Individual therapy for relationship issues in San Francisco & online across California.
This is one-on-one work focused on you — your patterns, your history, and how they show up in your relationships. Your partner doesn't need to be in the room for things to shift. (If you're both ready to work on the relationship together, we also offer couples therapy.)
Is Your Relationship Weighing on You?
Maybe you keep having the same fight, just with different words. Maybe you're not sure if what you're feeling is a real problem or just something you need to get over. Maybe you're single and tired of repeating the same pattern with every person you date, or you're the one who always ends up managing everyone else's feelings. Whatever it is, it's worth looking at — you don't have to wait for a crisis to want something different.
How Relationship Struggles Can Show Up
Repeating the same argument — different topic, same underlying fight
Feeling unseen or unimportant — even in a relationship that looks fine from the outside
Difficulty trusting — hypervigilance, checking in, or bracing for things to go wrong
Struggling to set boundaries — with a partner, in-laws, or family
Avoiding conflict until it explodes — or the opposite, never being able to let anything go
A pattern that keeps repeating — across different partners or relationships
Quietly questioning whether to stay — without knowing who to talk to about it
What We Work With
Communication patterns and recurring conflict
Attachment and trust issues
Boundary-setting with partners, in-laws, or family
Dating patterns and relationship choices
Breakups, divorce, and the grief that comes with them
Cultural or family pressure around relationships and marriage
Deciding whether to stay or go
Rebuilding your sense of self after a relationship ends
How We Approach Relationship Issues
Most relationship-focused therapy stays at the level of communication tools — better scripts for the next hard conversation. Those tools help, but they don't always explain why the same dynamic keeps showing up with different people.
At Spiral Up Therapy, we work with approaches that go deeper — and pair them with practical tools you can use right away.
Psychodynamic & Attachment-Informed Therapy
This is where we start: understanding your story, including your childhood experiences and your relationship with your parents or caregivers. Many of the patterns that show up in your adult relationships — what feels safe, what feels threatening, what you expect from other people — were shaped there long before this relationship existed.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Once a pattern is named, CBT gives us concrete tools to work with it — catching the thought that fuels a fight before it escalates, and building a more accurate read on what's actually happening between you and the other person.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT helps you get clear on what you actually value in a relationship, so your choices — including whether to stay, set a boundary, or walk away — come from your own values instead of fear or habit.
Self-Compassion Practice
Relationship patterns often come with a harsh inner narrative about what's wrong with you. Part of this work is learning to be an adult to yourself — steady and caring enough to hold your own needs as valid, not just everyone else's.
Your therapist draws from these based on what you actually need — there's no one-size-fits-all protocol here.
Meet the Team
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Manali Deolalkar
Licensed Therapist
Individual Therapy - 210$/session
Couples Therapy - 230$/session
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Melanie Lei
Associate Therapist
Individual Therapy - 175$/session
Couples Therapy - 225$/session
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Meghna Das
Associate Therapist
Individual Therapy - 150$/session
Couples Therapy - 175$/session
What Sets Us Apart
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
South Asian Therapy
Immigrant Therapy
Inclusive Therapy
Frequently Asked Questions
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If you want to understand your own patterns — or your partner isn't ready to attend therapy — individual therapy is a strong place to start. If you and your partner are both ready to work on the relationship together, couples therapy is designed for that.
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Most clients start weekly and see meaningful shifts within a few months, though this varies by person. We check in on progress and adjust together.
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Yes — online anywhere in California, plus in-person sessions in San Francisco.
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We're out-of-network. Most clients pay directly and use a superbill for reimbursement — ask us about this during your consultation.
You Belong Here 🌟
Whether you’re the first in your family to seek therapy, or you’ve been on this journey for a while, we’re here to walk alongside you. Think of us as a mix of thought partners, compassionate guides, and cheerleaders—here to help you rewrite the story you want to live. Your culture, your struggles, and your dreams all matter—and we’re honored to hold space for them.