Kimberly Schildbach Therapy
Online Couples Therapy and Discernment Counseling in Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, & Florida.
Couples Therapy for Infidelity, Affairs, and Betrayal in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Specialized couples therapy for when the bond between you has been wounded. It doesn't have to stay that way.
When You'd Like to Rebuild but You Just Don't Know How
Couples Therapy for Infidelity in Cambridge, Massachusetts
You're trying to survive the aftermath of betrayal and it's not going so well.
There was an affair, emotional cheating, or secret texting that turned your best friend into someone you don't recognize. You flip between wanting to forgive and wanting to make them hurt like you hurt, and that alone is making you feel crazy (but you're not).
If you're the one who stepped out, I know you're probably feeling ashamed. Asking yourself, "When did you become this person?" Wondering how to make the apologies land because you feel horrible and you wish you could take it all back.
Everything feels delicate right now. You still share a home, a life, maybe children or years of history - but it feels like at any moment it might be gone forever.
This doesn't need to be the end of your relationship.
If you're ready to find your courage, ready to put in the work, together we can make your bond stronger. Couples do heal after infidelity and, in fact, become stronger in the broken places. You can have the relationship cake and the full frosting - a bond that feels safe, supportive, and injury-proof.
I know right now you're hurting and unsure, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Let me help you find the partner you fell in love with again and reach for them in ways that bring you closer. Let's heal you at the core so you can feel confident in your relationship again.
I know you're both hurting and confused. Everything you've tried to feel better, to consider forgiveness, to explain what you did, to convince your partner you're sorry, or to get answers that finally make the pain make sense isn't working. You keep getting pulled back into the hurt you've caused or the knowledge that your partner lied to you. And it's not just your relationship that's suffering. It's your sleep, your work, your confidence in yourself. You can't seem to get out from under this weight.
Let's me help you step out of that loop.
I will help you know what to do when the triggers come, when there's a reminder of what happened and your partner is furious all over again. Their hurt makes sense, and you're the antidote. When you get defensive, you can feel that need to defend yourself and still stay available without disappearing. When fear floods back in, you can both stay emotionally present instead of abandoning each other.
This is when things will start to shift.
I can help you find your courage so you don't crumble into shame or promises, but walk alongside your partner and grieve together.
You're the antidote. It's worth saying again. Your open and willing heart matters. This is how you begin to feel the warmth again, to feel wanted again. This is how you stop being the enemy. And maybe that feels foreign to you. That's what I mean by getting to the heart of it. We have to heal all parts of your relationship, from the affair itself to the patterns and wounds that existed before it. That's how you build a bond that's stronger and more resilient.
For the first time in a long time, you can begin to feel something you thought was gone: hope.
You haven't just healed and survived the infidelity. You've changed your whole dynamic. You've been through something horrible and come out the other side stronger and more connected than before.
And you did it together.
Healing After Infidelity Is Possible - But It Requires Truth, Safety, and a New Way of Reaching for Each Other
Online Couples Therapy for Infidelity in Cambridge, Massachusetts
FAQs about Couples Therapy Infidelity and Affair Recovery in Cambridge, MA
Do we really need full disclosure? Isn’t talking about the affair making things worse?
Let's talk about that fear for a minute. I get it - you've done some things you're not proud of - things you'd never thought you'd do and you want to soften the blow. You want her/him/they to look at you like they used to and you know when you make that disclosure all parts of your relationship will change. The truth is, the truth will always come out. And when it comes out in dribs and drabs it makes things worse. Your partner will be stabbed 100 times instead of 1. Your partner will always think there is something you're not telling them. (The “that’s everything” followed by another devastating discovery two weeks later scenario.) If you want to heal your relationship - you need to tell the whole truth about your cheating (minus the details.)
If you no longer want shame and secrecy to define who you are - trustworthy, honest, courageous - you must disclose it all. If you don't - you keep your betrayed partner’s nervous system in complete chaos.
And get ready because you might have to disclose over and over. Your partner will need to hear the consistency in your story. Without that, their nervous system will stay hypervigilant, constantly scanning for the next impact. Trust can never resume under this threat.
Affair recovery becomes impossible when one partner is still trying to manage information instead of being fully honest.
Why can’t I stop obsessing over the affair even though I want to move on?
I wish I could wave a wand and restore your nervous system to normal. I know how horrible this is. Betrayal trauma doesn't just impact your thoughts. It impacts your body, your attachment system, your sense of safety, and your ability to relax inside your own relationship. It makes people distrust their own minds - how could I not have seen? I thought we were happy.
Many betrayed partners feel consumed after infidelity. You may replay conversations, monitor tone changes, panic when your partner is late, or feel emotionally hijacked by tiny inconsistencies. This is your nervous system trying to protect you from being blindsided again.
One of the most important goals of couples therapy after infidelity is helping the relationship become emotionally safe enough that you can begin to trust yourself again - and slowly start trusting your partner - so your body is no longer stuck in constant fight-or-flight.
Can couples therapy actually help us feel close again after infidelity?
I know you’re probably feeling hopeless right now. Maybe you’re sick of pretending you’re okay to family and friends who don’t know what’s happened. Maybe you’re tired of explaining the affair and you just want all the replaying to stop. Maybe you can barely sit in the same room together without shutting down or exploding.
I want to work right where both of you are. I’ll help you find the words for what’s happening inside - no matter how messy, confusing, angry, ashamed, or heartbreaking it feels. Together, you’ll learn how to stay emotionally open to your pain instead of immediately protecting yourselves from it. That’s hard work, but you won’t be doing it alone.
I want to help you learn new ways of reaching for each other and responding to each other - not only around the affair, but in ways you may never have experienced in your relationship before.
So yes, this is hard work. But the payoff is bigger than recovering from infidelity. It’s the beginning of something new. It requires emotional honesty, trying new behaviors that may feel uncomfortable at first, and learning how to stay connected to each other even during conflict so you can become a team again.
It's all possible and it's what you've both deserved all along.
You're Covered in Cambridge
Therapy for Infidelity and Affair Recovery in Cambridge, MA
I provide online couples therapy for infidelity and affair recovery for residents throughout Cambridge, including:
Harvard Square - Central Square - Kendall Square - Porter Square - Inman Square - Cambridgeport - Riverside - Mid-Cambridge - East Cambridge - North Cambridge - Huron Village - Fresh Pond - Neighborhood Nine - Strawberry Hill - Agassiz - MIT - Somerville - Arlington - Belmont - Watertown
Also providing online couples therapy for infidelity and affair recovery throughout Boston and across Massachusetts.