Marriage/Couple Counseling
Your partner is one of the most important people in your life, and often that relationship can be the most neglected one in your life, leading to feelings of disconnect and detachment-- like "roommates" or "business partners."
We can get caught up in all of the "to-do's"of life; we focus on our jobs, tending to the home, and the hustle and bustle of raising children while we let our our partnership fall to the wayside.
Research shows that couples experience an average of 6 years of duress before reaching out for couples counseling. This means that the relationship has deteriorated over time, and these new patterns of interactions have been established and accepted as the "norm."
Couples Counseling requires specialized training which I have successfully completed. I implement a combination of Gottman and EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) for Couples.
As a Gottman trained couples counselor, I am able to administer an Gottman Assessment through the Gottman Institute to help you and your partner understand the strengths and challenges of your relationship. Following the Gottman model, I teach skills the Gottman's have created based on their 40 years of research to assist with healthy communication, de-escalation, conflict management, compromise, and increasing fondness and friendship in your relationship.
EFT for couples is applied by taking an overview approach of your relationship and the patterns and cycles that take place within it. We look at how each partner's behavior influences and affects the other (referred to as the tango or dance within the relationship), the cycles that have developed over the years, and how to break and create new patterns and interactions.
Using EFT we will work towards building a secure attachment within the relationship- one that provides the security of knowing that your partner "will be there."
I believe both of these models bring different strengths to the couples practice, and I implement and fluctuate between both models to provide the most research proven couples modalities to your relationship.
You CAN have a happy and healthy relationship. New patterns can be established, new ways of communication and managing conflict can be learned, and intimacy and connection can be restored!
In person and Telehealth Appointments are available for Couples Counseling. If you choose Online Therapy, it is requested the both of you to be in the same room, using the same device. This is helpful for the skill building exercises we do.