Beginning Couple’s Counseling
Beginning couple’s counseling may feel like a daunting prospect. Many arrive in the midst of a relational crisis; an affair, feeling abused emotionally, or addictive behaviors could be the core driving the problems. Most relationships seek outside help to gain conflict resolution skills which are learning to communicate effectively by decreasing land mines blocking that from happening while learning to listen to understand your partner’s perspective. One or both of you may be dissatisfied and lost hope in one another, but at the same time don’t want the marriage to end.
All people at any period of their life are the sum of all their experiences. Nature and nurture and personal temperament make meaning of those experiences. Often complexities don’t show up until in a romantic relationship. Suddenly, we may find our past emotional wounds being poked, and our partners may be reminding us (whether we recognize it consciously or not) of someone from our family of origin who scared us, invalidated us, or never allowed us to be right. Understanding where we come from and how we differ from our partners can be a significant part of growing intimacy in our relationships.
Couple’s Regular Sessions
After your first couples session, we will meet weekly until you both decide your communication and conflict resolution skills have stabilized. After making noticeable progress your relationship counseling sessions will decrease depending on your needs and availability. Couples receive their own designated time slot. The focus will be on the relationship and individual issues. Couples will begin attending therapy together but may come individually during the course of therapy. Please note couple’s therapy is not billable to insurance, but you may be able to use your Health Saving Account.
Two Formats for Couple’s Therapy
I offer couples therapy in two formats: intensives or weekly sessions. Choosing the appropriate format for you will depend on the issues that are bringing you to therapy and your availability for sessions. If you are interested in a combination, the intensive serves as a great jump-start to couple’s therapy, covering several weeks’ worth of material in one session. You will leave feeling more understanding and compassionate toward your partner, as well as learning new tools to begin communicating more effectively.
Fear of Couple’s Counseling
Sometimes both partners are willing participants in the couple’s therapy, sometimes not. Many fear the “stigma” of needing therapy and would rather try to work things out themselves. All of us could use some help from time to time in our lives. If you are struggling, unhappy, or close to separating or divorce, seeking professional help could restore your relationship.
I use a blend of therapies tailored for each couple and their unique concerns. I am trained in the following marriage and premarital modalities:
- Gottman Level 1 & 2
- Materials from the 7 Principles of Making Marriage Work, by John and Julie Gottman. The seven principles Gottman sets out for the partners to enhance their love maps; nurture fondness and admiration; turn toward each other instead of away; let their partner influence them; solve their solvable problems; overcome gridlock, and create shared meaning.
- Prepare & Enrich – Building Strong Marriages
- Emotionally Focused Couples Counseling
- Couples’ Communication / Negative thought Patters
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy- Brief Overview
EFCT focuses on the following stages:
Stage One: Cycle De-escalation
- Step 1: Identify key issues of concern.
- Step 2: Identify ways negative patterns of interaction increase conflict when key issues arise.
- Step 3: The therapist assists in the identification of unacknowledged fears and negative emotions related to attachment underlying negative interaction patterns.
- Step 4: The therapist reframes key issues for the couple in terms of negative patterns of interaction, underlying emotions and fears, and each individual’s attachment needs.
Stage Two: Changing Interaction Patterns
- Step 5: Individuals are assisted in voicing both their attachment needs and deep emotions.
- Step 6: Partners are coached in ways to express acceptance and compassion for a partner’s attachment needs and deep emotions.
- Step 7: Partners are coached in the expression of attachment needs and emotions while also learning ways to discuss those issues likely to cause conflict.
Stage Three: Consolidation and Integration
- Step 8: The therapist coaches the couple in the use of new communication styles to talk about old problems and develop new solutions.
- Step 9: The couple learns ways to use skills practiced in therapy outside of the session and develops a plan to make new interaction patterns a consistent part of life after therapy.
Imago Therapy
Imago therapy focuses on collaboratively healing childhood wounds that the couple share and on the connections of early childhood experiences. The term Imago is Latin for “image”, and refers to the “unconscious image of familiar love.” Simply put, there is often a connection between the frustrations experienced in adult relationships and early childhood experiences. For example: If you frequently felt criticized as a child, you will likely be sensitive to any criticism from your partner. Likewise, if you felt abandoned, smothered, neglected, etc., these feelings will come up in your marriage/committed relationships.