Marriage Counseling

Are You And Your Partner Struggling To Connect And Communicate?

 Do you and your partner repeatedly argue about the same topics, often causing you both to feel frustrated and estranged from each other? When the two of you disagree, does it seem like you are not listening to or understanding each other? Are you worried that your relationship is spiraling down a negative path and you will never be able to regain the love you once shared? Perhaps you and your partner are struggling to overcome a recent hardship, such as a betrayal, affair or emotional infidelity, which has created tension, disappointment and suspicion in your relationship. Or maybe the two of you are going through a major life transition, such as a move, job change, marriage or new parenting stress, and you feel like you are drifting apart from each other. Do you wish you could feel loved and fulfilled in your relationship and move forward with confidence in the strength of your bond?

Relationship issues can make daily stress feel even more overwhelming. You both may wake up in the morning feeling preoccupied by your busy schedules. Early in your day, tensions may quickly escalate as you both worry about staying on task and getting through your routine. If you and your partner have children, mornings can be especially difficult as you navigate shared parenting responsibilities. At work, you may struggle to focus on your job duties because you are dwelling on arguments with your partner. Or maybe you feel unsupported by your partner, as though he or she takes you for granted or doesn’t believe in your work. At the end of the day, you and your partner may isolate from each other by working late, drinking with friends or watching television in order to avoid another heated argument. When the two of you end up in a conflict, you may feel like you are saying the same things over and over, but your partner just is not listening.

All Couples Face Challenges In Their Relationships

 All couples—even those in healthy relationships—encounter conflict, stress and low points. Sometimes conflict can prompt partners to learn to work together to get their needs met. But it’s also very common for conflict to turn bitter, to the point where partners feel tense, alone or worried about the future of their bond.

At the root of many relationship issues is the modern day stress of a busy schedule. Between work responsibilities, parenting duties, socializing events, hobbies and personal care, it is difficult to carve out a designated time for partners to connect and destress together. To add to this struggle, many partners may heavily rely on technology, such as texting, social media or phone calls, to connect with their significant others. While sometimes it is beneficial for partners to stay in touch in any way possible, avoiding intimate face-to-face interactions with one another often contributes to relationship dissatisfaction. In addition, by overusing technology, individuals may form distracting habits that take away from important one-on-one time with their partners.

The good news is that with the help of a couples therapist, you and your partner have the chance to rebuild and reinvigorate your bond. Couples counseling can help the two of you understand each other’s needs and work toward a fulfilling future.

Relationship Counseling Can Help You And Your Partner Fortify Your Bond

During comfortable and insightful therapy sessions, you and your partner will work with one of our compassionate therapists to understand your individual and shared needs and work toward building and maintaining your loving partnership. Depending on your goals and interests, your therapist will help you develop a personalized plan to improve the ways you connect and communicate with each other.

Poor communication habits are often at the root of relationship challenges. If this is the case for you and your partner, you can work with your therapist to practice productive communication strategies, allowing you both to talk about your emotional needs and why they are important to you. Your therapist can also provide you with techniques, such as listening exercises, that the two of you can practice at home, so you can gain the confidence to overcome future relationship tension.

It’s also possible that a recent betrayal or infidelity has sparked anger, sadness and stress in your relationship. If so, your therapist will help address the betrayal in a thoughtful way, allowing both of you to share your feelings in order to gain a deeper understanding of each other’s perspective. During affair recovery sessions, the person responsible for the infidelity will have the chance initiate the healing process by building patterns of trust and kindness in your relationship.

If you and your partner are planning on getting married soon, our therapists also offer pre-marriage counseling sessions. These sessions will help you both understand possible trigger points for future conflict and how to mitigate potential future conflict in a goal-oriented and loving manner. By working to learn more about your partner and proactively create a plan for a sustainable relationship, you and your partner can start your partnership together with confidence.

The therapists at the Relationship Counseling Center in Austin have completed effective training in a broad range of approaches, including the Gottman Method and the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT), and are constantly working toward gaining new and innovative skills through specialized training sessions. They are also always interested in helping couples in the LGBTQ community who face additional external stress.

While you and your partner may feel overwhelmed by your relationship struggles, the truth is that you always have hope to strengthen your connection and look forward to a fulfilling future together. By putting in the time and effort to work on your marriage or partnership, you can build a foundation of empathy, love and companionship that will last a lifetime.

You and your partner may be interested in couples or marriage counseling, but you still have questions and concerns…

My spouse refuses to attend marriage counseling sessions. What can I do?

 While marriage counseling and premarital counseling are most effective when both partners attend sessions, individual relationship therapy sessions can still help you create the change you need. By working with one of our therapists individually, you can take steps to understand and modify any behavior that may be contributing to heightened conflict with your partner. You can also learn new communication strategies to help you voice your needs in a productive and healthy manner.

Once your partner notices the changes you have started to make in your relationship, he or she may be interested in taking part in sessions. If so, we can set the two of you up with another one of our therapists, to ensure we are maintaining a balanced approach to relationship therapy.

We are concerned about how much money and time we will need to spend on therapy.

To provide our clients with the most effective and affordable sessions, the Relationship Counseling Center offers a limited number of sliding-scale rates. Ask about sliding scale fee availability when you schedule your appointment.

That said, therapy for couples is an investment in your relationship, your family and your well-being. Taking the time now to improve the quality of your bond with your partner can save you years of stress, heartache and confusion.

We believe our relationship is beyond repair. How can couples or marriage counseling help us?

 It’s possible that you and your partner have tried therapy before in an attempt to repair your bond, but nothing has been effective. If so, you may still benefit from our couples therapy sessions. When you work with one of our therapists, you and your partner will be able to assess what has and what hasn’t worked for you in the past. Your therapist can then provide you with a few personalized cutting-edge strategies that you two haven’t tried before. By focusing on your strengths and what has worked for the two of you in the past, you still have hope to rebuild your relationship.

However, in some cases, partners are ready to separate. If this is the case for you two, our therapists can also help you mediate the divorce or separation process, ensuring you both feel calm and confident moving forward. An amicable separation is extremely beneficial for you, your partner and your family.

Rediscover The Joy In Your Relationship

 If you and your partner are ready to gain a deeper understanding of each other and work toward a happy and fulfilling future together, please contact us to schedule a free in-person or phone consultation. We are happy to answer your questions, address your concerns and discuss how counseling can help your relationship.

Ready to schedule your appointment? Call us at 512-270-4883, or fill out the form on our Scheduling Page and you will be contacted to schedule your appointment.

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