Relationship Challenges

We are hard-wired for relationships. We are designed to connect with others on many different levels. From interacting with strangers and forming new friendships to navigating family dynamics and cultivating romantic partnerships, being with others is critical to living a healthy and fulfilling life. Research consistently shows that loneliness can be detrimental to your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. If you want to learn more about the impacts of loneliness, click here.

• Overview of Relationship Counseling
  You (the couple) and I will work together collaboratively to address challenges, improve communication, and enhance the overall quality of your relationship. Through structured sessions and evidence-based techniques, I can help you individually and as a couple to identify and work through issues that are unique to your relationships, assist in the rebuilding of trust, cultivate deeper intimacy and connection and improve how you communicate, listen and argue together.

• Common Issues Addressed in Relationship Counseling:
  Communication problems
  Conflict resolution difficulties
  Sexual Intimacy and emotional connection issues
  Trust and betrayal issues
  Affair recovery and restoration issues
  Parenting conflicts
  Financial disagreements
  Role expectations and division of labor
  Cultural or religious differences
  Life transitions and adjustment issues

• Highlights of Relationship Therapy Can Include:
  
  1. Assessment: I will conduct an initial assessment to understand the presenting concerns, history, and identify and clarify your goals for therapy.
  
  2. Attachment Analysis: I will conduct a brief assessment (questionnaire) that will identify what your attachment style is. I will provide you with an overview of the various attachment style types and how they directly and indirectly impact you and how you relate with each other and the world.
  
  3. Communication and Conflict Style: We will take some time and explore how you communicate and deal with conflict individually and as a couple.
  
  4. Skill Building: (Communication and Conflict): I will help you develop effective communication skills, including active listening, empathy, and assertiveness, to facilitate open and honest dialogue, as well as help you create and implement healthy conflict resolution strategies, such as negotiation, compromise, boundary setting and problem-solving, to resolve disagreements constructively and prevent escalation and blow-ups.
  
  5. Rebuilding Trust: In many cases, betrayal or broken trust can be the root cause of relational instability. Betrayal comes in various forms and trust can take years to build, but only moments to damage or destroy. I will assist you in clearly identifying the specific betrayal or trust fracture, expressing it and understanding it. Then we will move into taking the delicate steps to rebuild trust and repair the relationship through transparency, accountability, and forgiveness, if that is what both individuals want.
  
  6. Maintenance: You will learn strategies to maintain progress achieved in therapy and prevent relapse into old patterns of behavior through ongoing practice and reinforcement of skills.

• Common Barriers and Challenges:
  
  1.Resistance to Therapy: One or both individuals may feel resistant or ambivalent about attending therapy, especially if they perceive it as a sign of weakness or failure.
  
  2. Communication Breakdown: Communication problems may hinder the effectiveness of therapy, making it difficult for individuals or partners to express themselves or understand each other’s perspectives.
  
  3.Underlying Issues: Unresolved individual issues, such as trauma, mental health problems, or substance abuse, may contribute to relationship difficulties and require additional support and individualized intervention/treatment.
  
  4. Cultural, Religious and Family of Origin Factors: Cultural, religious beliefs and family of origin factors may influence attitudes toward therapy and help-seeking behaviors, posing challenges to the therapeutic process.
  
  5. Giving Up: Relationships are messy and can be extremely challenging. Making changes is a relatively simple and straightforward process, but simple does not mean easy. Many times one person, or both people throw in the towel prematurely and quit. Change requires three ingredients: time, patience, and consistency. Success IS NOT POSSIBLE without all three!