Providing Life-Changing Couples & Individual Therapy in Salt Lake City, Utah OFFERING VIRTUAL THERAPY IN VIRGINIA AND UTAH
From hopeless and dark to empowered and illuminated
You and your partner feel more like roommates. Your communication with your partner and family is falling apart. You're feeling riddled with depression and anxiety and don' t know how to move forward. Pick the door that fits where you are today. Once I can see where you are, I can best help you find the way back to where you want to be. The rest sorts itself out once we are in the room.
Several paths into a world of healing, change and empowerment.
Individual TherapyAnxiety & Depression Therapy
Your life is going crazy! So much that it's hard to handle! Maybe you feel stretched thin and pulled in so many different directions. Perhaps you feel like you cannot live up to anyone's expectations, even your own. Anxiety and depression rarely announce themselves. They show up as ordinary days that take everything you have. You might be looking for therapy because you're: - Waking up already behind, already tired - Lying awake running the same conversation for the tenth time - Snapping at the people you love most, then feeling awful about it - Saying yes to everything and resenting all of it - Avoiding calls, texts, and plans you used to enjoy - Feeling numb rather than sad, flat rather than upset - Convinced everyone else got a manual you never received - Performing "fine" all day and falling apart in the car You don't have to arrive with it all figured out. Most people come in able to say only that something is off. That is enough to start. Here, we quiet the noise. You and I work to understand your triggers. We evaluate the expectations and demands and go on to assess for resources and strengths. At your pace, we go back in time to when the unhealthy patterns began. I guide you to exercise self-compassion, on your way to develop understanding towards your past self rather than resentment or shame. From there, I guide you to master tools to steady yourself when life feels like too much. I am your biggest fan. I am cheering you on the whole way - through the ups and downs. Utilizing Solution Focused (SFT) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), I help you discover the faulty thought patterns. I help you make necessary changes within your control and achieve a new identity filled with self-compassion and confidence. You don't have to white-knuckle your way through this alone.
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Individual TherapyLife Transitions Therapy
When life changes, sometimes you need a place to figure out what comes next. Life transitions are weird. Sometimes they're exciting. Sometimes they're painful. Sometimes they're both at the exact same time, because apparently life enjoys making things complicated. Life transitions can take many forms. You might be looking for therapy because you're: - Adjusting to a move or major change in your environment - Starting or changing a career - Experiencing burnout or considering retirement - Getting married or adjusting to life after marriage - Going through a divorce or separation - Becoming a parent - Adjusting to an empty nest - Experiencing changes in family roles or responsibilities - Grieving a significant loss or ending - Questioning your identity, purpose, or direction - Entering a new stage of adulthood - Feeling stuck, disconnected, or uncertain about what comes next - You simply wake up one day and think, “Is this really what I'm doing with my life?” You don't have to know exactly where you're going. One of the hardest parts of a major life transition is the uncertainty. Transitions often require us to move forward before we feel completely ready. They can bring anxiety, grief, self-doubt, loneliness, frustration, or a loss of identity and purpose. Even positive changes can be stressful when they require us to leave something familiar behind. If you've found yourself somewhere between the life you've known and the life you're trying to create, Life Transitions Therapy can provide a place to slow down, make sense of the changes, and figure out what comes next. Life Transitions Therapy can give you a place to explore those feelings without needing to immediately solve them. Together, we'll look at what's changing, what you're feeling, and what this transition means for the person you are becoming. We'll identify the things you can control, work through the things you can't, and explore what you genuinely want rather than simply what you think you should want. Therapy for life's big changes—and the surprisingly small ones. In Life Transitions Therapy, we'll work together to understand where you've been, where you are now, and where you'd like to go. My approach is warm, collaborative, and grounded in the belief that you don't need to have everything figured out before you begin. I take a Humanistic approach to empower you in taking on whatever new chapter you're facing with security and calm. If you're navigating a major life change, feeling stuck between what was and what comes next, or simply trying to figure out who you are becoming, therapy can help you move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and self-compassion. You don't have to navigate the transition alone.
