice, and cried both times. So when Jerry Gretzinger and his wife Meg Staley join him, almost 45 years into their marriage, he sets the map aside and asks about the two of them. They met in SoHo in 1979 when Jerry hired Meg to handle press and sales for a designers' co-op. She was 29 and newly sober. He was nine years o
Ep 445 Permission for Pleasure w/Dr. Jenni Skyler and Daniel Lebowitz
Zach talks with Dr. Jenni Skyler and Daniel Lebowitz, the married sex therapists behind the Intimacy Institute, and starts somewhere unexpected: their Sunday night calendar meeting. Before the conversation ever gets to the bedroom, Jenni and Daniel walk through the weekly check-in they swear by as parents of two boys, covering finances, kids' schedules, board meetings, and a bar mitzvah o
Ep 444 Why Couples Resist Change, and What It Costs to Stay Stuck w/Iona Monk & Pam Stewart
Zach flips the usual format and welcomes two fellow podcasters: Iona Monk and Pam Stewart, the therapists behind Relationship Dish. They're podcast partners, not romantic partners, and they're quick to add that they'd be a terrible match anyway (Iona pursues, Pam withdraws). Iona started the show to take the shame out of couples therapy. Couples tend to show up six or seven years too late
Ep 443 An NPR Journalist, Her Audio Engineer Husband, and the Negotiation That Never Ends w/Yowei Shaw & Kyle Pulley
Zach talks with Yowei Shaw and Kyle Pulley, a married couple who make the podcast Proxy together, a show that investigates "emotional mysteries" by connecting people who feel alone in a specific conundrum with a stranger who has lived through something close to it. Yowei spent about seven years creating and hosting the NPR documentary series Invisibilia before she was laid off in 2023. Ky
Ep 442 Inside a Real Gottman Marriage: Don and Carrie Cole on Repair, Second Marriages, and The New Marriage Clinic Casebook
Zach sits down with Don and Carrie Cole, the Gottman Institute's clinical director and research director, and asks the question the show always comes back to: forget the credentials, what actually makes your own marriage work? Both Coles came into this relationship out of first marriages that failed. Don spent years stuffing his feelings to avoid upsetting his first wife, and it cost him
Ep 441 The Women Who Cheat And The Betrayed Men w/Adam & Judith Nisenson
Zach sits down with Adam and Judith Nisenson, a husband and wife who both work in the betrayal space from opposite sides. Adam is known online as the betrayal shrink and works almost exclusively with men who have been cheated on. Judith works with women who have cheated, and hosts her own podcast, Women Cheat Too. They're four years into their second marriage together, and Zach opens by a
Ep 440 Married, Divorced, Remarried: How One Couple Rebuilt a Marriage From Scratch w/Neal & Rachel
Zach sits down with Neal and Rachel Miskell, a couple who got married in 2008, divorced, and remarried years later, and asks the question most people never get to ask a couple who made it back: what actually happened in between? Rachel is a mom of three and a marketing director for the 11th Force Support Squadron on an Air Force base. Neal had just come home from Afghanistan when their ma
Ep 439 Sex as a Hobby, Not a Test You Have to Pass
Zach steps out of the host chair for this one. In a swap with Heather Shannon of Sex for Couples, Zach is the guest, and the conversation goes straight at a question most couples never ask out loud: what is sex actually for, and does that answer change over the life of a marriage? Zach, who's been married almost thirty years, and Heather dig into why frequency becomes the default target w
Ep 438 Faith, Addiction Recovery, and Rebuilding a Blended Family w/Darryl and Tracy Strawberry
Zach sits down with baseball legend Darryl Strawberry and his wife Tracy for a conversation that has almost nothing to do with baseball. Both are on their third marriage. Both are in long term recovery, Darryl more than two decades sober, Tracy twenty five years clean. And both point to the same turning point in their story: faith. Zach wants to know what actually sits underneath a phrase
Ep 437 What Generational Trauma Skips and What It Doesn't w/Kara & Stacy (Zach's cousins)
