Couple and Marriage Counseling
Most of us can remember a time when we felt great love and mutual compatibility with our partner and excited for each day. Somewhere along the path of work, kids, community and family obligations, that wonderful relationship lost its spark and may have turned confrontational. When did that happen? Where did we make that turn?
Our culture expects spouses to share equally as best friends, financial collaborators, confidants, sex partners and parents; all while sharing the same space with one person as we age and go through our life changes. Are these realistic expectations for life-long marriage?
Relationship skills are not intuitive, they must be learned. It is not necessary to uncover all past anger and hurts to have a successful and loving relationship. Marriage and Family Therapists are specifically trained to create a safe platform where couples can learn and practice how to:
Resolve conflict in a healthy way.
State your needs openly with your partner.
Negotiate change in your relationship.
Disclose and resolve painful emotions.
Clients routinely report that is no other single change that brings a greater quality of life than sharing a loving relationship. But start early; only 5% of divorcing couples seek counseling. On average, couples wait through six years of struggle before seeking counseling. The longer a couple waits, the more difficult it is to unlearn patterns of negative emotional responses. For couples who engage in counseling, the news is good: 75% of couples in therapy are better off than couple who did not receive therapy. 65% of couples report ‘significant’ improvement based on averaged scores of marital satisfaction. Source
““In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?”
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