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Individual TherapyPersonal Growth Therapy
Nothing is technically wrong. That's part of what makes it confusing. From the outside your life looks fine, and still you have the nagging sense that you have stalled somewhere along the way. Personal Growth Therapy takes a lot of forms. You might be looking for therapy because you're: - Successful on paper and unsatisfied in practice - Repeating the same pattern in job after job, relationship after relationship - Setting goals in January and abandoning them by March - Waiting for confidence to show up before you make a move - Shrinking yourself to keep other people comfortable - Unsure what you actually want versus what you were told to want - Ready for the next chapter and unclear on what it is You don't need a crisis to earn a seat here. Some of the best work I do is with people who are functioning well and want more than functioning - they want to thrive. Here, we set the goals that matter, break the patterns holding you back, and step into a more confident version of yourself. I help you get to know yourself again - who you were and, more importantly, who you are becoming. We name the fears quietly running the show, then test them against reality instead of arguing with them. I guide you to bravely make decisions out of your comfort zone and into newfound growth. Between sessions you practice, and we adjust based on what actually happened rather than what should have happened. Growth is not a personality trait. It is a set of skills, and they can be learned.
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Couples TherapyCommunication & Relationship Wellness Therapy
Right now, the words just aren't landing. You don't talk to each other like you used to. You just can't communicate what you're feeling or you have no idea what your partner is thinking. You're like ships in the night. The love is still there, the connection just isn't what it used to be. Maybe there are even fights about the dishes, how often you have sex or parenting responsibilities. Communication trouble looks different in every home. You might be looking for Communication and Relationship Wellness Therapy because you're: - Having the same argument on repeat with a different label each time - Walking on eggshells to keep the peace - Going quiet because speaking up costs too much - Hearing criticism where your partner meant a request - Keeping score without meaning to - Living like efficient roommates instead of partners - Texting more easily than talking - Missing the version of you two that used to laugh together Here, we rebuild the conversation - how you speak, how you listen, and how you stay connected. We dig into topics that frequently lead to arguments, fights and distance. You find out that it's not about the dishes, how often you have sex or the kids. You learn that it is all about each other. You will learn how to validate one another and how to avoid criticism. You will experience clarity in session that will empower you to connect even further during the rest of the week. I use research-based tools to replace criticism and shutdown with skills that help you feel heard, understood, and on the same team again. Rather than talking to me, I guide you to talk to each other! I remain impartial and unbiased in the conversation, acting as a guide to help you rebuild the relationship to a stronger, healthier place. I will assign you to implement skills and have experiences outside of session that will only help bring you closer together as partners. It doesn't have to be "you versus your parter." It can be "you two versus the issue."
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Couples TherapyPre-Marital Therapy
What is the next step for your relationship? You want to make sure you are both on the same page before the wedding or before moving in together. Pre-Martial Therapy is not a warning sign - it's preparation and it's proven to help couples start their marriages off on the right foot. Couples come in for Pre-Marital Therapy because they're: - Engaged and wanting to start strong rather than repair later - Moving in together and unsure how to split money, chores, and time - Blending families, kids, or very different lifestyles and traditions - Quietly worried about a topic neither of you brings up - Getting a lot of opinions from family about how their relationship should go - Carrying patterns from home that you do not want to inherit - Not fighting yet, and wanting to know what to do when you do You do not need to have your future mapped out to begin Pre-Marital Therapy. Most couples find out in the first session that they have never actually said certain expectations out loud. I will work with you on expectations, finances, family, intimacy, and the patterns you don't want to inherit. Utilizing Gottman therapy, I will guide you to discuss your fears and anxieties as well as your excitement for the next step. You will build a shared plan for conflict before conflict shows up uninvited. Starting well is a skill, and it is one you can learn together.