Zach sits down with his cousin Kara and her wife Stacy, two women he has known since before they were officially a couple, for a conversation that starts as a family reunion and turns into something much deeper. Kara and Stacy have been together for 26 years, married twice (once in civil union, once when it finally became legal), and are raising two kids, Rylan, 11, and Avery, 13, in a ho
Ep 436 When Your Nervous System Is the Third Person in the Room w/Deborah Rozman, Ph.D. & Howard Martin
Zach sits down with Deborah Rozman, Ph.D. and Howard Martin, the married couple who have led HeartMath Institute since its founding in 1991. Zach came in curious after hearing his mentor Terry Real rave about HeartMath at a Relational Life Institute faculty meeting, and he opens the conversation admitting he still does not fully understand what it is or how it works. Howard and Deborah, w
Ep 435 Should You Even Be in Couples Therapy? Zach Answers on The Bomb Life w/Melissa Vogel
Zach trades chairs this week. Instead of interviewing a couple, he's the one being interviewed, sitting down with Melissa Vogel of The Bomb Life for a wide-ranging conversation about what actually makes relationships work. Melissa is a health and fitness coach who works with individuals, often watching one partner transform physically and emotionally while the other stays stuck, and she b
Ep 434 They Fell in Love Passing Notes in Med School. Thirty Years Later, They're Still Learning Each Other w/Alexandra and Rod Stockwell
Zach sits down with Alexandra and Rod Stockwell, married almost 30 years and both trained as physicians. They met in 1993 as first-year medical students, passing paper notes back and forth during lectures, and that early habit of asynchronous, patient communication turns out to have shaped everything that came after. Alexandra is now a relationship and intimacy coach and host of The Intim
Ep 433 Ironman Training With Stage 4 Cancer: Jim and Kelly on Discipline, Marriage, and Kona
Zach sits down with Jim and Kelly, married 30 years, while Jim trains for the Ironman World Championship in Kona and works through his 25th round of chemotherapy. Jim was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April 2024. Rather than pulling back, he set a goal: arrive alive in Kona, finish under 17 hours, promote a book he wrote during treatment, and raise $100,000 for the Ironman Foundation.
Ep 432 Kings, Queens, and the Chessboard of Marriage w/A.D and Courtney
Zach sits down with married couple A.D. and Courtney, who met on their first day at the University of North Texas and have been together, on and off, for over a decade. A.D. runs a coaching brand built around helping men value themselves inside marriage, and Courtney works in a corporate hybrid role while raising their three kids. Zach opens by asking what makes them tick, and gets a lot
Ep 431 The Couple Who Healed Their War Zones w/Frannie and Danny
Zach sits down with Frannie and Danny, a married couple and wellness practitioners based in Florida who run an energy center in Palm Beach Gardens and lead workshops rooted in trauma recovery, energy work, and conscious relationship practices. Both come from what Frannie calls "war zones." Danny grew up in Israel with an Egyptian-French mother. Frannie was raised in Canada by Holocaust su
Ep 430 When the Therapist Comes Home: Marriage, ADHD, and the Work Behind the Work w/Eli & Ariella
Zach sits down with Eli, a therapist, podcast host, and author, and his wife Ariella, a registered dietitian, for an honest look at what it actually takes to build a good marriage, not the sanitized version you'd expect from someone with a therapy practice and a book on relationships, but the real one. Seven weeks from welcoming their third child, living in Las Vegas with two kids already
Ep 429 The Therapist and Her Partner: What It Actually Looks Like to Live the Work w/Anna & John
Zach sits down with Anna, a faculty member at the Relational Life Institute and one of his mentors, and her husband John, a self-described practitioner of life rather than therapy. Together, the three of them get into something that rarely happens on relationship podcasts: a real, textured, honest look at what it means to actually live relational principles inside a marriage, not just tea
Ep 428 When the Laughs Are Real: How a Comedy Couple Keeps Their Marriage Honest w/Kevin & Annie
