Couples Therapy

Even if your partner is resistant to the idea of couples therapy, you are still welcome to come and work through your relationship issues.

You can learn communication strategies that can help you communicate more effectively with your partner.

You may also learn how to get your needs met in the relationship while increasing the connection between you both.

You can’t force your partner to change or to join you in sessions, but you can bring positive lessons back to your relationship.

Many people worry that they lack the ability to articulate their needs.

Sometimes, it might feel like your partner is good at verbalizing, so he or she will dominate any conversation about the relationship.

We value both partners. We can help you learn how to express yourself and feel understood.

In sessions, your therapist can help to balance the conversation so that the needs of both partners are heard and explored.

It’s common to worry that your therapist and your partner will gang up on you if you speak honestly about your feelings. However, our couples therapist will not take sides.

We want to hear both partners’ fears, hurts, and hopes. You and your partner are both human, with flaws and strengths.

In a relationship, assigning blame can perpetuate negativity and disconnection.

Your couples counselor understands that no one is right and no one is wrong.

Rebuilding Trust After Infidelity

Trust issues should be taken very seriously in a relationship. Trust is the key to connection, safety, and partnership. If you’ve noticed recently that your partner won’t answer the phone in front of you, or hides the phone when you’re around, you may have concerns.

Or perhaps you’ve noticed that your partner is staying up late at night on the computer. Whether you suspect that an emotional or physical affair is taking place, or you know that infidelity has occurred, hope is not lost.

Couples therapy can help you and your partner heal and restore your relationship. It takes time to rebuild trust, but it is possible!

Restoring Intimacy & Trust Takes Time

If there has been a serious violation of trust in your relationship, restoring intimacy might seem impossible. It might feel too hard or too time-consuming.

However, couples therapy is not about making a huge change to your relationship all at once.

Instead, you can learn to put little strategies in place to show your partner that you are willing to try. The small things you do each day can make a huge difference in your relationship.

In sessions, you can focus on taking steps toward rebuilding security, trust, and connection. This is the foundation of a healthy relationship. 

Our romantic relationships can have a significant impact on our health, well-being and life satisfaction. Yet, we receive little education in relationship and communication skills.

These skills aren’t a given, particularly if you were raised in an environment with poor relational skills or simply the stress of outside adversity such as poverty, job loss, trauma, war, mental illness or other environmental influences on relationships.

No matter what stage your relationship is in, couples therapy can help protect your relationship for the long-term.

The benefits of couples therapy are the skills you learn, based on years of couples research, that you haven’t learned anywhere before.

It’s normal to need to learn skills to be successful in your relationship just as it is in any other area of life that is important.

There are also times when you might choose to explore your concerns in individual therapy. Perhaps you’ve experienced a trauma, or are struggling with greater than usual stress at work? Maybe you’ve struggled with depression, anxiety or an eating disorder for years and are ready to make some changes?

However, while you may decide to pursue individual counseling, including your partner in this process or addressing your concerns in couples therapy can be beneficial.

In this way, you are including your partner as a supportive member of your team. Further, you can understand what impact it may have on your relationship as well as your partner’s role. Improving your relationship can also lead to you feeling more supported overall.

This is not specifically couples therapy, but rather involving your partner as a support in your own healing process. 

Our couples counselors primarily draw from the following couples counseling skills: 

• Gottman Method couples counseling: the Gottman Method is based on years of research identifying what works in relationships. Gottman Method skills include communication, conflict management, increasing intimacy and friendship, and repairing past hurts. 
• Emotionally Focused Therapy: Emotionally Focused Therapy helps couples restore their bond with each other, learn effective emotional regulation skills, identify problematic communication and relational patterns, and increase emotional awareness, communication, and connection. 
• Imago Therapy: Imago Therapy helps couples improve communication and find new ways to meet each other's needs and resolve conflict.