Founding cohort · first edition

A Live Online Coaching Group for Building Relational Skills

Learn more about relationships.Bring your real questions.Develop new relational skills.

This coaching group is for couples and individuals who want to understand relationships better and learn new skills and practical ways to handle common relational issues. It does not follow a licensed protocol or a fixed syllabus, and it is based on my experience as a couples therapist, especially with international and high-conflict couples, often facing the challenge of the first child.

Join the waiting list
  • 8 Wednesdays
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  • 18:30–20:00 Rome time
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  • Zoom
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  • English (Italian subtitles on request)
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  • max 8 couples/16 participants
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  • Dates to be announced

Good relationships are one of the strongest protective factors for physical and mental health. Learning relational skills before problems become entrenched is prevention in the most practical sense — and coaching is how we do it here.

I lead the group by combining psychoeducation and experiential work, including role-play (also with me) and exercises. We build the content session by session around the questions you bring.

How does it work?

The program consists of 8 live sessions on Wednesdays, 18:30–20:00 Rome time, online via Zoom. The dates will be announced to the waiting list first. Sessions are held in English, with live Italian subtitles for anyone who asks.

Before each session, participants are invited to send their questions or situations at least 24 hours in advance, through a short online form you can find here.

I review the material before the session and use it to decide what we will focus on during the meeting.

This means the group is not simply a course where you listen to a predetermined lesson.

You can send your question anonymously. I turn submissions into composite examples, so nobody’s situation is presented to the group as their own — unless you explicitly agree to role-play your own situation with me live during a session. Please leave out health details and the real names of people who are not in the group.

With up to 16 participants, we can’t cover every question each week — but recurring themes always come up.

During the sessions, we may:

  • explore the psychology behind a particular relational situation;
  • look at recent developments in couple psychology;
  • learn new relational skills and ways of responding to difficult situations;
  • discuss real-life situations brought by participants, in anonymized form;
  • use role-play with the trainer and/or other participants;
  • experiment with different ways of communicating and responding;
  • translate psychological concepts into practical strategies for everyday relationships.

The sessions are usually 90 minutes, but may occasionally run a little longer when the work requires it. With everyone’s consent, I record and transcribe sessions for my own preparation only; I never share or publish recordings, and I delete them within 30 days of the last session. There are no make-up sessions.

Couples or individuals

The group is focused on couples, but it is also open to individuals.

You are strongly encouraged to participate with your partner from the same location, but you can also join on your own if you want to better understand relationships, develop your relational skills, or find new ways to handle a specific relational difficulty.

The group can include a mix of couples and individuals, with a maximum of 16 participants total — 8 couples if everyone participates as a couple.

You can participate anonymously

You don’t have to show your face if you don’t want to.

You can keep your camera off, and if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can also change your Zoom name (I will know who you are from your registration; you stay anonymous to the other participants).

You decide how much you want to disclose and how you want to participate.

Everyone in the group agrees to keep what other participants bring to the sessions inside the group.

Who this group is for

Couples and individuals who want to understand relationships better and become more skilled.

  • Couples who want a reset — or want to make a good relationship stronger.
  • Individuals who want to develop their relational skills or find new ways of handling a specific relational difficulty, with or without their partner in the room.
  • Couples or individuals already in therapy (individual, couples, or both) who want an extra space for learning and practice alongside it. The group does not replace your therapy and is not coordinated with your therapist. If you are in therapy, we suggest you let your therapist know. We will not ask.
  • Therapists and coaches, welcome with their partners in a non-professional capacity.

This group is NOT for you if

  • You are looking for therapy. This is a health promotion and relationship education activity, delivered as a coaching group through AltreStrade, the non-profit social cooperative I chair. It is not a healthcare service: no assessment, no diagnosis, no treatment — and no substitute for couples therapy or psychotherapy.
  • You are in an acute crisis, or going through a painful recent separation, and need individual support right now.
  • There is intimate partner aggression, violence or abuse in your relationship.

If this isn’t the right place for you, write to me, and I will point you to more suitable options.

Before the first session, I will ask you to fill in a registration form, so that I can check that the group is a good fit for you.

The theoretical framework

The group draws on several influential contemporary approaches to couple psychology and couples therapy, which I integrate in my daily work with couples.