Zach sits down with Kevin and Annie, a married couple from Los Angeles who have built parallel careers in comedy, social media, and content creation while raising two kids and juggling a genuinely hectic life. Kevin is one half of the Dumb Dads, a social media comedy brand that has racked up viral moments and national media coverage, while also recently stepping into a finance job to add
Ep 427 When One of You Is the Problem (And It's Both of You) w/James & Molly
Zach sits down with James and Molly Christensen, a married couple and fellow therapists based in Sacramento, who spent more than six years in couples therapy before it actually worked. They burned through eight therapists, logged over a hundred sessions, and came within reach of a marriage that had been quietly failing for years. The fact that they are now both practicing couples therapis
Ep 426 Gratitude, Attitude, Courage: What Summer Camp Taught These Two About Marriage w/Kate & Cole Kelly
Zach sits down with Kate and Cole Kelly, married co-directors of Camp Equahic in northeastern Pennsylvania and the authors behind the relationship practice they built almost by accident: Three Happys and an Appreciation. What started as a long-distance dating ritual, Kate asking Cole to name three things that made him happy each day just so she could get to know him, became the through li
Ep 425 When Life Keeps Breaking You: A Marriage Story About Illness, Resilience, and Starting Over w/Kate & Mike
Zach sits down with Kate Northrup and Mike Watts, a married couple and longtime business partners who have navigated one of the more quietly grueling partnership stories you'll hear on this show. Kate is an author, podcast host, and creator of the wealth and wellness program Relaxed Money. Mike is her co-founder and the operational engine behind their growing portfolio of ventures. Togeth
Ep 424 How Two Alphas Build a Marriage That Actually Works w/Dana & Adam
Zach sits down with Adam Roach and Dana Gentry, a married couple from Charleston, South Carolina, who have spent nearly a decade building what might be the most strategically intentional relationship he has ever heard described on the show. Both are high-achieving entrepreneurs on their second marriages, and they arrive with real tools, real failures, and a refreshing lack of pretense abo
Ep 423 |19 Years In: How a Dating Coach and His Wife Actually Do It w/Evan and Bridget
Zach sits down with Evan Marc Katz, a dating coach for smart, successful women, and his wife Bridget. The premise alone creates an interesting tension: what does it look like when the guy who coaches women on how to find a partner actually goes home to one? The answer, it turns out, is less glamorous and more grounded than anyone might expect.What surfaces quickly is that Evan and Bridget
Ep 422 She Thought He Was Just a Jerk: The Hidden Addiction That Nearly Cost Them w/ Matt & Paige
Zach sits down with Matt and Paige, a married couple from the DFW area who have been together since they were 14 years old, and who now host their own podcast for spouses and partners of people navigating addiction. What sounds like a high school sweetheart story quickly opens into something far more complicated: a decade-long opioid addiction, financial abuse, gaslighting, panic attacks,
Ep 421 The Other Side of Divorce with Susie and Paul Pettit
Zach sits down with Susie and Paul, a couple who found each other through the comment section of a meditation app, fell in love before ever seeing each other's faces, and eventually moved across the globe to build a life together in Wollongong, Australia. Both came out of 20-year marriages. Both made the decision to leave. And both arrived at this second chapter with a fundamentally diffe
Ep 420 What If Taking Responsibility Is the Most Romantic Thing You Can Do? w/ Arlina and Bob Allen
Zach sits down with Arlina and Bob Allen, a couple who met in a recovery community over 30 years ago and have been building their marriage with the same tools ever since. What starts as a surprisingly revealing Game of Thrones conversation (they watch it on repeat as a bedtime ritual, and yes, they have strong opinions about House of the Dragon) turns into a grounded, real-world look at h
Ep 419 Zach on the Sexology Podcast: Negative Sentiment Override and Erotic Connection
