Chai Gaynair — Philadelphia Couples Therapy

Chai Gaynair

Clinical Psychology 5ᵗʰ Year Pre-Doctoral Intern

I believe healing happens through connection—with our bodies, our truth, and each other.

Chai is passionate about helping clients explore the parts of themselves that have long been hidden by shame or fear. In her work, she creates a space that invites openness and self-discovery, where couples can bring their full identities and experiences into the room. Her warm, grounding presence encourages honesty and curiosity, allowing clients to move at their own pace while deepening insight and self-acceptance.

Drawing from relational psychodynamic, attachment, and mindfulness approaches, Chai supports couples in understanding how early experiences shape current patterns in relationships, intimacy, and identity. Her concentration is in sex therapy, making her particularly attuned to the intersection of identity, desire, and healing. She helps couples navigate barriers to sexual connection and fulfillment, supporting them in cultivating a sexuality that feels authentic, liberating, and aligned with their values and desires. Chai helps clients uncover how internalized messages about sex, love, and self-worth are carried not only in the mind but also in the body. Together, she and her clients use gentle awareness and curiosity to foster self-compassion, agency, and freedom in how they relate to themselves and others.

Chai enjoys working with individuals who are poly, kinky, queer, and trans. She is also passionate about helping clients navigate anxiety, neurodivergence, and trauma. Her style is both affirming and challenging. Clients working with Chai can expect an environment that feels collaborative, attuned, and free of judgment. She believes that therapy is not only a place to process pain, but also a space to reclaim pleasure, agency, and connection to oneself and to others.

I live by the philosophy that

we heal through connection with ourselves and with others.

I could spend every day

eating delicious food with my loved ones.

As a therapist, I

I approach this work with humility and empathy, knowing how hard it can be to face the things we usually avoid.

Credentials

M.A. Clinical Psychology, Widener University

B.A. Psychology, Azusa Pacific University

B.A. Humanities, Azusa Pacific University

Gottman Method Levels 1 and 2

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Specialties

Modalities

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Attachment-Based Psychotherapy for Couples and Individuals (ABFT)

Culturally-Informed & Queer-Affirming Psychotherapy

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Executive Functioning Coaching

Gottman Method Couples Therapy

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Relational Psychoanalytic Individual and Couples Therapy

Sex Therapy

Fees

Supervised by Jensine Sneeden, Psy.D.

The latest from our team

Holding On and Letting GoThe Role of Ritual and Routine in Connection

As we move into the colder months, many of us naturally turn toward the comforts of routine such as the morning coffee, the evening wind-down, and other small gestures that bring steadiness to our days. For couples, these rituals can be subtle yet powerful moments of connection. They remind us that we’re part of a “we,” even in the midst of busy lives.

These moments can take many forms: bringing your partner a cup of coffee in bed, taking a walk together after dinner, or planning a quarterly getaway to step out of daily demands and back into intimacy. Routines like these can nurture a sense of closeness and care and infuse a rhythm that says, I’m thinking of you.

Yet couples often slip in and out of these rituals without realizing it. Sometimes the change brings freshness and new energy; other times it can quietly erode a source of connection. Life transitions, such as having children, starting a new job, navigating health or lifestyle changes can easily disrupt the patterns that once felt comforting and grounding.

So what can couples do when those moments of connection get disrupted, or when they were never fully established to begin with?

More Resources