Relationships can be complicated! At Eunoia Counseling, we understand that it is easy to fall into patterns of communication that do not foster closeness, warmth, or growth in our relationships.
Daily life stressors, busy schedules, responsibilities of parenthood, career demands, and other distractions can deplete the energy we have for our partner. Additionally, a history of trauma, poor past relationship models, blended family challenges, and infidelity can further distance us from each other. Couples therapy can be an essential component to correcting negative patterns and guiding your relationship in a positive direction.
Couples counseling is not only for struggling relationships —but it’s also a fabulous way to keep your healthy relationship strong by reinforcing positive patterns and identifying ways to recognize and work around potential future trouble areas.
Does Couples Therapy Actually Help?
Think for a moment how you feel when you and your partner are in conflict or simply not “in step” with one another. What words come to mind? Loneliness? Insecurity? Sadness? Or perhaps it’s not a word that comes to mind, but a physical feeling, like a pit in your stomach. Over time, these physical and emotional responses to relational difficulty take a physical and emotional toll on you, your partner, and children.
Research reveals that being in a happy, healthy relationship leads to improved physical and psychological well-being. Ongoing relational conflict is damaging to the physical and mental health of each partner, and it adversely affects their children. Studies show that it may impact children’s stress response systems and hinder their cognitive development mentally and intellectually.
Those statistics might give you pause, but research also demonstrates that 70% of couples receiving couples counseling experience lasting positive changes in their relationships, which leads to relational happiness and improved health for the entire family.
Common goals in couples counseling are designed to strengthen relationships by building friendship, resolving conflict, and increasing shared meaning. Other objectives to achieve these three common goals include:
- Disarming conflicting verbal communication
- Increasing respect
- Increasing affection
- Increasing intimacy
- Removing barriers
- Developing a deeper sense of understanding
- Heightened awareness
- Increasing empathy
- Improving connectedness
- Interpersonal growth
When to Seek Couples Therapy
Most couples wait six or more years to seek couples therapy after they need it, partly due to the stigma attached to it. Signs that you and your partner could benefit from couples therapy include:
- Broken trust
- Poor communication
- Increasing conflict and arguments
- Something feels “off”
- Life-altering family crisis or setback
- You’re stuck in unhealthy patterns
- Emotional or physical intimacy has significantly decreased
- Mismanagement of or disagreement about finances
What Happens During Couples Therapy?
When you first meet with one of our skilled therapists, your session will begin with getting to know you individually and as a couple. Couples therapy sessions include assessments aimed at pinpointing areas of the relationship that will benefit from intervention and focus.
Our counselors will also gather verbal input and background to gain a thorough understanding of each partner’s current perspective and where they hope for change. At Eunoia Counseling, the therapist will stand as a neutral figure facilitating and educating throughout the couples counseling process.
Empirically Supported Strategies
Eunoia Counseling utilizes the empirically supported strategies of the Sound Marital House Theory of the Gottman Method, which has helped thousands of couples overcome barriers in their relationships to achieve greater understanding, connection, and intimacy in their relationships.
The Sound Marital House Theory is comprised of seven principles held up by a foundation of trust and commitment.
- Build love maps
- Share fondness and admiration
- Turn towards instead of away
- The positive perspective
- Manage conflict
- Make life dreams come true
- Create shared meaning
We also focus on developing interventions that help couples replace dysfunctional interaction patterns with positive communication experiences. These interventions build closeness and deepen the overall sense of connection for the couple.
Over the last two decades, therapists at Eunoia Counseling have helped hundreds of couples find more peace, balance, and contentment in their relationship. We invite you to contact us if you are ready to take the next step into a brighter future for your family.
