Why Consider Couples Therapy?
The main reason to experience couples counseling is because we all benefit from it. We all need assistance in helping us understand why certain areas of our relationship are so painful and frustrating; why these are often patterns which repeat through our history; and what doesn't and what does work in learning how to accommodate and help each other handle these patterns better.
- Concerns couples frequently express:
- Not safe to express my needs
- Partner is overly critical
- Feeling misunderstood by partner
- Been hurt by partner
- Partners can't connect: too much distance between them
- Relationship is too close or too demanding - one or both need some space
- Relationship lacks safety
- The aim for Couples Therapy:
- To create a safe space in which couples can connect to each other.
- To teach communication skills which will assist each partner to better understand the other.
- To coach each partner in the "art of containment" in order to create the safety the other needs in order to talk honestly and openly.
- To put into practice the kind of listening where we truly get to understand our partner's feelings and needs.
- To explore how some of the differences that upset us are part of our childhood, personality or gender experiences and therefore are neither right nor wrong.
- To hear what it takes for a hurt partner to regain trust and begin to heal.
- To help couples see how the power struggle can actually be an opportunity for personal and relational growth.