What to Expect at Couples Therapy
Your relationship - redefined.
Couples therapy can begin in a variety of ways.
Most often, it starts with two people having different ideas about the “true nature” of the problem, but can quickly evolve into expanded perspectives of how both people can be right - at the same time.
Sometimes, couples therapy starts with an event or experience that feels difficult to work through without professional support.
Other times, couples therapy begins because people want to ensure that they are intelligently investing in the emotional and behavioral health of their relationship.
In any of these cases, working with me means an active, engaging, and inclusive therapeutic experience. My clients tend to appreciate my attentive, warm, non-judgemental, sometimes humorous, yet direct style of therapy. Often, couples are pleasantly surprised with how quickly we’re able to get to the core of the relational issues, and how effective initial recommendations can be.
Using a free online therapy platform, we begin with a 50-minute intake session. In this session, I learn more about what’s bringing you to therapy and you gain a preliminary sense of what it will be like to work with me. A first session is also an opportunity for me to make recommendations on how to best proceed by identifying realistic goals for our work together, and/or work that may be helpful to practice independently.
As our sessions continue, I observe and participate in your relationship’s communication process. I reflect back to you my sense of where, how, and why communication breaks down and what inhibits functional repair. From there, I offer informed recommendations for how to genuinely learn, heal, grow, and change. In this way, each of you learns how to work through the issues that brought you to therapy in the first place. Ultimately, you are equipped to work through challenges that may arise long after your therapy is complete.
All couples therapy with me is completely tailored to the nuance of your relationship. It can be similar to individual therapy in that the identity and experience of each of you involved is taken into deep consideration. Together, we learn and relearn each of you in as many ways as needed to best support what your relationship is looking to gain from investing in therapy.
Relevant aspects of exploration can include but are not limited to your:
Family of origin (history and present functioning)
Prior relationship history (social and romantic)
Former or current psychotherapeutic work
Attitudes, beliefs, values
Ethnic, racial, cultural identity
Religious and spiritual affiliations
Sexuality
Gender identification and expression
Economic status
Able-ness
and more