Cambridge, MA · Online therapy
Healthy love isn’t luck.
It’s built through awareness, safety, and repair.
Couples and individual therapy for the patterns that keep repeating. Understand what’s happening underneath, then respond differently.
Couples Individuals Telehealth
Free 30-minute consultation
No obligation
Private practice
Level 3
The patterns that bring couples and individuals to therapy
You may recognize yourself here.
The problem is rarely one isolated moment. More often it is a pattern: between two people, within one person, or both. Most couples and individuals who come to AtReef Therapy in Cambridge arrive describing one of the situations below. You do not need to know which one fits before reaching out.
Between us: couples, conflict, and trust
Most recurring arguments are not really about the topic on the surface. Gottman Institute research finds that 69% of relationship conflict is perpetual rather than solvable, so the goal is rarely to end the disagreement, but to change how it is handled.
What this can look like
Within me: identity, insight, and change
Understanding a pattern and interrupting it in the moment draw on different skills. That is why someone can describe their pattern clearly and still find themselves repeating it.
What this can look like
Where they meet: closeness, safety, and intimacy
When intimacy feels both desired and unsafe
“I want closeness, but when it gets real, I pull away.”
Attachment fears and avoidance
Rebuilding intimacy with care and honesty
“We care about each other, but intimacy has become tense, avoided, or disconnected.”
Sexual and emotional intimacy concerns
These are composite examples, not direct quotes or a checklist. Recognition is not a diagnosis. It is a place to begin.
Meet Your Therapist, Dr. Ehsan Adib Shabahang
Some couples do not lack love. They lack clarity, safety, and a way back to each other after things go wrong. I'm Ehsan, a couples and individual therapist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the founder of AtReef Therapy, serving Greater Boston. My work goes beneath the recurring argument to the older pattern shaping how two people pursue, withdraw, and reconnect.
I am also an author and the creator of Self-Reflective Relationship Therapy (SRRT), a framework I am developing through my writing and practice. What remains unseen within us often becomes repeated between us. SRRT helps you see it, name it, and work with it.
I integrate Gottman Method Couples Therapy (Level 3 Certified), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Jungian (analytical) psychology.
Credentials & professional work
Professional licensure
LMHC · LPC · LCMHC · NCC
Navigate Your Path to Wellness
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Couples Therapy
For the relationship worth fighting for
Whether you're in open conflict or quiet distance — stuck in patterns that repeat no matter how many conversations you have — this work creates the structural change needed for real reconnection.
Gottman Method (Level 3 Certified)
Self-Reflective Relationship Therapy (SRRT)
Betrayal repair & trust rebuilding
Communication, intimacy & sexual wellbeing
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Individual Therapy
For the work only you can do
High-achieving adults navigating anxiety, burnout, identity shifts, or relationship patterns that keep appearing. This isn't open-ended conversation — it is structured, measurable, and outcome-focused.
DBT & CBT, evidence-based approaches
Self-Reflective Relationship Therapy (SRRT)
Anxiety, trauma & life transitions
Blueprint-tracked progress between sessions
Why atreef therapyBuilt for people
who've tried everything else.
AtReef is not a directory listing. It is a deliberately small, high-touch private practice with a simple commitment: you get a therapist who is fully present, clinically excellent, and personally invested in your outcome.
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Ehsan is the creator of Self-Reflective Relationship Therapy (SRRT), a research-based approach developed from clinical practice and peer-reviewed study. You won't find it anywhere else.
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AtReef takes a small number of clients by design. Every session is prepared for. Every treatment plan is specific to you and not adapted from a template.
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Sessions are tracked using weekly and monthly assessment, an important clinical tool that monitors your progress during our session and between appointments. Making each session directional with maximum impact.
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Dr. Ehsan Adib Shabahang brings both clinical depth and scholarly rigor to every session.
Published author of Always and Forever: Goal for a Healthy Relationship.
The AtReef approach
Therapy with the structure and time for real movement.
Direct, thoughtful work that helps you understand the pattern, change how you respond, and create a more secure connection.
Focused work
Focused, structured therapy
This is active, goal-oriented therapy. We identify the cycle, clarify what keeps repeating, and practice concrete ways to communicate, repair, and reconnect.
Enough time
Longer sessions for deeper work
Couples therapy often needs more than a standard 50-minute session. Extended sessions give us room to slow down the pattern, understand both partners’ experiences, and work toward meaningful repair.
More attention
A deliberately smaller caseload
I work with fewer clients so I can stay focused, prepared, and attentive to the progress we are making together. The result is a more personal and considered therapy experience.
See whether working together feels right. Start with a free 30-minute consultation. No obligation.
Book a free consultationHOW IT WORKS
Starting is simpler than you think.
01
Free 30-Minute Consultation
We talk. You describe what's happening. I tell you what I'm hearing and what I think would help. There is no pressure, no commitment, and no clinical paperwork on this call — just a real conversation.
02
Structured Assessment
If we both feel it's a good fit, we begin with a thorough intake — together and individually. I build a treatment map specific to your relationship or your goals, not a generic curriculum.
03
Focused, Tracked Progress
Sessions are 60 minutes, well-prepared, and progress-tracked. The goal is actual change — not indefinite weekly appointments. You will know where you are and where we're going.
What changes when the work is right.
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
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Couples therapy is $350 per 60-minute session. AtReef is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance for couples work. A superbill is provided after each session so you can submit for out-of-network reimbursement through your insurer. Many clients receive 40–80% reimbursement depending on their plan.
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Individual therapy is $300 per 60-minute session. Select insurance plans are accepted for individual therapy with limited availability. A superbill is always provided for out-of-network reimbursement.
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AtReef maintains a deliberately small caseload so that each client receives focused, prepared attention. Ehsan is the only therapist in the area who is both Gottman Level 2 Certified and the creator of an original methodology (SRRT). He is also a published author and active researcher. Treatment plans here are built around your specific dynamic, not adapted from a generic curriculum.
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All sessions are conducted via secure telehealth video. This allows clients throughout Massachusetts — including Cambridge, Newton, Boston, and beyond — to access the same premium level of care. Ehsan is also licensed in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Michigan.
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If you and your partner are having the same argument repeatedly, if there has been a betrayal, if you feel more like roommates than partners, or if one or both of you has considered leaving — these are meaningful signals. The free consultation is the right place to start. It is a real conversation, not a sales call, and it will give you clarity on whether this is the right fit and right timing.
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A 30-minute video call with Ehsan. You describe what you're navigating — he listens, reflects back what he's hearing, and shares his clinical perspective on what he thinks is happening and what might help. There is no intake paperwork, no commitment, and no pressure to continue. You leave with more clarity than you arrived with.
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Yes, without reservation. AtReef Therapy is an affirming practice welcoming of all relationship structures, orientations, and identities.
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