Varenya
This page lists what we say about Varenya, what each statement rests on, and what we don't claim. Varenya is an AI coach, not a therapist. It can be wrong.
World-class AI
“World-class AI, applied to your relationship patterns.”
Independent benchmark results published in November 2026 place the AI models Varenya's coach uses among the top tier of AI models available. We don't name the models, because we may change them. If this stops being true, we will stop saying it.
Built on IBCT
“Built on IBCT.”
IBCT is Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy. Varenya's coach follows this method, using the therapist's guide below.
The method was created by Andrew Christensen and Neil Jacobson. The creators and authors are not connected to Varenya.
- Christensen, A., Doss, B. D., & Jacobson, N. S. (2020). Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy: A Therapist's Guide to Creating Acceptance and Change (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton.
50+ techniques, 10+ principles
“Taught to coach with 50+ techniques based on 10+ principles of IBCT.”
Counted from the coach's own instructions on 8 November 2026. They hold about 80 coaching techniques, not counting safety rules, such as protecting a repair attempt, putting a hidden feeling into words, and replaying a conversation that went badly. They follow 12 principles from the guide above: the six it says every evidence-based couple therapy shares, and its six principles for deliberate change. "Taught" means the AI model is instructed in these; we did not train the model itself.
Evidence-based
“One of four evidence-based couple therapies.”
The guide above names four: IBCT, Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy. It reports their results as broadly comparable.
Tested online
“Tested online on 1000+ couples. It helped.”
This means an online programme built on IBCT, not Varenya. The programme is OurRelationship, which is not ours. These two trials compared it with a waitlist control group:
- 300 couples. Relationship satisfaction, confidence and negative relationship quality improved compared with the waitlist. Doss, B. D., et al. (2016). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(4), 285–296.
- 740 couples. Satisfaction improved compared with the waitlist, across levels of coach support. Le, Y., et al. (2023). A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support. Internet Interventions. Record · Trial registration
That's 1,040 couples in all. About 670 of them used the programme, and the rest were the comparison group.
A real session
“From one real session. Names changed.”
The coach's words, the notes and what they chose to try on our cards come from one real session between two people who agreed to share them. We changed their names and nothing else.
Praise
The quotes and star ratings on our page are from early users, in their own words. We show no names.
What we don't claim
- Varenya has not been tested in these trials. Varenya is new. The results above are for a different programme, which used human coaches or automated support, not an AI coach like Varenya.
- Varenya is not therapy and is not medical care.
- We don't promise any result for your relationship.
- We don't claim our AI is the best. "World-class" means top tier, not first.
Changes
If what we claim changes, we change this page at the same time. Questions: admin@jayawaham.org