Couples therapy works by helping couples identify and better navigate their unique challenges. Following an initial assessment of the couple in terms of strengths and needs, the therapist would then discuss their therapeutic goals and any possible approaches or ways of working together as therapist and couple.
Couples attend sessions together, whether they meet in person or by video. In addition to regular couples therapy sessions, each partner may also be asked to attend a few individual sessions to supplement their progress. This will allow their counselor to get to know each individual better, assess each of their personal needs, and develop the very best treatment plan moving forward.
On average, couples attend couples therapy for 12 weeks. However, couples therapy may last longer or shorter, dependent on the couples' needs, the challenges they'd like to work through, and the pace of their progress.
The author Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote, “Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.” Marriage therapists might call this a bit of an exaggeration. Love doesn’t always create sunshine. Sometimes it creates thunderstorms, blizzard conditions, and cloud cover that last for days. Intimate relationships can get messy. But the real love connection between two people often makes up for the periods of turmoil and distress.
Couples therapy and marriage counseling at Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL is a way for people who love each other to learn to weather storms successfully. Relationship counseling is typically short-term (successful in fewer than 12 sessions), solution-focused, and individualized for each couple’s issues. But couples don’t need to be on the verge of divorce or separation to benefit from relationship therapy. The licensed professionals at Thriveworks can give people the tools they need to maintain enduring harmony in their relationships as well.
Does Couples Counseling Really Work?
Marriage counseling is one of the most effective forms of professional therapy. It helps clients successfully address their own relationship goals, no matter what they may be. Some common goals that bring clients to the exceptional licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) at Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL include the following:
- To feel more loved.
- To feel more appreciated.
- To model healthier relationships for children.
- To feel like friends again.
- To reignite a spark or passion.
- To enhance physical intimacy.
- To reduce tension and conflict in the household.
- To stop repeating the same argument over and over again without advancing.
- To create healthier boundaries.
- To express needs and desires.
- To heal after an affair.
- To address various intimacy issues.
- To cope with empty nest syndrome.
- To identify individual mental health conditions and find support.
- To safely address some concerns before marriage (in the case of premarital counseling).
- To process trauma together.
- To cope with the loss of a loved one.
What Is the Process and Techniques of Couples Counseling?
A couples counselor at Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL uses a variety of therapeutic approaches and techniques to solve problems and enhance communication between loved ones. These approaches include the following:
- Emotionally focused therapy (EFT)
- Behavioral couples therapy (BCT)
- The Gottman method
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Using these approaches, a counselor can help clients navigate complex interpersonal issues like these:
- Communication skills
- Mutual trust
- Displays of affection
- Emotion management
- Addiction or substance abuse issues
- Coping strategies
Is It Ever Too Late in a Relationship to Pursue Couples Counseling?
It is never too late in a relationship to pursue couples counseling. Some divorced couples even go to couples counseling sessions so they can better communicate about child custody and parenting issues. In these cases, couples therapy might be more like family therapy. The goal isn’t to improve romantic attachment, but to foster mutual understanding. But great couples therapists can bring couples back from the brink of separation by helping them remember what brought them together in the first place. Therapy can also reinforce the strengths of a relationship. As long as both people in a relationship have a glimmer of connection, couples counseling at Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL can help clarify their bond.
How to Find the Best Couples Therapist or Marriage Counselor
Before you and your spouse or partner decide on a couples counselor, it’s important to bear a few criteria in mind.
- The counselor should be fully licensed in Illinois. All Thriveworks mental health providers are fully licensed in their state, nationwide.
- The therapist should be qualified to treat your specific issue. At Thriveworks, providers have experience helping all kinds of clients: interracial, LGBTQ, Christian, and many more.
- The therapist should be affordable. Thriveworks LMFTs in Woodridge, IL accept most major health insurance plans and offer reasonable self-pay rates for people paying out-of-pocket.
- Therapy sessions should be convenient and comfortable. Thriveworks therapists offer both online counseling sessions as well as traditional, in-person counseling sessions.
Rekindle Your Passion with Marriage Counseling at Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL
Thriveworks in Woodridge, IL can’t promise to repair your relationship when it’s broken, but it can promise to help diagnose what’s wrong. Then therapists can give people the effective tools to repair their bonds themselves. A therapist’s job isn’t to assign blame or to tell one partner they’re doing something wrong. Their job is to facilitate open dialogue and help each partner see the other’s point of view. What people who love each other do with this vital information is up to them.
Call Thriveworks today and you can meet with a fully licensed, highly qualified counselor as early as tomorrow. Most new clients can meet their provider within 24-48 hours of their initial call. They can also access their provider between sessions by phone or email.
Contact Thriveworks to meet the top-rated provider who might be able to help you and your spouse. We look forward to your call!
