Couples Counseling
Marriage counseling or couples therapy aims to support people in relationship who:
- want improved communication, understanding, or intimacy,
- may be dealing with sex problems or the aftermath of infidelity,
- may be considering marriage, or
- are considering separation or divorce.
In couples and marriage therapy, the focus is on the relationship; however, each individual in the relationship should also expect to focus on self-improvement and self-awareness.
Couples counselors help identify problems underlying a couple’s functioning and guide the couple to healthier functioning through interventions such as teaching effective conflict resolution skills, emotional regulation, healthy communication skills, sex therapy, and empathic repair. Couples counselors also can do premarital counseling to help couples considering marriage decide whether to proceed, and, for those moving forward with marriage, teach skills to help marrying couples to lay a solid foundation for their marriage.
Research indicates that while it is best to initiate couples counseling as soon as discontent arises in a relationship, on average it is six years before couples seek therapy. The more time passes, the more difficult it may be to repair the relationship, so do not wait – call today.