Dear Anne,

Gayle Ruud has been my Relationship/Affair Recovery Coach during the past 7 months. After 40 years of marriage my husband had an 8 month long affair with a co-worker who was 16 years younger than him. I was devastated and I experienced the worst pain and heartache of my life.

Gayle allowed me to “verbally vomit” during our first counseling sessions. My husband had asked me not to reveal his affair to our kids nor our friends. I agreed to honor his request. I desperately needed to talk about the affair and my pain. Gayle’s expertise with listening skills and patience provided me an outlet to talk and receive healing. She would give me “homework” assignments to complete and provide me with meaningful articles to read and digest. After each counseling session she would email me a synopsis of our discussion. It always contained reinforcement information and hope for my future. I was just trying to breathe and survive the confusion and trauma I was experiencing. I reread my notes and her emails and I looked at them as my lifeline to surviving this situation I had been handed from my husband whom I had trusted and loved the most.

She praised me and encouraged me as I walked this journey of grieving for the crime/violation of my marriage. When my husband “manned up” and finally came clean on the details of his affair she praised him and encouraged him as he started disentangling himself from the “affair fog” he had been living in.

In summary, Gayle is a loving, gentle-hearted lady who has been through an affair as the betrayed spouse. She is dependable and motivated and met me exactly where I was with my “roller coaster” experience of processing an affair. I highly recommend her as a coach. I do not believe I would have been able to heal as quickly as I have without her counseling skills in my life. My husband and I are 7 months into our recovery from his affair. We will settle for nothing less than 100% healing. We know our marriage is going to come through this ordeal stronger than ever.

P.C., Indianapolis, Indiana