Potential State is our relational lab.

We research relationships by living them. We teach what we know from the inside out.

Everything we learned, trained in, and read we tried on our own marriage. We will not ask or tell you to do anything we did not do ourselves.

That is our relational integrity.

We believe in changing the world one relationship at a time.

We are ready for you.

Assael Romanelli, PhD, LCSW, MFT

Assael is a licensed couple and family therapist, clinical social worker, and international trainer and facilitator integrating theater improvisation, NLP, and psychodrama. His PhD from Hebrew University is in improvisation skills in therapy. He taught hundreds of therapists around the world how to become more alive, spontaneous, and free in their clinical work. Growing up in the US and Israel gave him a unique intercultural perspective on life, love, and relationship that runs through everything he does.

He has worked with individuals, couples, and families for over 20 years. His Psychology Today blog, The Other Side of Relationships, has reached over 2 million readers across more than 90 articles. He is the author of Feel Free Together: How to Remarry Your Partner, and the co-creator of the Remarriage Roadmap with Galit.

His research has been published in Psychoanalytic Dialogues, The Arts in Psychotherapy, and Social Work Education. He holds a PhD in Social Work from Hebrew University. He is a licensed clinical social worker in New Jersey and a certified couples and family therapist.

He is also a credentialed playback theater trainer. This background in theater, spontaneity, and performance runs through everything he does, in the therapy room, in trainings, and on stage. He is a relational artist and a multi-potentialite.

Galit Romanelli, MA, PhD(c)

Galit is a relational coach, content creator, and PhD candidate in Gender Studies at Bar-Ilan University. She holds a master's degree in Gender Studies from University College London. Her work brings together sociology, gender consciousness, and experiential facilitation.

She creates content, facilitates workshops, and builds experiences that help people reconnect to their voice, their relationships, and their capacity to play. She has a rare ability to hold space for the full complexity of people's lives. Not as a method. As a way of being.

Together with Assael, she co-created the Remarriage Roadmap^™ and co-leads workshops and lectures for couples, organizations, and teams. She is the academic depth and the emotional artist. Together they cover the many dimensions of a relationship.

Our Approach

The Potential State approach is built on original frameworks developed through clinical practice, doctoral research, and thousands of hours with real couples and individuals.

• The Relational Roadmap

Every long-term relationship will go through a crisis that will end their current dynamic. That is normal and unavoidable. Most dyads do not have a map for what comes next. This framework is built on four core practices: Play, Own Your Shadow, Let It Land, and Say the Thing. It gives couples a practical path through relational reinvention, not just conflict resolution.

• The Relational Identity Matrix

Every person in a relationship plays one of three roles at any given moment: Parent, Partner, or Child. This framework helps identify fixed dynamics and gives people the language and tools to move more freely between roles and increase their relational intelligence.

• The Circle of Differentiation

Many relationship problems live in the drama triangle: victim, persecutor, savior. The roles shift but the dynamic stays the same. The Circle of Differentiation helps partners move out of drama and into clarity, connection, and real responsibility through the roles of receiver, supporter, and protector.

• The Ninja Therapist Approach

A clinical training method developed by Dr. Assael Romanelli that merges theater improvisation with psychotherapy. Published in The Arts in Psychotherapy, the framework helps clinicians expand their flexibility, spontaneity, and therapeutic presence in session. Based on six years of doctoral research at Hebrew University. Taught to thousands of clinicians in Israel, the United States, Germany, and Italy since 2013.

Questions People Ask About Us

• What is the Ninja Therapist approach?

The Ninja Therapist is a clinical training program developed by Dr. Assael Romanelli. Published in The Arts in Psychotherapy, it gives therapists a practical framework for understanding their own improvisational style and using it more deliberately in session. The core idea: therapists, like ninjas, need to be flexible in both their techniques and their role. They move fluidly between initiating and reacting, between deepening a moment and shifting it in a new direction. It is Assael's vision for the helping professionals of the 21st century: bold, honest, daring, playful, and willing to own their shadow rather than hide from it. Based on six years of doctoral research, it has been taught to thousands of clinicians in Israel, the United States, Germany, and Italy since 2008.

• Where is Assael Romanelli licensed to practice?

Assael is a licensed clinical social worker in New Jersey and a certified couples and family therapist. He offers online therapy via Zoom to couples and families outside New Jersey as a relationship coach. He also holds certifications from the Israeli Association for Couples and Family Therapy as a therapist and supervisor.

• Do Assael and Galit work together?

Yes. They are married, and they co-created the Remarriage Roadmap and co-facilitate workshops and lectures together. In therapy, Assael works with couples and families. In workshops, trainings, and the Remarriage Roadmap, both Assael and Galit are present for coaching sessions and the program orientation call.

• What is the Remarriage Roadmap^™?

The Remarriage Roadmap is a 12-week online program for couples who want to rebuild their relationship with the partner they already have. Created by Assael and Galit Romanelli, it includes video modules, exercises, and live couples coaching. Couples can go through it self-guided or with Assael and Galit coaching them the whole way through.

• What does the quality of your relationships have to do with the quality of your life?

Everything. The quality of your life is dependent on the quality of your relationships. Research shows it is the single strongest predictor of life satisfaction, health, and wellbeing. Relational intelligence is a skill. Like any skill, it can be learned. That is what Assael and Galit teach.