Couples Counseling
Both partners in a relationship constantly face the challenge of balancing the demands of love, sexuality and partnership. The needs that each partner brings to the relationship can often be different and expectations regarding things like autonomy and intimacy may change as the relationship develops. Those differences and changes can generate conflicts which are often difficult for a couple to resolve on their own. Couples counseling involves a negotiating process in which both partners decide together what they wish to change in their relationship. My job in this process is to help you recognize entrenched patterns of communication and interaction, to help you question these habits and identify new channels of communication.
Couples counseling, couples therapy and marriage counseling can help if you
- feel your discussions go around in circles or repeatedly lead to a familiar dead end and a feeling that you do not understand each other
- are considering separation
- feel bored and tired with each other
- are unsatisfied with your sexual relationship
- cannot agree when you face important decisions
- feel unable to quarrel
- feel that you can no longer trust your partner
- feel that you have been hurt
- need more, or less, intimacy than your partner
- feel that your relationship is in crisis.
Couples counseling, couple therapy and marriage counseling can occur in different settings. I work with couples as a solo counselor or, if an additional perspective is desirable, in tandem with another counselor in a two-on-two format.