Zach is traveling this week, so this episode features his guest appearance on the Sexology Podcast with Dr. Nazanin Moali.Zach joins Dr. Nazanin Moali on the Sexology Podcast for a conversation about how the emotional climate of a relationship directly shapes what happens (or doesn't happen) in the bedroom. The focus is Negative Sentiment Override, a concept from John Gottman's research t
Ep 418 Resolving Dissonance: What Bands and Marriages Have in Common w/Ron and Catrina
Zach sits down with Ron and Catrina, a married couple behind the YouTube music show Covers on the Spot, to find out what happens when you treat a relationship like a live recording session. Ron is the creative director and host of the show, where bands are given a song they have never heard and tasked with covering it in a single day. Catrina is a graphic designer on the same media team a
Ep 417 Aligning Your Numbers and Your Values w/Natalie and Dan Slagle
Zach sits down with Natalie and Dan Slagle, a married couple and co-founders of Fyooz Financial Planning, to explore why money is one of the most charged—and revealing—topics in relationships.Despite being financial professionals, Natalie and Dan found themselves running into the same conflicts as the couples they serve. The issue wasn’t knowledge. It was meaning.They describe how two peo
Ep 416 Multiple Love, One Commitment to Repair w/ Hazel Grace & Nico
Zach sits down with Hazel Grace and Nico for a wide-ranging conversation about polyamory, relational integrity, and what it actually takes to repair after conflict.Hazel Grace, a relationship coach and educator with a PhD in human sexuality, and Nico, a lumberjack and self-described relationship nerd, share how they’ve built a deeply intentional partnership within a polyamorous relationsh
Ep 415 Cancer, Recovery, and Us with Pete and Tasha
Zach sits down with Pete and Tasha, a couple whose relationship was forged in the middle of some of life’s hardest realities: addiction, cancer, caregiving, recovery, and the challenge of staying connected when survival itself becomes the focus.
Pete and Tasha met in Boulder after years of each pursuing health and healing in different ways. Tasha had already devoted much of her life to re
Ep 413 From Pattern to Partnership | Session 3 with Brian and Kristen
In this final session of the three-part series, Brian and Kristen reflect on what has shifted—and what still feels tender.
They don’t have “big crimes” in their marriage. No betrayal. No catastrophe. What they have are patterns. And the courage to look at them.
This episode centers on their struggle around the language of “over-functioner” and “under-functioner.” What started as a helpful
Ep 412 Breaking the Script | Session 2 with Brian and Kristen
Brian and Kristen return after completing their homework: mapping their recurring conflict pattern step-by-step.
And something shifts.
Instead of focusing on who’s right, they begin identifying when the pattern starts, how it escalates, and where they might choose something different. They talk about having a “good week,” more laughter, and fewer misunderstandings—but Zach presses deeper:
Ep 411 We’ve Had This Fight Before | Session 1 with Brian and Kristen
Zach begins a three-part series with Brian and Kristen, longtime MTR listeners who volunteered to work through their marriage challenges in real time.
Brian and Kristen have been together for more than two decades and credit Marriage Therapy Radio as a resource that helped them find language for patterns they felt—but couldn’t name. They describe how listening separately (not together) ga
Ep 410 Make a Better You, Make a Better Marriage with Meygan and Casey Caston
Zach sits down with Casey and Meygan Caston, founders of Marriage365, to talk about how a marriage that nearly collapsed in year three became the foundation for a global relationship resource.
Both Casey and Meygan grew up surrounded by divorce, affairs, and unresolved conflict. Determined not to repeat their parents’ patterns, they entered marriage with optimism—but no tools. By year thr
Ep 409 No One Wins Alone: Lessons in Partnership from Escape Room Experts David and Lisa Spira
Zach sits down with David and Lisa, long-time partners and leaders in the escape room world, to explore what thousands of hours of collaborative problem-solving have taught them about communication, conflict, and teamwork.
