Is Your Relationship Struggling?
Are you having trouble communicating with your partner? Has an affair or breach of trust created distance between you and your significant other? Or do you suspect that an unresolved trauma or experience from your past is preventing you from making progress in your relationship?
You and your partner may engage in frequent conflict or stonewalling. Perhaps you’re tired of having the same conversation or fight about issues that just can’t seem to resolve. It may feel as though you have tried everything to make your marriage or relationship work.
Alternatively, you may already have separated from your partner and are now looking for help as you potentially navigate legal matters of divorce or co-parenting. Maybe you believe that even though things didn’t work out between you two, it’s nevertheless important to maintain a cordial and cooperative relationship.
Marriage problems and relationship issues are frequently at the root of many mental health concerns. One or both of you may be struggling with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or substance abuse. And you may find it difficult to feel seen or understood by your significant other. Moreover, if infidelity has taken place, you’re likely grappling with intense emotions and unanswered questions.
In couples counseling, however, you can begin the process of answering such questions and resolving the conflicts that have adversely impacted your marriage.
Relationship Issues Often Stem From Our Challenges As Individuals
We all struggle in our intimate relationships from time to time. Sharing a life with someone else who has different needs and desires from our own requires communication, compromise, and sometimes a little bit of conflict. Yet when such conflict becomes damaging or counterproductive, it may be time to consider the help of a therapist.
Oftentimes, ongoing relationship conflict stems from the unresolved trauma or distress that we bring into the partnership as individuals. We may carry pain from childhood neglect or abuse, fractured attachments with parents or caregivers, or past relationship challenges. Not to mention, our partnerships can also be affected by external factors, including oversimplified media portrayals of romance and a tech-obsessed culture that creates a never-ending stream of distractions, making it increasingly difficult to spend quality time with our significant other.
And when adequate mental health and communication techniques are not effectively modeled for us, we end up stuck in adverse relationship patterns that create ongoing marriage problems.
Couples counseling, however, makes it possible to unlearn some of these patterns, develop strong communication skills, and increase intimacy between you and your partner.
You Can Create Positive Change By Gaining Valuable Perspective On Your Marriage Or Partnership In Couples Counseling
Unfortunately, many couples wait until they are at the absolute end of their rope before agreeing to seek the help of a marriage therapist. At that point, however, negative cycles of communication have been formed and reinforced.
Though it may be difficult to see outside of such deeply ingrained communication issues, a couples counselor can provide you with essential perspective and a model for positive change. Our marriage counselors are trained in the renowned Gottman Method for couples therapy. This proven approach can help you disengage from unhelpful patterns, increase mutual respect, and create a sense of progress as you work towards shared goals.
Beginning with a session during which both you and your partner can come together and express your goals for therapy, your counselor will get a sense of what the presenting issues in the relationship are and what kinds of skills need to be targeted throughout treatment. After that, each of you will be invited to attend one individual session so that you can address any personal issues that may come up throughout the course of marriage counseling. From there, you will continue to meet as a couple, using sessions as a chance to calmly explore your marriage problems, such as communication issues and any obstacles that are getting in your way of making progress together.
In addition to the Gottman Method, our counselors may use trauma-informed approaches, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which can help you and your partner to identify emotions and process distressing experiences. In readjusting your individual relationship to the past, you can clear the way to readjust your relationship with each other.
At Insight Counseling Center, we have witnessed a wide range of struggling relationships—from newlyweds to recently separated co-parents to LGBTQ-identifying couples—transform into healthy, sustainable bonds. And we know that you do not have to be in a marriage to benefit from couples counseling.
A healthy, more functional, and more satisfying partnership is within your reach, and it begins with committing to marriage therapy at Insight Counseling Center.
Maybe you’re considering counseling for your marriage or relationship, but you have some concerns…
My spouse and I have had issues for so long, I don’t see how marriage counseling could help.
A lot of couples struggle with ongoing issues that have accumulated over time. In fact, John Gottman himself has found that most couples wait an average of six years before seeking help for their marriage problems. Nevertheless, Gottman has been extremely successful in creating a marriage therapy model that effectively helps couples to overcome never-ending conflict and/or gridlock in the relationship.
We have seen couples who are struggling with difficult challenges (including infidelity) successfully navigate relationship problems and find common ground. We are not here to pressure you into staying in a relationship that isn’t working, but we want to help you both see where you’re experiencing setbacks as individuals and where you’re experiencing setbacks as a couple. It’s our hope that you consider giving marriage counseling a try—it may be more helpful than you think.
How long does couples counseling take?
The length of time spent in marriage or couples counseling will greatly vary from client to client. Many factors will determine the duration of therapy and treatment plan, including your commitment to the process both in and outside of sessions. While an intake and assessment will be required to know how long you’ll be in counseling, we are confident that you will begin to see progress relatively quickly when you’re able to explore your relationship issues with a trained, nonjudgmental, and empathetic counselor.
I’m concerned about the cost of counseling.
If cost is a concern, we encourage you to view couples counseling as an investment in your relationship. When ongoing conflicts create problems in a marriage or partnership, it’s depleting for both people involved. Counseling not only gives you an opportunity to find resolutions to the problems you face as a couple, but it can also provide you with individual relief and understanding of yourself.
You Can Overcome Relationship Hurdles
If you and your partner are struggling with conflict or marital issues, couples therapy at Insight Counseling Center can provide you with a model for healing and resolution. To learn more about our marriage counseling services or to schedule an appointment, please visit our contact page