Couples Counseling
Are You Facing the Possibility of a Marriage Breakup?
Couples counseling may help you to turn your marriage around and prevent a divorce.
Many relationships go through difficult times at some point. When this happens, you can feel as though your whole world has been turned upside down. If problems in your relationship keep you up at night, you’re not alone. Having a safe place where you can discuss your differences can save your relationship and make it better.
Couples Counseling Can Enhance Your Relationship
Even in the most loving relationships, listening and communication skills can be a little bit better. Couples counseling provides you with tools that enable you both to hear and speak in ways that are non-defensive and respectful of each other’s feelings.
Giving each other the freedom to be yourselves — emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually — rather than requiring each other to fit into an ideal — leads to a deeply satisfying relationship. You can appreciate your differences as well as your similarities.
Learning to manage the conflicts that inevitably arise between two people can help you to grow with — rather than away from — your partner. Developing an attitude of mutual respect through couples counseling can help get beyond “I’m right and you’re wrong.”
Exploring the patterns in your relationship — the ebb and flow of connection and disconnection, contact and withdrawal — can enable you to relate more authentically.
Quiz: How Good Are Your Relationship Communication Skills?
While cruising along life’s highway in tandem with someone else, bumps are bound to appear – sometimes even potholes or roadblocks! You need skillful driving, plenty of fuel and a roadmap to stay the course. That’s what good communication is all about.
Take the following quiz to find out how you fare in relationship communication skills. Give yourself a point each time you answer “yes.”
- I don’t assume my partner can read my mind. I say what I’m thinking and feeling.
- I’m specific about issues I want to discuss.
- I try to bring up concerns or objections as soon as they occur, or at the first appropriate opportunity.
- I speak in “I” messages rather than “you” messages, saying “I feel hurt” rather than “You hurt me.”
- I don’t blame my partner when I’m having a bad day or take it out on him/her when something goes wrong.
- I don’t criticize or show contempt for my partner. I often say what I appreciate about him/her.
- I don’t shout or yell at my partner. When things start to escalate, we take time outs.
- When something needs to be talked through or resolved, I don’t avoid or withdraw from my partner or the issue.
- I listen. I make time and stay present for my partner.
- I say “I’m sorry,” “I forgive you,” “Excuse me,” “Please,” and “Thank you.”
Not everyone can answer yes to all these questions all the time, but if you think your communication skills could use some tuning up, don’t hesitate to call me.
Let’s work together to create the kind of relationship you both deserve!