Meet Sam Garanzini and Alapaki Yee, founders of the Couples Therapy Training Academy.
We Built What We Wished Existed
What We've Built Together
Meet Sam Garanzini, MFT, LPCC
Meet Alapaki Yee, LMFT
Why We Do This
Gay Couples Institute
Couples Therapy Training Academy
Published Research
Certified Gottman Method Couples Therapists, co-founders of the Gay Couples Institute and the Couples Therapy Training Academy, and married to each other since [Year].
Back in 2007, Sam was doing his best in couples sessions, the same as any newly practicing therapist. But graduate school hadn't prepared him for what he now calls mixed-agenda therapy: one partner checked out, the other begging to fix things, both wanting tools yesterday. Supervision hadn't prepared him either.
Then one day, Alapaki brought home an article written by someone named John Gottman.
Sam set it aside at first. But after another session where a couple verbally tore each other apart in his office, he knew he needed a better framework. He turned to that article, and didn't stop there. He completed Level 1, then Level 2, and eventually became a Certified Gottman Therapist.
That's when everything shifted. Sessions started going better. Couples started improving. There was finally a structure that worked across the board, and especially with LGBTQ+ couples, who weren't well served by most of what existed at the time.
Together, Sam and Alapaki built the Gay Couples Institute to put that structure to work directly with same-sex couples. Then they built the Couples Therapy Training Academy to teach it to other clinicians, because the gap they'd felt in their own training was something therapists everywhere were also feeling.
delivers Gottman Method couples therapy to over 250 couples per year across the United States
has trained over 1,000 clinicians over the last several years
co-authored, with Drs. John and Julie Gottman, the first peer-reviewed outcome study demonstrating the effectiveness of the Gottman Method with same-sex couples
Sam is a Certified Gottman Therapist and national Gottman Level 1 and 2 Instructor, certified by John and Julie Gottman to teach Gottman Method Couples Therapy. He's taught Level 2 since [2009 or 2010], and has worked with over 1,000 clinicians across his classes and mentorship programs.
Sam is also an adjunct professor in the Counseling Psychology Department at the University of San Francisco, where he teaches addiction therapy and psychopharmacology, bringing over 20 years of clinical experience to his teaching.
Beyond the clinical side, Sam built the Practice Magnet Program & Software to help therapists build sustainable, profitable private practices without burning out, drawing on his own experience growing the Gay Couples Institute and the Couples Therapy Training Academy from the ground up. He's currently working on his first book for therapists who want to develop their couples therapy business and marketing skills using the Practice Magnet framework, and regularly presents at national therapy and marketing conferences.
Alapaki is a Certified Gottman Therapist, trainer, and co-founder of the Gay Couples Institute. With over 15 years of experience working with LGBTQ+ couples, he brings a grounded, systems-based perspective to couples work that integrates Gottman Method tools with deep cultural sensitivity.
Alapaki leads Gottman-based retreats, intensives, and mentorship sessions for clinicians seeking real-time feedback and practical guidance. His clinical voice is known for its clarity, warmth, and direct application to what therapists actually face in the room. He's supported hundreds of clinicians in mastering the Gottman approach across both private practice and community clinic settings.
Most recently, Alapaki authored a chapter in the Marriage Clinic Casebook, on applying the Gottman Method to a case involving queer, nonmonogamous couples struggling with disengagement and affairs. He presented that chapter at the most recent Gottman conference in Seattle, WA.
We started this work because we needed it ourselves, both in our own relationship and in the therapy room. Couples work is hard. It asks a lot of the people sitting across from each other, and it asks a lot of the therapist trying to help them.
We built the Gay Couples Institute because LGBTQ+ couples deserved a model that was actually built with them in mind, not adapted after the fact. We built the Couples Therapy Training Academy because we knew we weren't the only therapists who felt unprepared for what couples actually bring into the room.
If you're a couple looking for support, or a therapist looking to feel more confident doing this work, we're glad you're here.