They talk about why escape rooms reward kindness over brilliance, why “being right” is a losing strategy, and how the habits that help teams escape under pressure are t
Ep 408 When Desire Changes the Marriage with Courtney and Nathan Boyer
Zach sits down with Courtney and Nathan Boyer, a couple married for over twenty years, parenting three kids, and living overseas on a U.S. military base in Germany.
Courtney and Nathan share the story of a major turning point in their marriage—when Courtney asked to open the relationship after years of suppressing her needs, identity, and desire. Raised in a strict religious culture, Cour
Ep 407 Fighting the Right Enemy with Glenn and Jodie
Zach sits down with Glenn and Jodie, a married couple whose relationship has been shaped by cancer, caregiving, entrepreneurship, and a shared commitment to facing life side-by-side.
Their story includes an early breast cancer diagnosis shortly after getting engaged, multiple recurrences over the years, and a present-day reality of living with cancer as a chronic condition. Through it all
Ep 406 What Therapy Actually Gave Us with Colette and Steve Fehr
Zach sits down with couples therapist and author Colette Jane Fehr and her husband Steve Fehr for a candid conversation about second marriage, difference, repair, and what therapy really does—and doesn’t—solve.
Colette and Steve met later in life after very different first marriages and divorces. She’s an emotionally expressive, extroverted therapist from New York; he’s a reserved, analyt
Ep 405 Lessons, Laughter, Tears, and Growth | The Year in Review
Zach looks back on a standout year of conversations by revisiting some of the most meaningful, memorable, and instructive moments from past episodes.
Zach introduces each segment, offering context and reflection on why these moments matter and how they connect to the bigger picture of relational health. Across these clips, you’ll hear stories of intimacy rebuilt, grief held with humor, t
Ep 404 Staying When It Would’ve Been Easier to Leave with Dana and Sean
Zach sits down with Dana and Sean, a couple whose nearly 30-year relationship includes teenage pregnancy, early marriage, deep faith, repeated infidelity, and an extraordinary rebuilding process that reshaped their marriage from the ground up.
Dana and Sean met as children at church, reconnected in high school, and married young after an unplanned pregnancy—long before either of them knew
Ep 403 People Matter, Things Don’t with Justin and Kylie Coulson
Zach sits down with Justin and Kylie Coulson, parents of six daughters and co-creators of the Happy Families movement. What unfolds is a deeply honest conversation about failure, repair, intention, and the long road toward building a family culture that actually feels good to live in.
Justin shares a pivotal early-parenting moment that became the turning point of his life: a loss of contr
Ep 402 Love After Losing Limbs with Kristan & Brook Seaford
Zach sits down with Kristan and Brook Seaford, a couple whose marriage was transformed overnight when Kristan contracted a rare and catastrophic infection in 2013. What began as strep throat and the flu quickly escalated into pneumonia, sepsis, organ failure, septic shock, and ultimately the loss of both hands, one foot, and part of the other—a 108-day medical ordeal across six hospitals
Ep 401 Don’t Get Shirty: Love, Humor & Detective Work with Karen Whitehouse & Helen McLaughlin
Zach sits down with Karen Whitehouse and Helen McLaughlin, the married duo behind the cult-hit podcast Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding? https://www.whoshatontheflooratmywedding.com/
What began as a deeply confusing—and slightly sinister—incident on their wedding boat (“the matrimonial turd,” as Karen lovingly calls it) became a three-year dinner-party story that neither of them could
Ep 399 Session 3 | Ten Days at a Time
In their third session, Zach shifts focus from reparenting the self to rebuilding trust, compassion, and connection in real time.
The couple begins by reflecting on the chaos of parenting two neurodivergent children and how exhaustion, overwhelm, and constant caregiving have reshaped their marriage. The wife shares that while parenting has deep purpose and spiritual meaning, it also leave
Ep 398 Session 2 | Get Over Yourself (and Into Us)
In part two of this couple's therapeutic conversation, they deepen their work from surface struggles into childhood roots, body awareness, and self-recovery.
