About CouplesCoach and Dr. Max Vogt

Hello, I’m Max.

If you’re here, you’re not casually browsing. You’re exhausted in a way that doesn’t show on the outside. You’ve done what a responsible person is supposed to do in a marriage — stayed longer than was comfortable, tried harder than felt fair, adapted in ways that slowly cost you something, and blamed yourself when effort didn’t bring clarity.

At some point, a quieter but more persistent question appears:

Is marriage itself broken — or am I living the wrong life with the wrong person?
Should I stay and keep paying this cost, or should I walk away and finally breathe again?

That question doesn’t pass. It settles into the body. It shows up when you wake up, when you’re alone in the car, when you’re lying next to someone who feels a mile away. You can function. You can perform. But you can’t settle.

Over nearly four decades of working with married individuals and couples, I have watched this moment arrive again and again. Different people. Different stories. The same internal crossroads.

I have seen what helps people move forward with integrity — and I have seen what causes unnecessary damage when this moment is rushed, avoided, or handed over to techniques that assume clarity already exists.

What I have learned is this:
when a person’s internal position is unclear, no amount of communication skill, joint intention, or “working on the relationship” resolves the deeper problem.

That is why this work is for individuals, not couples.

This is not a shared task. It is a personal reckoning. No amount of mutual effort can substitute for understanding what you actually believe, stand for, and are willing to live with.

Much of what is offered to struggling marriages assumes that belief, commitment, and direction are already intact. When they are not, those approaches often leave people more confused — learning how to manage a life they may no longer fully believe in, rather than deciding who they are becoming.

CouplesCoach exists because some questions must be faced cleanly or they quietly consume years of a person’s life. This work is not about fixing your spouse or saving a relationship at all costs. It is about helping you get grounded, oriented, and honest enough to take a position on your own life — one you can live with, stand behind, and stop second-guessing in the middle of the night.

I take marriage seriously.
I take the cost of regret seriously.

And I built this work for people who want to move forward without making things worse.

Disclaimer

The material provided through this site is educational in nature. It is not therapy, counseling, diagnosis, or psychological treatment, and it is not a substitute for mental health care. No live sessions, individual consultations, or clinical services are offered.