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Couples TherapyInfidelity Recovery Therapy
The relationship has been nuked. You don't know if you can trust each other, or yourself, again. The day the affair came out split your life into before and after, and right now the after is very loud. Whether the affair was sexual or emotional, you can't look at your partner the same. The affair may have been disclosed or discovered. Loving memories together now feel tainted. You're not sure if you want to save your relationship or to call it quits. Couples come in for Infidelity Recovery Therapy after betrayal because they're: - Cycling between rage, numbness, and wanting to fix it all today - Asking the same questions and never feeling settled by the answers - Unsure whether staying makes them strong or foolish - Checking phones, timelines, and stories for proof - Carrying shame that makes honest conversation feel impossible - Trying to protect the kids from something they already sense - Wanting to repair and not knowing where to put their hands You may not be sure if there is hope in saving the relationship or if you should just walk away. The good news is you do not have to decide the future of the relationship before you begin. You only have to decide to talk about it in a room where it can be handled. Here, I first help you decide a direction. If there is hope in staying together. I help you reconnect emotionally and rebuild trust after betrayal with a structured path forward. We utilize honest conversations, accountability, and skills to repair at a pace that holds. We slow down the interrogation cycle, make room for the hurt to be spoken and heard, and build transparency that is real rather than performed. If it is decided to end the relationship, I help you begin to trust yourself first and develop confidence in your future. Recovery is more than possible, for both partners. Partners can rebuild something more honest than what they had before.
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Couples TherapyIntimacy Therapy
Your sex life has lost its fire. Perhaps the emotional closeness isn't what it used to be. Neither of you brings it up, which somehow makes it louder. One of you may reach for the other, only to experience them pulling away. One of you may also feel overwhelmed with anxiety in engaging emotionally or sexually with your partner. You start to not only feel sexually undesireable, but also emotionally isolated. It usually shows up in small moments before it shows up in the bedroom. A hand on the back that does not get met. A joke that used to land and now just sits there. Quiet math about who reached out last, and how long ago that was. At some point "we're just busy right now" turns into "this is how we are," and neither of you remembers agreeing to that. Intimacy fades for all kinds of reasons. You might be looking for Intimacy Therapy because you're: - Rarely initiating because rejection stings more than going without - Mismatched in desire and afraid to say so - Affectionate in public and distant at home - Exhausted by work, kids, or health and left with nothing at the end of the day - Physically close and emotionally far away - Carrying old shame, past experiences, or messages about sex - Going to bed at different times so the question never has to come up - Running the household well together and feeling more like co-managers than lovers - Trying to fix it with a weekend away and watching it fade by Tuesday - Wanting closeness but unsure how to ask without it sounding like pressure - Missing the flirting, teasing, and ease you used to have There is almost always a reason, and it is rarely the one couples fear. Stress, health changes, medication, pregnancy and postpartum, aging bodies, small resentments that never got repaired, two people who define closeness differently, experiences from long before this relationship that never got said out loud. Desire is usually a symptom, not the problem. When we treat it as the whole problem, both partners end up feeling like the broken one. You do not have to know how to talk about this. Most couples do not, and that is a skill we build. Here, I help you reconnect emotionally, physically, and sexually. You will close the gap that has quietly widened and rebuild the closeness you both want. We work on desire, pacing, and the emotional safety that has to come first, without embarrassment and without blame. We separate emotional intimacy from sexual intimacy so each one gets its own honest conversation instead of collapsing into a single argument. You name what you actually want rather than guessing at each other. We rebuild non-sexual affection first, so touch stops carrying an unspoken agenda. You learn to hear "not tonight" as information rather than a verdict, and to say it in a way your partner can receive. Between sessions you practice initiating and responding, and we review what actually happened - not what should have happened. My work in Intimacy Therapy is Gottman-informed with attachment theory underneath, which means we look at the bids you are making for each other and what happens when they get missed. Sessions are direct, never graphic, and never shaming. Nobody gets assigned the role of the one with the problem. I guide you to open up to one another, fueling the emotional, physical and sexual connection you've missed for so long.
