What to expect in couples therapy...

Session 1: Our assessment begins with both partners in our initial consultation to discuss shared goals, areas of concern, and next steps in the counseling process.

Next, you will complete the Relationship Check-Up, an online set of questionnaires that you both fill out sin the privacy of your own home. This research-backed tool allows your therapist to give you targeted and personalized feedback over the course of counseling. You will receive feedback in several domains of healthy partnership, including friendship and intimacy, conflict resolution, and individual areas of concern. You should schedule 1-2 hours of uninterrupted time to fill these out before your next assessment session.

Sessions 2 & 3: Your therapist will then meet with each partner for separate individual sessions. This gives each partner a chance to individually discuss their concerns about the relationship and share more about what each of you would like to get out of the counseling process.

Session 4: You will then meet with your therapist for a shared session for your final assessment session to share initial feedback about the health of your relationship, including a review of existing strengths and vulnerabilities that you are facing as a couple.

After this thorough assessment, you will receive options as a couple to help you employ personalized strategies for your relationship in weekly follow-up sessions. Each week will focus on a new theme based on your assessment with opportunities to discuss and practice specific and practical ways to improve your relationship.

Over the course of therapy, you will add more and more tools to your relationship toolbox based on your shared and individual priorities.  You will increase the effectiveness of therapy by incorporating practice exercises between sessions to extend the benefits of counseling beyond the counseling hour and help you improve skills at home. 

Gottman therapy is a research-backed coaching style of counseling that makes use of practice and modeling to help you build shared skills. Feedback and practice with these skills has been shown to help couples improve their communication skills, intimacy and connection, and feel confident to support each other to pursue shared meaning, passion, and connection.

Throughout the counseling experience, we will collaboratively assess how well we are progressing towards your goals as a couple. You and your partner are active agents of change throughout the counseling experience.  

The question is:

If you could make one change for the better in your relationship, what would it be?