The wife describes crashing after the previous session, discovering that missed medication and hormonal shifts had amplified her anxiety. That moment, she says, forced her to confront how fragile she felt—and how much fear lived bene
Ep 397 Session 1 | A Peek in the Therapeutic Process
In this experimental therapy-format episode, Zach meets with a couple, 16 years into marriage, parenting two adopted, neurodivergent kids, and living abroad, to model what real therapeutic work sounds like.
The wife names “the mother machine” as the force grinding her down: menopause, recent moves, ongoing renovations, executive-function challenges, and hyper-empathy that makes parenting
Ep 396 Love Across Oceans with Kimberly Crossman & Tom Walsh
Zach sits down with Kimberly Crossman, actor, writer, and mental health advocate, and Tom Walsh, cinematographer and creative producer, for a deeply honest and inspiring conversation about love, loss, and partnership across continents.The couple, who split their time between Los Angeles and New Zealand, share how they’ve learned to stay connected while traveling constantly, navigating pre
Ep 395 Building Unity in a Blended Family with Mike and Kim Anderson
Zach sits down with Mike and Kim Anderson, coaches and founders of Blended Family Breakthrough https://www.blendedfamilybreakthrough.com/ , to talk about one of the hardest relationship challenges couples face, making a blended family work.
After marrying in 2001, Mike and Kim found themselves struggling to balance parenting roles, discipline, and loyalty in a home that combined Kim’s dau
Ep 394 Near Divorce to Sex-perts: How Susan and Tim Transformed Their Marriage
Zach sits down with Susan and Tim Bratton, a couple who’ve been together for 35 years and built both a marriage and a business dedicated to helping others experience more fulfilling intimacy. Susan, an internationally recognized intimacy expert, and Tim, her husband and business partner, open up about how their marriage nearly ended before they discovered that great sex and great connecti
Ep 393 Marriage, Money, and Maui with Mike & Caroline Neubauer
Zach talks with Mike and Caroline Neubauer, the husband-and-wife team behind Our Family Invests. From meeting on a Maui beach to building a life of real estate success, family adventure, and deep purpose, their story is equal parts romance, resilience, and intentional design.
Mike, a former firefighter turned real estate investor, and Caroline, a realtor and hospitality professional, shar
Ep 392 Parenting, Partnership, and Playing by Our Own Rules with Brian and Toby
Zach talks with Brian and Toby, partners of 13 years, and dads of two daughters. They share openly about parenting, building a household on their own terms, and how their marriage has evolved through different phases, from dating in Manhattan to raising a family in Brooklyn.
Brian and Toby talk about splitting household roles, setting expectations, and creating rules that bring freedom in
Ep 391 Brewing Love and Business Across Borders with Jennifer and Andres
Zach sits down with Jennifer and Andres, co-founders of Those Coffee People, to share the remarkable story of how travel, serendipity, and coffee brought them together.
Jennifer, originally from Connecticut, and Andres, a Colombian with family roots in coffee farming, met in a hostel in Peru and quickly discovered they were better together. What started as a whirlwind travel romance becam
Ep 390 From Betrayal to Building True Intimacy with Matthew & Joanna Raabsmith
Zach sits down with Matthew and Joanna Raabsmith, co-founders of the RaabSmith Team, to talk about their journey from betrayal and addiction to building a thriving marriage and coaching practice.
They share candidly about Matthew’s struggles with sex addiction and pornography, Joanna’s experience of betrayal trauma, and the long process of stabilizing their relationship. What began as sur
Ep 389 Blind Spots and Second Chances with Matthew Fray and Jen
Zach sits down with writer and relationship coach Matthew Fray https://matthewfray.com/, author of "This Is How Your Marriage Ends", and his partner, Jen. Together, they share the story of how their friendship over bourbon turned into a deeper relationship, shaped by lessons learned from past marriages and the blind spots that can quietly erode trust.
