Journey Together Counseling, LLC

Are You Concerned About The Future Of Your Relationship?

Are you and your partner having the same fight countless times? Do you feel unheard or unappreciated in your relationship? Have you ever felt like you barely recognized your partner anymore - or yourself? 

Perhaps you feel like you and your partner are simply talking past each other, and these ongoing miscommunication issues have pushed you to your breaking point as a couple. When you try to speak up about your needs, you don’t feel like your partner truly understands you. 

Despite being in a relationship, you feel lonely and suspect that your partner might feel just as isolated. Being with your partner doesn’t bring you a sense of comfort and belonging anymore. Instead, you feel anxious when you think about your future, and you question whether or not you can rekindle your romance.

Miscommunication Can Drive A Wedge Between You And Your Partner

Maybe you and your partner have tried to solve these problems on your own, but despite your best efforts, your relationship is still suffering. To make matters worse, the stress you’re experiencing because of your relationship problems might be spilling over into other areas of your life. 

You don’t want to give up on your relationship, but you’re starting to lose hope. If you want to restore your connection with your partner, working in couples therapy can help. Through therapy, you and your partner can identify the roots of your problems, figure out what you really want out of your relationship, develop a healthier communication style, and build a bright future together.

Every Couple Faces Obstacles

There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. Even a strong couple can come up against an obstacle that feels like an impasse. It’s normal for happy, healthy couples to occasionally experience instances in which they feel dissatisfied with their relationship or disconnected from their partner. Although this isn’t out of the ordinary, no couple wants to get stuck in this rut forever. Relational unhappiness can erode your sense of stability. When you and your partner are on shaky ground, both of you might feel anxious, depressed, or insecure.

Most People Never Learn Authentic Self-Expression 

Why do so many couples run into relational troubles? Unfortunately, many of us never learn healthy, authentic modes of communication and self-expression growing up, and without seeing these behaviors modeled, we don’t learn how to identify our needs or ask for what we want from our partners. 

Instead, we often see confrontational relationships, or relationships in which one partner is always expected to give in while the other does not compromise. But these forms of engagement ultimately undermine relationships and drive wedges between partners. Or maybe you and your partner never fight, and you avoid conflict. Over time, leaving things unsaid creates a chasm between partners, and it can feel like the intimacy in your relationship has dried up and disappeared.

Your relationship does not have to feel like a competition, Cold War, or roommate arrangement. It’s possible to foster an intimate connection with your partner and create a life in which your mutual needs are met. You can move beyond these unhealthy communication models and come together as a team to solve your problems and reignite the romance in your relationship. With help from a couples counselor, you’ll gain the skills you need to cultivate a loving bond. 

Couples Therapy Can Help You Build A Life You Love Together

In couples counseling, you and your partner will spend time exploring your core values, examining how you’ve been acting out of alignment with your authentic selves, and developing mature communication skills so that you can break out of unhealthy behavioral patterns. You’ll dive into deep relational work and learn how to put these techniques into practice outside of sessions so that you feel fulfilled as an individual and within your relationship.

What To Expect In Couples Therapy Sessions

During your first session, you’ll have the opportunity to share what you’ve been going through and discuss the changes you hope to bring about through therapy. Depending on your needs, goals, and preferences as a couple, I might encourage you to attend extended sessions ranging from 80 to 110 minutes, allowing us to dive into deep relational work. While most couples will attend sessions every other week, couples facing serious challenges may benefit from scheduling weekly sessions.

Treatment Approaches For Couples Therapy

In my practice, I apply a post-modern, experiential approach to couples therapy. I am have advanced training in Relational Life Couples Therapy, by Terry Real, and I also draw heavily from the pillars of relationship and family therapies, such as Virginia Satir, Michael White, Murray Bowen, Monica McGoldrick, and John and Julie Gottman.

In sessions, we’ll focus on understanding the narratives that you and your partner have constructed about your relationships and how these stories might be undermining your connection. For example, if you truly want affection, but past experiences have taught you to remain guarded, you might put up walls instead of leaning on your partner. You’ll learn how to build new narratives based on healthy, conscious stances that reflect your values. 

Much of the work we do in couples therapy will center around accountability and responsibility. I’ll help you and your partner learn how to make real apologies without shame, defensiveness, or shrinking away. You’ll get comfortable with expressing your needs authentically and making space for your partner to do the same.

Furthermore, I can guide you through reenactments and role-play scenarios, using metaphors to understand and name your experience, and even incorporate age-appropriate art and play therapy techniques into your treatment plan. The benefit of using this experiential approach is that you will be able to feel and integrate changes, moving the insights you 'know' into the partner you are. You’ll gain the tools to create healthy boundaries, learn more about one another, and make lasting changes that generate authentic growth—as partners and as people.

Couples counseling can bring out the best in you and your partner and help you develop genuine intimacy. Through therapy, you can learn how to solve problems as a team, fulfill the relational needs of partnership together, and appreciate each other for who you truly are.

But You May Still Have Questions About Couples Therapy…

Should my partner and I attend couples therapy together, or pursue individual counseling?

If you have been having the same arguments over and over again with your partner or dealing with the same problems time after time, couples therapy is probably a good fit for you. Furthermore, if you’re unsatisfied with your relationship and want to heal your connection while improving how you relate to each other, you could benefit from couples counseling. Depending on your specific needs and goals, I might also recommend that you attend individual therapy sessions. 

We’ve tried couples therapy before with little or no improvement—could working with a new therapist really help?

At my practice, I have helped many couples who tried couples therapy previously without much success. My approach helps partners dig deeper into their core values as a couple and make lasting changes. I help you hold yourself accountable so that you can start seeing the results of your efforts outside of therapy. If appropriate, I can help you determine whether or not staying together is the right choice for you and navigate a potential separation with grace if you choose to go down different paths.

my partner and I are doing okay, but we want to grow closer. is couple’s therapy the right step for us?

Couple’s therapy is a great way to grow in your relationship. In couple’s therapy, you will learn how to make a good relationship great, and build on the strengths you already have. Partners who want to keep growing together can take proactive steps toward this in couple’s therapy. I can help you get on or stay on the right track by teaching you relational skills, supporting your practice of relational living, and identifying pitfalls in your way.

You Can Heal and grow Together Through Couples Therapy

If you and your partner are interested in starting couples counseling, I invite you to get in touch and learn more about my practice. Please fill out the contact form on my website to request an appointment for a free, initial interview or call me at 303-552-2910.