Are you feeling distant from your partner? Like the emotional or physical connection just isn’t the same anymore?

In this episode of The Couch Podcast, we break down why intimacy fades in relationships and what couples can do to rebuild connection in a healthy, realistic way.

We explore:
✔️ Emotional vs physical intimacy
✔️ Why couples drift apart
✔️ The negative cycle that keeps couples stuck
✔️ Practical tools to reconnect
✔️ Evidence-based approaches from Gottman Therapy, EFT, and CBT

Whether you're dating, married, or somewhere in between—this episode will give you real strategies to feel closer again.

How to Rebuild Intimacy

• Daily Emotional Check-In (5 minutes)
• Turn Toward, Not Away
• Slow Down Conflict
• Intentional Physical Touch
• Weekly Connection Time

• 
  

Why Intimacy Fades

• Negative interaction cycle

Criticism → defensiveness → withdrawal

• Unresolved conflict
• Attachment wounds
• Lack of intentional time
• Emotional safety breakdown

Connect with Santos Counseling

Santos Counseling provides counseling for individuals, couples, and families in Greensboro, North Carolina.

📍 411 Dolley Madison Road, Greensboro, NC 27410

📞 336-663-6570

🌐 ⁠⁠https://www.santoscounseling.com⁠⁠

Listen to The Couch Podcast

New episodes explore mental health, relationships, parenting, and emotional wellness.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

How Better Nutrition Improves Health and Community Wellness | Christie Hunter, RD

Christie shares how her practice helps individuals and families build healthier relationships with food through personalized nutrition plans that are practical, realistic, and sustainable. Her team works with both pediatric and adult clients to address concerns such as diabetes, heart disease, weight management, food allergies, and improving energy levels.

Christie also discusses her work supporting the Triad community through nutrition education, insurance-covered counseling services, and local wellness initiatives.

If you want to improve your health, better understand nutrition, or learn how dietitians support long-term wellness, this episode offers practical insight and encouragement.

How Nutrition Impacts Health and Community Wellness

Nutrition plays a critical role in overall health, energy levels, and disease prevention. However, many people feel overwhelmed by conflicting nutrition advice and restrictive diet culture.

In this episode of The Couch Podcast, Dr. Juan Santos speaks with Christie Hunter, Registered Dietitian and owner of Christie RD, about how personalized nutrition counseling can help individuals improve their health and build a positive relationship with food.

Christie RD focuses on creating nutrition plans that fit into each person’s lifestyle rather than prescribing rigid diets.

By removing guilt and shame around food, clients can develop sustainable habits that improve both physical and emotional well-being.

Nutrition counseling can support individuals managing:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Weight management
• Food allergies
• Low energy levels

Many people are surprised to learn that nutrition counseling is often covered at 100% through insurance.

Key Questions We Explore in This Episode

In this conversation with registered dietitian Christie Hunter, we discuss several important questions many people have about nutrition and wellness:

• What does living well through nutrition actually mean?
• Why do people feel overwhelmed by nutrition advice today?
• How can individuals develop a healthier relationship with food?
• What practical steps can improve energy and overall wellness?
• How can families make sustainable nutrition changes?

About Our Guest

Christie Hunter, RD is a Registered Dietitian and the owner of Christie RD, a nutrition private practice located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Her team of dietitians works with individuals of all ages to improve health through practical, personalized nutrition strategies. Christie RD helps clients manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, while also supporting weight management, food allergy education, and improved energy and well-being.

The practice believes that all foods can fit into a healthy lifestyle and focuses on helping clients develop a balanced, positive relationship with food without guilt or shame.

Website
https://christierd.com

Facebook
Christie RD

Instagram
Christie_RDN

Connect with Santos Counseling

Santos Counseling provides counseling for individuals, couples, and families in Greensboro, North Carolina.

📍 411 Dolley Madison RoadGreensboro, NC 27410

📞 336-663-6570

🌐 ⁠https://www.santoscounseling.com⁠

Listen to The Couch Podcast

New episodes explore mental health, relationships, parenting, and emotional wellness.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Many parents struggle to understand why their child resists everyday requests like getting dressed, doing homework, or following simple routines. While it can look like defiance, for some children the root cause may be something deeper.

In this episode of The Couch Podcast, Dr. Juan Santos sits down with Dr. Amber Collins of Wayfinder Psychiatric Wellness to discuss Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)—a profile often associated with autism that involves an extreme anxiety-driven need to avoid everyday demands.

Dr. Collins explains how PDA can show up in children, why traditional parenting approaches may not work, and what parents can do instead to reduce conflict and better support their child.

Together, we explore practical strategies families can use at home, how schools can respond more effectively, and why understanding the anxiety behind PDA can transform how parents approach challenging behaviors.

If you are a parent, educator, or mental health professional trying to better understand children who resist demands in intense ways, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and actionable insight.

• What Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is
• Why PDA behaviors are often misunderstood as defiance
• The role anxiety plays in demand avoidance
• Signs that may suggest a child is experiencing PDA
• Parenting strategies that reduce power struggles
• How schools and caregivers can better support these children
• Why understanding the child’s nervous system is key

Dr. Amber Collins a board certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and the owner of Wayfinder Psychiatric Wellness.

She works with children, adolescents, adults, and families with diverse challenges and needs. She has experience with anxiety, depression, attention/focus concerns, or other mental health challenges.

Connect with Dr. Amber Collins

Facebook

Instagram

Website

Connect with Santos Counseling

Santos Counseling provides counseling for individuals, couples, and families in Greensboro, North Carolina.

📍 411 Dolley Madison Road
Greensboro, NC 27410

📞 336-663-6570

🌐 https://www.santoscounseling.com

Listen to The Couch Podcast

New episodes explore mental health, relationships, parenting, and emotional wellness.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.