Dr. Kendra Lester runs Red Rock Counseling as a couples-focused St. George practice on South Dixie Drive. She holds both a PhD and an LMFT, and her clinical work centers on the Gottman Method — the structured, research-based approach to couples therapy developed by John and Julie Gottman across decades at the University of Washington’s relationship lab.
Why couples specialization matters
Most St. George counseling practices treat couples work as one of several clinical modalities, alongside individual therapy, family work, and trauma. Red Rock has built its identity specifically around couples therapy, which is a different clinical practice than incidental couples work inside a generalist caseload. Gottman-trained therapists nationally are a relatively small subset of licensed marriage and family therapists, and the credential set Dr. Lester carries — PhD plus LMFT plus Gottman training — is uncommon in the Southern Utah counseling landscape.
What the Gottman Method actually is
The framing of the modality is worth being plain about. Gottman work is structured, manualized couples therapy built on long-running research into the patterns that predict relationship dissolution versus relationship repair. It is not generic couples-talk-therapy in a different package; it is a specific protocol with assessments, sequenced interventions, and trained-clinician requirements. Couples who have done generalist marriage counseling and want a more structured approach have a clear option in this practice.
Disclosure
Dr. Lester’s PhD and LMFT credentials are verifiable through Utah DOPL, and the Gottman-training disclosure is consistent across external references.