Couples Counseling
- Do you feel a growing distance between you and your partner?
- Do attempts to communicate result in defensiveness and frustration?
- Do you suspect that influences from your childhood or past experiences are affecting your current relationship?
Bring peace back into your home.
I saw that you were perfect, and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.
Angelita Lim
We take an integral approach to couples counseling, combining the best aspects of the top counseling theories (Gottman, Imago, Emotionally-Focused Therapy) to help you create profound and lasting changes. It’s proven to be a powerful combination.
As a couple, you’ll learn to:
- create a shared vision for your relationship
- communicate in a way that diffuses defensiveness
- foster fondness and admiration for your partner
- control intense emotional reactions
- solve your solvable problems
- recognize underlying issues from your childhood
- address unconscious baggage from past relationships
- recapture romance, caring behaviors and fun
- challenge limiting behaviors and unhealthy thought patterns
- increase emotional and sexual intimacy
- discuss financial matters more lovingly and effectively
You unconsciously chose your partner for a reason
Our couples counseling delves deep by incorporating Imago Relational Therapy which examines each person’s childhood wounds in order to find greater clarity on present relationship problems. The brain’s unconscious drive is to repair damage done in childhood, and to satisfy needs that were not met, by finding a partner who can give us what our caretakers failed to provide. In this way, wounds received from parents, tend to be re-stimulated by new adult partners and potential future partners. It’s no accident that you’re with your current partner. This relationship, and the challenging dynamics you’re facing, are an opportunity for greater healing and growth. We will help you find the clarity necessary to break free from these unconscious patterns in order to create the loving relationship you deserve.
EMDR – An Added Resource
Nothing is hidden in an intimate relationship and consequently our own deeper, personal issues can sometimes rise to the surface for the necessary attention and healing.
Some of these issues may be:
- Unresolved pain from childhood
- Attachment issues from parental interactions
- Lingering effects of past abuse (emotional, physical or sexual)
- Consequences from pornography addiction
- Resentment and trust issues from past infidelity
Unlike traditional couples counseling, we’ve found success incorporating EMDR Therapy, when needed. It’s a powerful resource that allows us to go beneath the surface to address the root cause of the problem, as opposed to simply learning to deal with the symptom.
Comprehensive Couples Assessment
We often incorporate PREPARE/ENRICH, a research-based assessment tool for both married and unmarried couples who want to understand and improve their relationship. By asking key questions, PREPARE/ENRICH addresses each couple’s relationship stage, situation, challenges, philosophical/spiritual orientation, and personalities and tailors the inventory to assess the couple’s strengths and the areas of challenge where growth will bring about the greatest benefits.
We look forward to helping you live and love joyously.
Offices in both the Fort Myers and Naples, Florida areas
FAQ’s
2. What are the most common issues addressed in couples counseling?
The most common marital problems include communication breakdown, lack of intimacy, financial stress, and unresolved conflicts. Many couples seek counseling when disagreements escalate into ongoing patterns that feel unmanageable on their own.
3. Is couples therapy really worth it?
Yes. Couples therapy can be very effective in strengthening relationships, improving communication, and helping couples navigate conflict. It provides tools to create healthier long-term dynamics.
4. What type of therapy is best for relationship problems?
There are many different methods of couples therapy, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. At Wise Counseling, we use and integrative approach of Imago, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the Gottman Method. We focus on couples skills-building through positive psychology, ideal for couples seeking connection as well as healing.
5. What are the downsides of couples therapy?
Potential downsides include temporary emotional discomfort as you face deeper challenges head-on in a solution focused way. Couples work requires an “the only way past it, is through it” mentality. Other challenges may involve uneven levels of commitment between partners, or the possibility that therapy reveals incompatibilities that lead to separation.
6. When not to do couples therapy?
Therapy isn’t appropriate in cases of ongoing domestic violence – or when one partner is already committed to leaving the relationship. In situations where safety, not restoration, is the priority, therapists may advise other pathways.
7. How much does a couples therapy session cost?
At Wise Counseling, couples therapy is priced at $200 per 50-minute clinical hour. Through our multi-faceted, skills-building approach, most couples experience significant improvement and complete therapy within 10-12 sessions.