Couples Therapy
Couples therapy is for couples seeking to improve their relationship. Having a healthy relationship takes work. Couples therapy may not be easy, but making the choice to work on the relationship through therapy is one of the most significant things you may choose to do for healing the relationship. Studies indicate that partners will not seek therapy until they have been unhappy for an average of six years. The more time that has passed, the more difficult it becomes to repair the relationship. The more motivated and engaged the partners are, the more they are apt to make positive changes in the relationship through the therapy work.
Our therapists are trained to support the couple in their goals, focusing to improve the couple’s relationship and offer interventions that can help the partners to safely address their concerns and difficulties through the process of problem solving and healing. In couples counseling, the relationship is the focus, along with guiding each partner to focus on self-improvement, self-growth and self-awareness. In some cases, a couple will come into therapy after already deciding to separate in order to end the relationship amicably and respectfully.
Although there are many different therapy modalities to use in couple’s therapy, some of the modalities our therapists use include the following:
Imago Relationship therapy
Imago relationship therapy explores how we unconsciously choose partners who reflect back the very things we might benefit from working on ourselves. While working to expose unconscious components that helped you chose your mate, you learn how to be better equipped to relate to each other in positive, caring ways. The couple’s conflict is viewed as a solution to the situation rather than the problem. Exploring the conflict is the key to finding the solution.
Emotion-focused therapy
Emotion-focused therapy encourages each partner to examine how communication styles or attachment experiences present themselves in interactions. The focus is to seek a secure tight bond between the partners, repositioning each partner’s stance during interactions and creating new and beneficial interaction in the partnership.
Gottman therapy
Gottman method couple therapy has been around for 40 years with research and practice in clinical settings with thousands of couples. The Gottman Method uses couples counseling techniques to increase affection, closeness and respect and help manage conflict in a positive way. These techniques facilitate movement forward when couples are at an impasse. The partners learn how to better communicate, have empathy and understanding for one another and discuss situations calmly.