It is no secret that maintaining an intimate relationship is hard work. Marital therapy can help relationships heal and grow stronger than ever before. Consider this:
- Since the 1990’s, the divorce rate has remained at about 50%
- Half of all divorces occur in the first seven years of marriage
- 20% of all couples report relationship distress at any time
- Levels of satisfaction tend to decrease considerably over the first 10 years
- Relationship distress negatively affects our emotional and physical health
Here’s the good news – those statistics are not a guarantee. You are in charge of the marriage you want. Half of all married couples remain married! Studies show that marital therapy can be a powerful way to resolve conflict and develop tools to manage future conflict more effectively. You can face adversity as a couple and remain committed and happy together.
We work with you to identify and achieve your relationship goals. While we work on the goals you identify, there are a few important characteristics that lend themselves to healthy relationships. These ideas are woven into our approach to marital therapy. These characteristics include focusing on personal responsibility, understanding and intentionally meeting your partner’s emotional needs, effective communication skills, and forgiveness.
We work with couples who are fully committed to reconciling the relationship. Not everyone is ready for this commitment and that is okay! If that’s the case for you, I encourage you to consider Discernment Counseling. You can read more about this here.
In our experience, therapy is more efficient when you are both present. However, there are a few exceptions. We do not see couples together if there is any ongoing abuse. Instead, we can explore the possibility of individual therapy.
If your partner is not willing to start therapy, you can discuss marital issues in individual therapy. Relational issues can still be explored. Individual marital therapy does not involve venting about a partner for the entire session. Instead, we focus on making any personal changes you feel would be helpful. We would be happy to talk with you about your concerns in order to develop a plan that works best for you.