What is Couples Counseling?

Couples counseling occurs when two partners desire to grow in their relationship with each other through a better understanding of themselves and each other. This desire for growth occurs when the couple wants to overcome certain conflicts in the relationship or wishes to strengthen the relationship. Each partner fills out an individual assessment of their relationship, and then they come to a joint counseling session where they can benefit from a neutral counselor to help work through their differences and improve their relationship. The counselor will work with each partner to acknowledge, assess, and voice emotions and thought processes which contribute to relationship distress. In most cases the counselor will work to treat the relationship, rather than work with each partner individually. The counselor will teach skills to help partners gain a better understanding of each other, how to truly listen to each other, and how to communicate both feelings and expectations in positive ways.

Reflecting Hope offers couples counseling to help two people involved in a relationship find insight into their relationship by resolving conflicts and working towards overall relationship satisfaction. When working with couples we base our techniques and interventions on Intimacy Therapy and Emotion Focused therapy. Intimacy Therapy focuses on fostering intimacy between a couple, identifying obstacles in connecting, and building positive interactions with each other. It provides tools for developing stronger communication. Emotion Focused Therapy helps couples identify how emotions and thoughts are inter-related and may contribute to the dysfunction felt within the relationship.

Couples seek counseling to work through: communication problems, substance abuse issues, anger, infidelity, conflicts with children or each other, blended family issues, being on the verge of divorce, or sexual issues.

Couples counseling can also assist couples who are planning to get married. Premarital counseling helps couples recognize their differences and work them out before marriage. It focuses the couple on appreciating each other for who they are, rather than seeing their partner as who we want them to be. Premarital counseling provides the couple with communication skills, needs assessments, and love language skills for developing a true appreciation of the other as an individual. Lastly, it helps couples communicate and work through hard issues like: when/how often are we going to have sex, are we going to have children and when, who’s responsible for the budget and paying bills, will both individuals work, who will be responsible for inside/outside chores, etc.