Counseling for Relationships

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A successful relationship doesn’t happen on its own. Sometimes it takes counseling for relationships to make things work. Relationships are temperamental and can start to break down from things like ineffective communication, built-up resentments, and a lack of understanding.

Even if your situation feels hopeless, counseling for relationships may be what you need to get back to where you were when things felt easier. The team of therapists at our relationship counseling center is here to help you develop the tools to reconnect with each other and strengthen your relationship.

What is relationship counseling?

Relationship counseling helps to identify what might be causing some of the struggles in your relationship and what you need to feel fulfilled. It may include individual relationship counseling, where you meet with a counselor one-on-one to discuss your individual needs and how they relate to your relationship. Or, you and your partner might meet with a counselor together where you can get the things that are bothering you off your chest in a safe space, and explore the ways you can improve your relationship.

Some relationship therapy exercises you may be encouraged to try in couples counseling in Wheaton are:

•     Identifying feelings
•     Exploring the past
•     Alignment
•     Expressing gratitude
•     Identifying love languages
•     Scheduling time together
•     Focusing on solutions

These types of exercises aim to help you learn more about yourself and your partner, help each other feel more appreciated, and address issues you may be holding onto.

Who is it for?

Relationship counseling in Wheaton is for couples who are married or about to get married, couples who live together, non-monogamous couples, and same-sex couples. It isn’t limited to romantic partners though. Siblings, business partners, and people dealing with problems in other types of relationships may benefit from relationship counseling.

What to Expect

Every couple is different and an approach that works for one couple may not work for another. The techniques used in your counseling sessions will depend on the issues that are present in your relationship. At Cherry Hill Counseling, we use a variety of approaches in our counseling for relationships, including Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and the Gottman Method as an evidence-based approach when we are working with couples.

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

This type of therapy helps with the attachment and bonding in adult relationships. The therapy focuses on de-escalation the negative interaction patterns, restructuring how to share emotions while reducing conflict, and consolidation of new communication strategies and skills for interacting with each other.

Gottman Method

The Gottman method is a science driven approach to couples therapy that is built on decades of research. The method examines criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling in the relationship, then identifies ways to alleviate those issues through a series of seven floors which include: Building love maps, sharing fondness and admiration, turning towards – not away, finding positive perspective, managing conflict, making life dreams come true, creating shared meaning, and building trust and commitment.

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

Cognitive-behavior therapy helps to identify negative or harmful thinking patterns, which may be contributing to dissatisfaction in your relationship. Once you’ve identified them, you’re encouraged to think of more helpful thoughts to replace them with and continue to practice replacing them so that it starts to happen naturally.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a meditative practice centered around being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and reactions in the present moment without judging them or trying to change them. Its purpose is to relieve stress and help you become more aware of how things in your life affect you so you can respond authentically.

Codependency Education and Support

Codependency is a behavior that can stand in the way of building healthy, lasting relationships. For one person in the relationship, it describes being excessively dependent on a partner emotionally or psychologically and for the other person, it describes the need to feel needed by your partner. Learning how to overcome codependency can be beneficial for the relationships and the individuals involved.

Substance Use Assessments

When one or both people in a relationship have a problem with substance use, it often puts a strain on the relationship and many other areas of life. Acknowledging a problem is the first step to making choices that have a more positive effect on your relationship and the other areas of your life.

Motivational Interviewing

When a relationship is struggling, it’s common for one or both people involved to lose the motivation to improve the situation. Motivational interviewing is a short-term process that aims to resolve ambivalence about changing the behaviors that might benefit your relationship.

Behavioral Assessments

Behavior assessments are used to help identify and understand a person’s thinking styles, willingness to learn, leadership qualities, and many other behaviors so that you can predict and correct unhelpful behaviors.

What To Do Next

If you’re experiencing problems in your relationship and want to learn techniques in counseling for relationships that can help you understand yourself better and improve your relationships, schedule an appointment at Cherry Hill Counseling today to find the right therapist for you.