Couples Therapy

Are You Worried That Your Relationship Is Falling Apart?

Are you struggling with increased tension or distance between you and your partner? Have you felt a shift in the emotional connection you share or your commitment to one another? Perhaps you’re having trouble with resolving conflict and/or communicating effectively. Or maybe a string of small disagreements blowing up into big fights has you avoiding certain conversations all together. Has an affair or another breech of trust threatened the foundation of your relationship? Do you wish you could reconnect with your partner and feel confident in your ability to work through this challenging time as a team?  

It can be difficult to focus on your personal and professional responsibilities when you feel at odds with your partner. Misunderstandings and challenges in your relationship may lead you to question whether your partner still cares or is supportive of your thoughts and needs. Alternately, you may already be in a loving relationship, but you wish to strengthen your connection before getting married. As you and your partner grow and develop, the relationship dynamic changes, and you may not be sure how to feel close and connected like you were when you first started dating. You may wake up one day and realize you are no longer communicating with your partner or understand what he/she wants.

Almost Every Couple Faces Relationship Challenges

Most people are looking for someone to share their lives with – someone who makes them feel heard, supported and loved. But, forming a close, connected relationship can be difficult. Both you and your partner will experience changes in your personal and professional lives that impact the way you communicate and what it is that you want and need from one another. Many individuals grow up without learning how to be in a healthy relationship, and the traits that originally attract you to your partner may eventually become the reason you are experiencing conflict. Discovering what you need from your partner and how you behave in relationships is a learning process, and almost every couple hits bumps in the road.

The good news is that couples therapy at The Counseling Center in Towson can help you recognize your relationship needs, reconnect with your partner and foster a healthy, long-lasting bond.

Couples Therapy Can Help You Heal And Strengthen Your Relationship

While almost every couple deals with challenges in their relationship, most problems can be resolved if one or both members are willing to work on the issue. When you and your partner are committed to understanding one another’s viewpoints and finding solutions to your problems, you can learn to resolve tension and conflict peacefully and without letting it damage your relationship. At The Counseling Center, you will not only be working with a therapist who treats couples, but a couples therapist with specialized training and extensive experience helping relationships like yours. We understand the challenges you are facing, and we can help you learn how to reconnect with your partner and build a happy, healthy relationship.

The specific goals you bring to couples therapy are unique, which is why we tailor our approach to provide the practical resources and effective support you need. You can learn how to communicate effectively and honestly with your partner, moving from blame and anger to empathy and understanding. Rather than feeling distant or lonely in your relationship, you can once again feel emotionally connected and cared for. And where you may have once felt helpless to resolve conflict, you can develop skills to confidently and actively create the relationship you want.

We will begin our couples therapy work by completing a thorough relationship assessment. One type of assessment that we use is based on the extensively researched Gottman Method for Healthy Relationships. The results are used to create an individualized treatment plan to address your specific challenges and goals. You and your partner play an active role in identifying and developing solutions to your relationship challenges, and it is important that we discuss and mutually agree on our approach in order to get the most out of our work together.

Once we have developed a strategy to reach your relationship goals, you can begin learning the skills you need to produce meaningful, lasting change. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the Gottman Method and IMAGO therapy can be used to help you and your partner learn how to talk to each other openly and honestly about your personal experiences, wants and goals in the relationship. When you truly understand your own needs on a deeper level, you are able to communicate more effectively and create more empathy with your partner. Together with your partner and an experienced couples therapist, you can develop solutions that foster happiness, respect and love.

The Counseling Center has been supporting couples in Towson for more than 25 years. We know that when a couple is committed and willing to actively participate in the couples therapy, almost every relationship problem can be resolved. With the right resources and support, you can heal your relationship and build a meaningful, lasting foundation.

But you may still have questions or concerns about couples therapy…

What can I do if my partner refuses to come in?

Some couples work can be done on an individual basis, and it can be helpful to come in on your own if your partner is refusing to attend. Individual changes you make – better understanding your personal wants and needs as well as those of your partner – can benefit the relationship. Additionally, we can try to come up with ways to encourage your partner to attend, showing him or her that couples therapy is about your relationship goals together, not placing blame on either partner.

We had a bad experience with couples therapy in the past. How would working with you be different?

Couples therapy can be extremely effective, but it depends on a variety of factors. Many therapists who treat couples actually specialize in other challenges, and they may not bring the same extensive knowledge, training or expertise as the couples therapists at The Counseling Center. Or their approach may have been one of talking through your challenges in sessions, but you never left with resolution or skills you could use to keep working on your problems at home. Additionally, both you and your partner have changed since you last attended couples therapy, and one or both of you may now be more open or receptive to receiving support. We work with you to tailor our approach to your specific relationship challenges and goals, and we provide practical resources and skills you can apply immediately.

I’m worried I’ll be blamed for our problems if we come in for couples therapy.

There is a common fear when considering couples therapy – more often for men than women – that you may be blamed or shamed for the problems in the relationship. We approach couples therapy not from the perspective of who is right or wrong but what will work well in your relationship. There is incredible diversity in how different couples function well together, and our work focuses on how to heal and strengthen your relationship, not placing blame.

You Can Feel Happy And Loved In Your Relationship

Whether you have been dealing with challenges in your relationship or you want to strengthen the bond you already share with your partner, couples therapy at The Counseling Center can help. To get started on the path toward a stronger relationship, or if you have additional questions about couples therapy, we invite you to call 410-583-7443 to schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation.