COUPLES AND MARITAL THERAPY
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone. We find it with another.”
(Thomas Merton)
Your primary relationship is the most important one in your life, and even the happiest of couples will face challenges and obstacles along the way. We work with couples to help them reconnect, improve their communication, and rebuild trust. Our clients include couples of all kinds, married or partnered, straight and LGBTQ+ couples, new and newly engaged couples, those in long-term relationships, newly retired couples, and couples in crisis. We help couples break down barriers, so that each partner can see the other’s side of an issue.
We also specialize in guiding couples through such difficulties as long-standing areas of conflict, infidelity, divorce, and comorbidities such as mental illnesses or addictions that may be affecting the relationship. This is the work of what we call, “making the relationship a more conscious one,” and this work reflects the challenges that many couples face in the first several years or more of their relationship. A deeper and more transformative relationship can follow, but only when couples learn how to communicate well, manage conflicts effectively, and take responsibility for themselves and their part in the relationship.
Challenges to relationships can come from many areas. Some of the areas that we specialize in with couples include the following:
- Pre-Marital Counseling
- Adjustment to Marriage
- Parenting Issues
- Transition to Empty Nest
- Transition to Retirement
- Chronic Illness
- Infidelity
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Conflict Management
- Building or Rebuilding Intimacy
- Communication/Co-Parenting following Separation/Divorce
- Addiction and Recovery
- Couples and ADD
Our team has had extensive training in the Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Susan Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT). Both are evidence-based form of couples therapy that have been backed up by many years of research. It is now known what it takes for relationships to last, among all types of couples across all phases of life. We would like to teach you these skills so that your relationship can be better than before.
We use thorough clinical assessments and interviews to determine your strength as a couple, as well as areas that need work. During this period, we will also meet with you individually to better understand you and what else may be affecting your relationship. We determine treatment goals together. Our sessions are focused, and we are not “just a witness” to your ongoing conflict. We give you feedback and tools that you can take home with you and practice.
Couples seek help for a variety of reasons. Whether your relationship has communication problems, lack of trust, emotional distance, or frequent conflict and arguments that leave you feeling alone in your partnership, you are in the right place. We will work on creating a deeper sense of understanding and empathy, strive for connectedness in your relationship, and improve communication and intimacy. The treatment plan is tailored to your needs and goals as a couple, and there are many research-based interventions that will help you get to your goals.