Success Stories

We had infidelity in our marriage and were searching for a counselor that not only had experience dealing with infidelity but also provided an actionable approach to help us through it. A lot of councilors just sit and listen and do not engage during the session, and we wanted someone who would engage with us and guide us as this was a difficult time.

Our experience was amazing and I highly recommend anyone (or couple) that is dealing with infidelity, to meet with Dr. Talal. One thing that everyone should be prepared for is to be honest. Accepting honesty, and being able to be honest was the reason we were able to heal from the past. It is also the only way to navigate through the 7 milestones of recovery. Being able to fully admit to what happened, acknowledge the impact, and accept and choose the path forward all require both parties to be open and honest. From there, you work together to create an action plan and heal. The road to recovery (no matter what path you choose) will be difficult, but going through the process properly, and not cutting corners, will be worth it in the long run.

One of our biggest takeaways was the business meetings. This helps to continue the openness through the rest of your life and has proved to be something we look forward to each week. I am not sure we would have made it through this trial in our marriage without the guidance of Dr. Talal. When he says infidelity is “the best worst thing that could happen to your marriage”, he is right. We are better than we ever have been and could not be happier.

The pain caused by the Infidelity compelled us to seek counseling. We both wanted to get answers to why it happened and how to recover from it. Eventually when we decided to give our lives together another chance, we were in desperate need of learning how to avoid experiencing it again.

As the betrayed, I initially had zero intention to give my partner another chance. I couldn’t believe there is any method in this world that can help me to rebuild the trust. But, when I attended the sessions and saw how Dr. Alsaleem took both of us accountable for our actions, how he helped us to identify the underlying reasons and coming up with an action plan to recover; then I started thinking there might be a chance for rebuilding the trust. The biggest difference that his method offers is within its practicality. His method is not just theoretical, it outlines practical steps to address small and big issues. For me, seeing actions brought peace of mind and I gradually started to learn how to let go of anger and grief, and instead worked on rebuilding our relationship.

My partner was also shocked and confused of how all of the events unfolded which led to infidelity given the deep love and connection we had. He really took the steps and surrendered himself to the process that Dr. Alsaleem laid out. In his own words, Dr.Alsaleem not only resurrective a new love and begging for us, but also made him to define and uphold a set of values that makes him successful in all of his personal and professional relationships.

It was extremely helpful because it helped us to build a new beautiful life together. Something even more beautiful than before. We went through the pain together and we created a new form of bond. We learned that we are bigger than the pain and we are strong enough to overcome difficult obstacles. We could have just left each other but if we did, the resentment and trauma would have stayed with us. It helped us to replace the unresolved emotions with forgiveness, patience and love. And as a result we both became better people.

When I met Talal I felt lost in a storm of my own making. In blind desperation I began looking and buying every self help book on infidelity I could get my hands on. I felt like I was drowning and reaching for a lifeboat. Then I found Talal’s book . I read it in one sitting and nearly highlighted the entire thing. His words seemed almost commonsensical -not an easy task. It seemed, without having met me, that he knew of my exact situation and thoughts. I had never before sought therapy and at one point in my life would have ridiculed the idea. I now realize that speaking with someone trained, whose only interest is to help, is a profound breakthrough of modern society. In particular the idea that infidelity could be the “best worst thing” to happen to our marriage gave me hope. I agreed with the idea that if the relationship was to end then it would be important to finally have honesty and clarity of why that happened. If the relationship is to survive, then similarly I would need to face and fix profound shortcomings that lead me to this point. To paraphrase the divorce lawyer turned relationship advisor, James Sexton: if you had the skills to get yourself out of this mess you would not be in this mess to begin with. I want to save my marriage and I realized I did not have the skills to do it on my own.

The problem seemed insurmountable. By breaking it into smaller pieces it became manageable.

Reliving the story and seeing how much hurt I have caused was painful but necessary. It led to realizing many “individual factors” and became as much about personal therapy as couple’s therapy. As Talal pointed out: these are issues I would need to fix regardless of whether our marriage continues. It was particularly helpful for Talal to describe the actions so that to the extent it is possible would not apply a label or value judgment.

It is difficult to summarize how helpful the therapy was because it touched nearly every aspect of my life. The two most helpful categories however are self knowledge and communication skills. I realized I had many character traits that were maladaptive and unhelpful to me as a person – regardless of whether I was in a relationship or not. Seeing one’s own flaws laid bare is never pleasant but by describing the behavior without judgement or label I was able to more clearly see what actions I needed to take.

Secondly, I was able to recognize patterns of dysfunctional communication styles. Now, months since our last session I still find myself using terms borrowed from our sessions.

I was feeling hopeless, despairing, and terrible before I attended the second retreat. Due to my horrible choice, my marriage was over. I had broken his heart. However, I still chose to go because I owe him the truth about how I truly feel about our marriage and relationship, and give him a full disclosure. Even if the marriage would end, failing to provide closure to your partner is the worst thing you can do. He deserves my respect. The retreat went well, and I’m grateful for that. There is still work to be done, but now we are doing it together!

Best therapist I’ve ever had!

My husband’s infidelity and his confession to me led him to buying your book online. After reading it and seeing the step by step approach, I was interested in trying it out. I wanted to save our marriage and I wanted to work at doing that.

The treatment was difficult, especially telling the story. Those first few sessions where we talked about how we met all the way through where we found ourselves in therapy with you were some of the most painful hours of my life. Hearing what was going through my husband’s mind all those years and hearing about what he did all those years was unfortunately horrible for me to hear, but also necessary for my husband to admit. Though terrible, it was also important for me to know what he really did in order to decide whether or not to give this marriage a shot.

The action plan was helpful in that we not only were able to read and see all of our issues and challenges (from your point of view), but were finally able to do something about them, hopefully fixing them.

What helped me was you were empathetic to both my husband and me. We both felt you were on our side. You helped us see what a healthy marriage should look like and encouraged us to have that.

I liked knowing, more or less, the plan for the upcoming sessions. I was able to prepare emotionally and not fear surprises.

By going through the steps, it felt like we were making progress, sometimes slowly, but still some steps forward.

Thanks Talal!

Talal is amazing!! In 3 short months with his help and our hard work, it feels like we have a brand new marriage! He helped us work through our communication struggles and built up resentments. He stayed neutral and non-judgemental while still calling us out when we were wrong.

He helped us see each others points of view and taught us the skills needed to work through conflict moving forward. I couldn’t be happier that we decided to go to Talal for help! My only regret is that we didn’t go sooner!!!

My wife and I have seen a couple different counselors in our 10 years together, but never seemed to get any real results. I can’t believe how much we have accomplished in only six sessions with Talal. He doesn’t beat around the bush and isn’t afraid to call me on my crap.

There were things he noticed and pointed out about the dynamics of our relationship that I had never considered, that no one else had seen or mentioned. He’s amazing. I look forward to finishing our ten sessions toward our current goal and then working with him more on future goals.

Wow! Enough can’t be said about Talal’s approach to counseling. He is insightful, intuitive, and genuine. I’m so glad we found him. He was easy to book a session with and his 15 minute consultation really helped us to understand what he does and how we might benefit from his services. Anyone who needs help in their marriage really needs to see Talal.

I had a difficult time managing my stress and prioritizing my time. I’m happy that I reached out to Talal because he helped me figure out what was the root cause of all my stress and then helped me to de-clutter my life so that I could focus on what was important to me. I look back on how I was before working with Talal and I’m amazed at how much more centered I am. Thank you, Talal, for everything