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Family TherapyParenting Therapy
There is no manual for parenting, yet you are doing your best. Most parents I meet are not failing. They are tired, out of tools, and tired of hearing their own raised voice. It usually shows up in the ordinary parts of the day. A morning routine that turns into a standoff over shoes. A bedtime that somehow takes ninety minutes. A moment where you hear a tone come out of your mouth that you swore you would never use. And then the quiet after the kids are asleep, where the guilt sits down next to you and starts listing everything you could have done differently. Parents come in seeking Parenting Therapy because they're: - Repeating the same argument about screens, chores, or homework - Losing their temper faster than they used to - Getting one-word answers from a kid who used to tell them everything - Disagreeing with a co-parent about rules and consequences - Parenting the way they were parented and not wanting to - Managing big behaviors and running out of responses - Feeling more like a manager than a parent - Bribing, threatening, or counting to three and knowing it is not working - Playing the bad cop while the other parent gets to be the fun one - Walking on eggshells around one child's meltdowns - Raising a kid who holds it together at school and falls apart at home - Blending a family or co-parenting across two houses with two sets of rules - Worrying that discipline is costing them the relationship There is almost always a reason underneath the behavior. Developmental stages that make a previously easy kid unrecognizable for a while. Temperament differences between a parent and a child who are wired nothing alike. Anxiety, attention, or sensory differences that look like defiance from the outside. Burnout in the parents, who are running on empty and still expected to stay regulated. Structure that shifts from house to house or week to week. And the patterns each of you absorbed growing up, showing up uninvited in your own living room. Behavior is usually communication, not defiance - and once you can read it, you stop fighting the wrong thing. You do not need to have a discipline philosophy ready. We build one that fits your family. You also do not need to bring your child to start. A great deal of parenting work happens with the parents in the room, because the fastest way to change what happens at home is to change what the adults do first. In our first session we get specific: what the hard moments actually look like, when they happen, who is present, what you have already tried, and what happened after. From there we pick one or two places to start rather than overhauling everything at once, because a plan you can actually keep beats a perfect plan you abandon. I help you build the structure, patience, and skills to lead your home with confidence and enjoy it along the way. You will learn how to have difficult, needed conversations with your children, how to hold a limit without a battle, and how to maintain a healthy structure in your home. We get both parents onto one plan, so kids stop finding the gap between the two of you and living in it. We separate connection time from correction time, so your child is not only hearing from you when something has gone wrong. We pick a small number of limits that actually get held, instead of a long list that quietly gets abandoned by Wednesday. You leave with real language for the hard conversations - screens, honesty, disrespect, big feelings, and the questions you were not ready for. We also practice repair, because you will lose your temper at some point, and how you come back matters more than never slipping. Between sessions you try it at home, and we review what actually happened rather than what should have happened. We also work on you, not just the kids. We look at what sets you off and why, how to catch yourself before the volume rises, and how to stay steady when your child is not. Regulated parents raise regulated kids, and that is a skill, not a personality trait. If you are co-parenting, we work on how the two of you talk about the kids so decisions stop turning into rematches of an older argument. Sessions are practical and never shaming. No child gets labeled the problem, and neither does a parent. Calmer homes are built one repeated skill at a time, and you can start this week.
