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COUPLES THERAPY
Couples therapy can reduce conflict-based communication styles and address barriers that lead to getting “stuck” during conflict. By working to increase healthy communication patterns, couples can increase intimacy, empathy, respect, affection, and understanding within the relationship.
COUPLES THERAPY
Good communication and mutual understanding are the core pillars of any good relationship. Couples therapy is one of the best things you can do for your relationship, whether you want premarital counseling, are looking to keep things going smoothly, or are you have hit some rough patches. When relationships go through rough patches it is often due to couples getting into poor patterns of communicating. Sometimes these patterns can last for so long that couples become stuck and it seems impossible to imagine things going back to how they were in the early stages of the relationship. Couples therapy can reduce conflict-based communication styles and address barriers that lead to getting “stuck” during conflict. By working to increase healthy communication patterns, couples can increase intimacy, empathy, respect, affection, and understanding within the relationship.
I have been trained in Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy (CBCT) by one of the treatment creators, as well as Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) therapy for couples. Both of these treatment approaches have a substantial amount of research support with studies showing 90% of couples have significant improvement following treatment. I provide treatment for straight, LGBTQ+, and cross-cultural couples (couples where one person is of a different cultural/racial/ethnic background).
FOUNDATION
The beginning stage of treatment will focus on gathering history about the relationship to understand the current issues that you are experiencing as a couple, as well as sessions that focus on understanding each person’s individual history and how their unique story fits into the story →
of the couple. Couples will receive a summary of the pieces of the puzzle that seem to be contributing to the current problems in the relationship, in addition to a plan for how to move forward in treatment. A lot can be uncovered during this foundational process. After experiencing a long period of distress or confusion within a relationship, following these initial sessions couples often experience some relief due to simply having their story organized and laid out in a way that makes sense
PROCESS
Treatment will focusing on building skills for improving listening, communication, and problem-solving capabilities as a couple. Treatment will also help couples to understand the importance of emotional engagement and responsiveness within the relationship. The goal will be to help couples to overcome negative, repetitive, and rigid patterns of interaction that prevent them from having a closer and more caring relationship. Treatment will help couples to recognize and avoid getting stuck in negative patterns of communicating, to have a deeper understanding of their own and each other’s feelings, and to develop new ways of being with one another that allows for a stronger more fulfilling connection.
WRAP-UP
The final sessions of treatment will focus on highlighting the progress made from the beginning to the end of treatment. Time is spent making sure that the couple knows how to recognize when problematic patterns are showing up in their relationship so that they can actively take steps to prevent something small from developing into something big. By making sure a couple has a prevention plan for making sure things stay in a positive place, couples leave therapy feeling more confident and assured that their relationship will stay on the right track.