Couples Counseling

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Couples Counseling

Begin Building a Stronger Relationship

Couples counseling is an effective way for married and unmarried couples to improve their relationship, respectfully address recurring relationship problems, and develop healthier communication habits.

Like anything in life, marriage or a romantic relationship occasionally needs maintenance to ensure it’s functioning at its best and to prevent future issues.

Time with a couples counselor ensures that you and your spouse or partner receive the support and guidance you need to embrace healthy relationship habits and overcome external stressors that can have a negative impact on your relationship’s happiness.

What is Couples Counseling?

Couples counseling is a type of therapy with a qualified therapist who specializes in handling issues between people who are in a romantic relationship. The primary goals of counseling are to help the couple better resolve their conflicts, improve their communication, address personal behaviors that are impacting the relationship, and provide general insight into the relationship.

There are different approaches that a couples counselor might use to help a couple depending on their specific needs and the details of their relationship. Many of the approaches focus on changing the behaviors that are detrimental to the health and emotional safety of your relationship.

What Couples Can Benefit from Couples Counseling

Any couple who wants to improve their relationship and develop healthier ways of communicating with and relating to one another can benefit from attending couples counseling. You don’t have to be in the middle of a relationship emergency to go to couples counseling.

However, if a couple is facing a crisis or problem that they can’t seem to solve, couples counseling can give them the guidance they need to save their relationship.

Some situations where counseling is recommended include:

  • One of the partners has committed infidelity
  • The relationship feels like its lost its spark
  • There’s a disagreement over a significant issue (such as where to live or whether to have children)
  • The couple is consistently fighting or doesn’t know how to disagree without yelling and screaming at each other
  • The couple is entering a new stage of life and struggling to process the changes associated with the new stage
  • There’s a conflict over parenting
  • The couple is sexually incompatible
  • The couple is strongly considering divorce

While it’s NEVER too late for a couple to seek help, it’s ideal to go to couples counseling before you’re ready to end your relationship or marriage. This prevents manageable problems from turning into larger issues that can lead to long-term anger and resentment.

What to Expect During a Counseling Session

When you go to couples counseling near Wheaton, you may be apprehensive about what will happen during the session. Your counseling session will begin with standard questions that will help your counselor learn more about you, your partner, and your relationship.

To learn more about your relationship history and your background, your therapist will slowly ask more probing questions before asking you what issues you’re specifically concerned about. They will ask you what you’re hoping to accomplish with couples therapy. Each partner will have a chance to speak and offer their thoughts about their relationship problems and what’s contributing to the issues.

Based on the dynamics of the relationship and each partner’s behaviors, your counselor will suggest changes that each partner can make to their communication, physical responses, and behaviors.

After the session, each partner will need to work on following and practicing the counselor’s suggestions and guidance until the next counseling appointment.

You can use couples counseling along with other types of therapy, such as individual therapy or therapy for specific issues. If your partner is resistant to attending couples counseling, one option is for each partner to initially attend sessions on their own until both partners are comfortable attending sessions together.

How to Get Started with Couples Counseling

If you’re ready to start building a stronger, more secure relationship with your partner or spouse, counseling can help. Call Cherry Hill Counseling at 847-438-4222 to set up a counseling session or to learn more about our options for couples counseling online.