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Family TherapyKids and Teens Therapy
Growing up is hard for everyone - especially kids! Their world is bigger and faster than the one their parents grew up in, and they are expected to handle it with a brain that is still under construction. At home it usually looks smaller than it feels. The door closes after school. You get one-word answers and a headline instead of the story. Then something small - a lost charger, a change of plans - turns into a meltdown that clearly is not about the charger. You are left guessing at what is actually going on, and asking directly tends to make it worse. Kids who could benefit from Kids and Teens Therapy may be: - Shutting down or answering everything with "I'm fine" - Anxious about school, friends, or the future - Angry in ways that surprise everybody, including them - Struggling socially or feeling left out - Glued to a screen and disconnected from the room - Losing sleep, motivation, or interest in what they used to love - Navigating a divorce, a move, or a loss - Carrying pressure to perform and afraid of disappointing you - Refusing school or dragging through every single morning - Comparing themselves to everyone on their phone - Perfectionist about grades and falling apart over a B - Lying or hiding things they used to tell you - Having big feelings that arrive with no warning and leave just as fast - Recently told they have anxiety, ADHD, or a learning difference, with no idea what to do with that There are real reasons life gets hard. The teenage brain is rebuilding itself, and the parts that handle impulse and perspective finish last. At the same time they are working out who they are and where they belong, doing it in front of an audience that never logs off. Add short sleep, academic pressure, and any change at home, and you get a kid running on empty. Shutting down and blowing up are usually protection, not disrespect. They do not have to want therapy on day one. Most do not. My job is to make the room worth showing up to. The first session is mostly about safety and joining. They get to set some of the terms - what we talk about first, what we leave alone for now. From there we name feelings before we try to manage them, because you cannot regulate something you cannot describe. Then we build practical skills for anxiety, anger, and sleep, and we practice the hard conversations - with me first, then with you. Homework stays small enough to actually get done. Parents get regular check-ins. Your child gets real privacy about the day-to-day, and I will always tell you anything that involves their safety. That balance is what makes them willing to talk in the first place. Parents stay involved, and kids keep a space that is genuinely theirs.
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Family TherapyFamily Cohesion Therapy
Maybe your family feels fractured. Everyone lives in the same house and somehow in different worlds - separate rooms, separate schedules, separate moods. Families come in because they're: - Passing each other between practices, shifts, and homework - Eating dinner in shifts, if at all - Stuck in sibling conflict that never quite resolves - Blending two families and trying to create one identity - Recovering from a divorce, a move, or a loss that changed everyone - Taking sides without meaning to - Realizing nobody has laughed together in a while You do not all have to agree about what went wrong to start. You only have to agree that you want something better. Together, we create a new rhythm with shared values, healthier patterns, and a home that feels connected instead of chaotic. The whole family is the client, so everyone gets a voice and everyone carries part of the change. Your family will learn how to healthily communicate and create a family culture that brings you together in the smooth seas and storms of life.
Open →You are the hero of your own story — I just help you find your way back.
My name is Hugh Pinnock. I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Utah and Virginia. I help couples rebuild their relationships, families understand one another, and individuals reach new heights. I'm available in person in Murray and by telehealth.
If you are reading this at 2 AM wondering whether to reach out, you are not the first. Let's get you back on track. Start with a free 15-minute call.
Hugh Pinnock, LMFT
The single best predictor of whether therapy works is whether you feel comfortable with the person across from you.
Seven-plus years in active practice. Licensed in Utah and Virginia. Gottman-trained, attachment-grounded, with the right modality picked for the room you're in.
More about Hugh →Real people, real change.
"Hugh is fantastic and has real empathy for those he treats."
Colleague and Local Doctor
Utah
"Hugh is such a pleasure to work with. He is a kind, understanding and sympathetic listener. I really appreciate his insights. 10/10 would recommend!"
Colleague
Virginia
"Hugh is dedicated to helping people and is the best at what he does. He will do what it takes to help you become the best version of yourself!"
Colleague
Utah
Three simple steps to get started.
Request a FREE 15-minute consultation
Not sure if I'm the right one for you? Reach out by phone, text, or email and let's find a time that works to see if we're a fit! We will talk through what brought you here and what you're looking for!
Request your free 15-minute consult →Schedule your first session
If it feels like a fit, let's get to work! We'll set up your first 50- or 90-minute session — by telehealth in Utah or Virginia. We'll get to know the issue, set goals and get a clear direction.
Begin the work
Here we go! We name your goals, identify the patterns keeping you stuck, and start building the skills that move you forward, whether that's in your own life, your relationship or your family.
Ready to talk?
The first step is a free 15-minute call. No pressure, no paperwork. Just a real conversation about whether we are a fit.