What does Tara Gogolinski specialize in?

Tara Gogolinski is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) specializing in couples therapy, marriage counseling, infidelity repair, and premarital counseling for high-achieving couples in Raleigh, NC and online across NC, MD, and FL. She has 15 years of clinical experience and is trained in EFT, Gottman Method, and IBCT.

Does Rising Tides Therapy Center accept insurance?

Rising Tides Therapy Center is a private-pay practice and does not accept insurance. Upon request, a superbill can be provided for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Contact the practice for current session fees.

Does Tara offer online therapy?

Yes. Tara Gogolinski offers online therapy for couples and individuals throughout North Carolina, Maryland, and Florida via secure telehealth.

What is a couples therapy intensive?

A couples therapy intensive is an extended, focused session — typically a half-day or full-day format — that allows couples to do deeper work in a concentrated period of time. Intensives are ideal for couples navigating a significant rupture, infidelity, or those who want faster progress than weekly sessions allow.

What therapy methods does Tara use for couples?

Tara integrates Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the Gottman Method, and Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT), tailoring the approach to each couple's specific needs, patterns, and goals rather than applying a single rigid model.

How long does couples therapy typically take?

The length of couples therapy varies depending on the complexity of the issues and the goals of each couple. Many couples begin to notice meaningful shifts within 3–4 months of weekly sessions. Deeper work, including infidelity recovery, often takes longer. A free 15-minute consultation can help clarify what to expect for your specific situation.

Where is Rising Tides Therapy Center located?

Rising Tides Therapy Center is located at 4082 Barrett Drive, Raleigh, NC 27609. Tara also offers online therapy throughout North Carolina, Maryland, and Florida.

Is couples therapy the same as marriage counseling?

The terms are often used interchangeably. At Rising Tides Therapy Center, couples therapy and marriage counseling refer to the same evidence-based relational work — helping partners understand their patterns, improve communication, and rebuild emotional connection, whether married or not.

What Is The Pursuer-Distancer Dynamic In Relationships? Therapists Explain — Rising Tides Therapy Center

Tara Gogolinski, LMFT featured in Scary Mommy on pursuer-distancer pattern

In a recent Scary Mommy feature on the pursuer-distancer dynamic in relationships, Tara Gogolinski, LMFT, offered insight into why this pattern shows up so often between couples. She explained that one partner tends to move toward conflict, asking questions, seeking reassurance, wanting to talk things through, while the other moves away, going quiet or needing space. Tara highlighted that this is one of the most common cycles she sees in her therapy room, and that both partners are actually trying to connect, just through opposite instincts. Her contribution brought a steady, compassionate lens to a dynamic that can otherwise feel like blame or rejection, reminding readers that the pursuer's "attack" is really a cry of "I need you," and the distancer's withdrawal is really "I don't want to hurt you."

Tara also emphasized that this cycle intensifies the harder either partner leans into their role: the more one pursues, the more the other pulls away, and vice versa. She noted that pursuers experience distance as a danger cue, needing closeness to feel secure, while distancers get emotionally flooded and retreat to avoid saying something hurtful. Left unaddressed, Tara explained, this creates a painful narrative where the pursuer feels chronically unseen and the distancer feels chronically criticized, eroding the emotional safety connection depends on.

What often makes this dynamic so hard to shift is that neither partner realizes it's a pattern rather than a personal failing. Tara's perspective helps normalize the experience, offering language for something many couples feel but can't quite name. She encourages couples to slow the cycle down enough to see what's underneath it, naming fear instead of demanding, and naming overwhelm instead of going silent, noting that this shift, more than any communication trick, is what actually helps couples exit the cycle and reconnect.

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