Matt opens up about how regret from h
Ep 388 Minding My P’s and Q’s
Zach takes the mic by himself to reflect on pets, parenting, politics, passion, and the practice of relationships. Using his playful “P’s and Q’s” framework, he explores everything from why he doesn’t have the “pet gene” to how parenting young adults is harder and more rewarding than raising little kids.
Zach also shares candid thoughts on politics, relational responsibility, and the role
Ep 387 Building an Extraordinary Family Life with Greg and Rachel Denning
Zach sits down with Greg and Rachel Denning, parents of seven, world travelers, authors, and coaches who have built a marriage around adventure and intentional living.
They share how their story began with adoption, grew through unexpected pregnancies, and expanded into a lifestyle of global travel and immersion experiences for their kids. From living on a shoestring in Nicaragua with six
Ep 386 Sobriety, Support, and a Stronger Us | with Casey and Mike Davidson
Zach talks with Casey and Mike about their journey from young professionals in Washington, D.C., to building a life together in Seattle. Along the way, they share how floating homes, career shifts, parenting two kids, and Casey’s sobriety journey shaped their marriage.
Casey opens up about her decades-long relationship with alcohol, the turning points that led her to become a sober coach
Ep 385 Young Loves, Strong Roots
Zach talks with Sarah Rhoades and her boyfriend Grady, a young couple navigating the first year of their relationship. They share how a chance meeting at Grady’s backyard open mic, where he held a microphone for Sarah’s banjo, turned into an unexpected connection built on shared values, openness, and adventure.
Sarah and Grady reflect on blending friend groups, learning from divorced pare
Ep 384 "Intention" instead of "in tension" with Billy and Melissa Hokacker
Zach sits down with Billy and Melissa Hofacker, parents of five, homeschoolers, entrepreneurs, and deeply intentional partners. They share how their relationship evolved from survival mode to something they both now call a “ten.”
Through structured connection points like weekly date nights and monthly marriage meetings, the Hofackers have built a resilient, emotionally intelligent partner
Ep 383 Zach's Mom and Stepdad Share their Second Marriage Journey
Zach sits down with his mother Joe and his stepfather Otis to explore their journey from painful pasts to a peaceful present.
Joe and Otis reflect on their “practice marriages,” the controlling dynamics they each endured, and the moment they realized they wanted something different. They share how a foundation of friendship, autonomy, and mutual respect became the bedrock of their 25-year
Ep 382 Bad Advice, Good Marriage with Monica and Ben
Zach sits down with Monica Tanner—coach, podcast host, and author of Bad Marriage Advice—and her husband Ben, a self-proclaimed private “civilian.” Together, they share how their 23-year marriage has evolved from survival mode to a deeply intentional partnership.
The conversation moves from parenting young adults to debunking cliché marriage advice like “don’t go to bed angry” and “happy
Ep 381 Roadtrip Real Talk
Zach connects with listeners Paul and Symone during a road trip break near Austin. Speaking candidly from the front seat of their car, they reflect on their blended family, the nuances of a 20-year age gap, and the emotional work of learning to love each other's children.
As Paul and Symone navigate the complexities of second marriages, they share how gardening becomes their safe zone, ho
Ep 380 Raising the Grade with Anne Rahe and Daniel
Zach sits down with Anna Rahe, fascia expert and founder of Genius of Flexibility, and her husband Daniel for an honest, layered conversation about what it looks like to “raise the grade” in a long-term partnership.
As Anna and Daniel explore the habits they’re unlearning—and the ones they’re trying to reinforce—they reflect on the small ways they grade their relationship, how conflict be
Ep 379 Emotional Fluency, Acting, and Getting It Wrong Sometimes with Victoria Shalet and Adam James
Zach sits down with couple Victoria Shalet and Adam James for a thoughtful and honest conversation about navigating the complexities of partnership. Drawing from their experiences in psychotherapy and performance, they unpack how their personal and professional worlds inform the way they connect, communicate, and occasionally clash.
