“We fall in love by chance. We stay in love by choice.”
You Invest in Your Future in So many ways. Why not Invest in the Relationship at the Heart of It?
Our goal is simple: to help couples approach their relationship with greater awareness, confidence, and intention.
We’re Rita Gazarik and LouAnn Smith —experienced couples and family therapists, educators, and longtime colleagues. Through Ready Set Relationship, we bring our decades of experience to couples who want to understand each other better, communicate more openly. and build a lasting partnership.
Rita + LouAnn
A Strong Relationship Doesn’t Happen by Accident.
Love brings two people together. Understanding, communication, and intention help them grow together.
We created Ready Set Relationship to help couples better understand one another, navigate differences, and build skills for a lasting partnership.
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We believe a healthy relationship isn’t about finding a perfect partner or avoiding every disagreement. It’s about learning to listen with curiosity, approach challenges with empathy, and navigate life’s changes as a team. We combine our professional experience with practical tools that couples can bring into their everyday lives. Whether you’re preparing for marriage or beginning a new chapter together, we want to help you invest in your relationship with greater awareness, confidence, and intention. Because a lasting connection isn’t simply something we find—it’s something we continue to build, together.
“Healthy relationships aren't built by two people who never struggle. They’re built by two people who keep learning how to meet each other with understanding, honesty and care.”
Meet Rita
& LouAnn
We help couples build stronger, more connected relationships through understanding, communication, and intentional choice.
At Ready Set Relationship, we bring decades of experience as therapists and educators to help couples understand themselves and each other more deeply. Through engaging, educational workshops, we create opportunities for partners to explore their relationship patterns, improve communication, navigate differences, and develop the skills that support a lasting partnership. We believe that learning about relationships shouldn’t begin only when something goes wrong. It can begin with the desire to grow together, strengthen your connection, and build a solid foundation for the future.
RITA GAZARIK, LCSW-R
Rita Gazarik, LCSW-R has over 30 years of administrative, training teaching and clinical experience. She is a graduate of Ackerman Institute for the Family and Family Institute of Westchester. Rita was involved in family research in gay adolescents and their families as part of the development of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, She has published several articles and co-authored a chapter in Ethnicity & Family Therapy, on Czechoslovak culture for family therapists.
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Presently, Rita is director of Family Life Associates, located in New York City and adjunct faculty at The Silberman Graduate School of Social Work (CUNY).
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For more information about Rita, go to ritagazarik.com
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LOUANN SMITH, LCSW-R
LouAnn Smith, LCSW-R has over 30 years
of experience and is certified in Group Therapy, Divorce /Family Mediation, Couple and Family Therapy, Clinical Supervision, EMDR and is currently working toward ASSECT (Sex Therapy) certification.
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LouAnn currently leads seminars in Divorce Mediation, Working with Couples and Sexuality in Therapy, and Systemic Couples Therapy. She is active on the faculties of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and The Training Institute for Mental Health Practitioners. LouAnn is a clinical supervisor and has a special interest and experience in working with family subgroups, eg. daughters/mothers and siblings.
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For more information about LouAnn, go to louannsmithpsychotherapy.com