The theoretical framework is informed by the work of:

  • John and Julie Gottman — my first teachers in this trade — and the Gottman Method;
  • Sue Johnson and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT);
  • Stan Tatkin and the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT);
  • Terry Real and Relational Life Therapy (RLT);
  • Brent Atkinson and Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples (PET-C).

The aim is not to teach a single therapeutic model, and the group is not a licensed program of any of these approaches.

Instead, the group brings together concepts and practical tools from these different approaches to understand how relationships work, why couples get stuck in recurring patterns, and what can be done differently.

The emphasis is on translating these ideas into practical relational skills that participants can experiment with in their own relationships.

The Founding Cohort: Start with an Introductory Session

This is the first edition of the program, and I want to make it easy to try before committing to the full eight-session experience.

The first introductory session costs €50.

After attending the session, you have 24 hours from the end of the session to decide whether you want to continue.

You can either:

ask for a refund of the €50 within those 24 hours, with no further commitment,

or

continue with the full program by paying the remaining balance.

If I don’t hear from you within the 24 hours, I will assume that you attended the introductory session on its own: the €50 remains the final price, nothing more is charged, and your place is released. You can still rejoin later if there is space.

Couple
€375 total for the couple for all 8 sessions
  • €50 introductory session€50
  • If you decide to continue: remaining balance€325

Founding-cohort price. Planned list price: €550 per couple.

Individual
€235 total for all 8 sessions
  • €50 introductory session€50
  • If you decide to continue: remaining balance€185

Founding-cohort price. Planned list price: €350 per individual.

The founding-cohort price is €375 per couple and €235 per individual. Currently, the planned list price is €550 per couple and €350 per individual.

As a founding participant, your feedback will shape the final version: I will ask you for a short self-rating at the first and last session, and a brief questionnaire at the end.

Prices include VAT. The introductory session is paid at registration via PayPal; the balance by bank transfer.

Registration is not open yet. Join the waiting list and you’ll be the first to be contacted when the first edition opens — no commitment.
Join the waiting list No commitment and no payment now.

The format

  • 8 Wednesday sessions, 18:30–20:00 Rome time (dates to be announced)
  • Approximately 90 minutes each
  • 12+ hours of live group work
  • Online via Zoom, in English, with live Italian subtitles on request
  • Maximum 16 participants / 8 couples
  • Couples and individuals welcome
  • Mixed couples + individuals possible
  • Anonymous participation available
  • Questions and situations submitted at least 24 hours in advance
  • Can run alongside ongoing individual or couples therapy
  • Health promotion and relational skills — not therapy, not a licensed protocol

Meet your coach

Angelo Mussoni, psychologist and psychotherapist

Dr. Angelo Mussoni is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, and the first Certified Gottman Method Couple Therapist in Italy. His practice focuses exclusively on couples and relationship difficulties — typically international and intercultural couples, expats, LGBTQIA+, and neurodiverse partners navigating life and love across cultures, languages, and borders.

The group starts with at least 6 households (couples or individuals). If fewer register, I may postpone or cancel it, and you get a full refund if you can’t join on the new date.

He integrates the Gottman Method (Levels 1, 2, and 3) with PACT, EFT, DBT, CBT, and ACT, with a diversity-affirming perspective, and is specifically trained by the Gottman Institute in infidelity, trauma, and intimate partner aggression. He is a Gottman Seven Principles Workshop Leader and a Bringing Baby Home Educator, and works online worldwide and in person in Rimini, in English and Italian.

He founded AltreStrade, the social cooperative that runs this group within its health promotion programs.

  • Registered Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Italian National Board of Psychologists, Emilia-Romagna, n. 2813
  • Certified Gottman Therapist, Gottman Institute, Seattle (WA), n. 539
  • American Psychological Association International Affiliate, n. C2002427821
  • Court-Appointed Technical Advisor (CTU), Civil Court of Rimini
  • Member: DBT Italy · ICEEFT · APA International Affiliate

Try the first session.See how it works for you.Then decide whether you want to continue.

Join the waiting list

Write to us: we’ll contact you as soon as registration opens.

Registration is not open yet. Join the waiting list and you’ll be the first to be contacted when the first edition opens — no commitment.