Through light banter and open reflection, they explore m
Ep 378 When Labels Hurt More Than They Help - Dr. Shannon Curry
Zach is joined again by clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry for a direct and thoughtful exploration of how language shapes conflict in relationships. Together, they dissect common but often misused terms like “narcissist,” “gaslighting,” and “codependent,” highlighting the real harm that can come from assigning labels without clear definitions or clinical backing.
Shannon
Ep 377 Three Traits That Predict Relationship Happiness - Dr. Shannon Curry
Zach continues his conversation with clinical psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry for a vulnerable and intellectually engaging conversation that blends personal storytelling, relationship science, and unexpected insight. Shannon opens up about how her own relationship defied her expectations, thanks to what she learned from psychologist Tai Tashiro’s research on the three personality traits th
Ep 376 Dr. Shannon Curry on Trust, Triangulation, and Telling the Truth
Zach sits down with Dr. Shannon Curry—clinical psychologist, couples therapist, and founder of the Curry Psychology Group—for a nuanced discussion about what happens when couples “team up” against their therapist in session. Drawing on her forensic background and deep clinical insight, Shannon explores the subtle dynamics of triangulation, conflict avoidance, and the emotional strategies
Ep 375 Behind Closed Doors with Laura and Ryan Heck
Previously available only to our Patreon supporters, this special episode of So I Married a Relationship Expert is now being released to the full Marriage Therapy Radio audience.
In this candid and heartfelt conversation, Zach interviews his longtime co-host, Laura Heck, and her husband, Ryan Heck, to explore what it’s really like to be married to a relationship expert. You’ll hear honest
Ep 374 Our Wedding Was Perfect. Then Our Relationship Fell Apart: Baya & Emmy’s Story
Zach sits down with Baya Voce and Emmy Bush to talk about falling in love hard and fast, hitting a wall after the wedding, and what it takes to rebuild a relationship rooted in honesty, health, and play. The couple, known for their wildly creative wedding (think Burning Man meets RuPaul meets adult summer camp), dive deep into what really happened once the party ended.
They speak candidly
Ep 373 Building a Friendship That Lasts Beyond Parenting
Zach is joined by Darren and LaVerna Wilk to explore the journey of maintaining a thriving marriage through the transitions of parenting, fostering, and embracing the empty nest phase. With over 35 years of marriage and five daughters, they share insights on shifting from parenting to partnership, cultivating friendship, and keeping their relationship adventurous.
They discuss planning in
Ep 372 Reparenting, Receiving, and Reconnecting
In this concluding episode of the guest-host series, Desirae Ysasi and Zach dive into the art of reparenting, integration, and communication in relationships. They explore what it means to revisit your childhood self while also allowing your younger self to guide you through present challenges.
Desirae opens up about the overwhelm of parenting through work stress, sharing how her daughter
Ep 371 Do I Belong Here? Race, Intimacy & Emotional Safety
Zach and Desirae Ysasi pick up where they left off—diving deep into the intersections of race, identity, privilege, and emotional intimacy in relationships and therapy spaces. What unfolds is a profoundly honest and vulnerable conversation about belonging, the emotional labor of marginalized people, and what it means to truly listen and connect across differences.
Desirae shares how her l
Ep 370 Therapists Have Messy Marriages Too | with Desirae Ysasi
Zach welcomes Desirae Ysasi for her first appearance as a guest co-host—and what unfolds is a warm, insightful, and occasionally awkward conversation about parenting, marriage, culture, and therapist life. From Desirae’s daughter offering podcast advice (“don’t be weird”) to Zach’s reflections on parenting adult children, the two therapists pull back the curtain on their real lives.
They
Ep 369 Start How You Want to Finish: A Real Talk with the Polites
Zach sits down with Krystal and Dedric Polite, real estate entrepreneurs, parents, and partners who built their marriage and business with vision, honesty, and hustle. Known for their HGTV show and business Be Polite Properties, the Polites take listeners behind the scenes of their relationship — from their first date (which felt more like an interview) to their evolving partnership as co
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Stand In The Circle
