Couples counseling serves to strengthen the bond between you and your partner, to improve conflict resolution skills, and to help you to learn to listen with empathy. A dispute between partners rarely occurs when one party is wrong and the other is right, and it’s more important to work through conflicts together than it is to place blame. A couple’s counselor is an unbiased voice that can help you and your partner to resolve issues through cooperation and understanding.
Couples Counseling Covers More Than Arguments
Couples counseling has many goals, only one of which is improving the conflict resolution process. At the core of couples counseling lies a singular aim: to improve your relationship with your partner, and with others around you. While counseling is always tailored to you and your partner, there are some key areas that are often the focal points of a typical counseling session.
Communication Skills
This is perhaps one of the most important skills learned through couples counseling. Arguments, misunderstandings, and unmet expectations between loved ones often stem from having poor communication skills. Counseling teaches couples how to voice their feelings and their opinions without placing blame or labeling right or wrong.
Changing Family Dynamics
As roles in the family change, or new additions to the family are welcomed, couples might need a hand adjusting to changes in their daily life. Couples counseling helps partners to work together in stepping into a new stage of life and offers guidance when taking on new roles in the family. If there are other family members involved, it may be useful to consider the benefits of family counseling.
Improving the Connection
There are many aspects that can affect the connection between you and your partner. Sometimes, it feels like the romance is missing from the relationship, and sometimes you may feel emotionally unequipped to support your partner in the best way. Through couples counseling, you can learn valuable skills to improve the bond you have with your partner.
Conflict Resolution
While not the only focus of couples counseling, learning the skills to resolve disagreements will help you through any possible disputes for many years to come. Whether the dispute is concerning something large or small, you’ll want to be finding the resolution together.
Who Is Couples Counseling For?
You don’t have to be arguing with your partner to get the benefits of couples counseling. Counseling is for couples in all relationship stages too, whether you’re married or not. Going to couples counseling also doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with your relationship. Many partners receive counseling together to help them with raising their children or dealing with grief, situations which can be improved when partners can work together in an effective manner.
Couples counseling also isn’t restricted to those in a romantic relationship. You could attend counseling with a sibling, a parent, a friend, or even a coworker. The communication and conflict resolution skills you learn will help you with all of your relationships, whether you’re rekindling a romance with a partner or strengthening the bond you have with a parent.
For many, couples counseling serves as an open space where you can get to know your partner better. It’s all too easy to focus on the surface level of interaction with your significant other, and a counselor can act as a mediator opening the channel of communication. Understanding each other’s views with empathy and a willingness to listen can prove monumental in strengthening the bond between you and a partner.
Couples counseling at Fifth Street Counseling Center aims to guide you and your partner back onto the track you want to be on. Our certified relationship therapists will tailor counseling sessions to your needs, establishing communication and empathy to solve conflicts or improve your connection to each other. Call us today to learn how we are ready to help you.
