Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling

Often, one or both people in a relationship will bring the baggage of previous relationships and even pain and trauma from their childhood into their present relationship. Also, intimate relationship skills are something that are learned, however most people have never been taught these skills. These factors combined can make relationships a real struggle.

The good news is research also shows that marriage counseling and couples counseling can make a significant and lasting difference in improving relationships. In couples and marriage counseling, couples are guided in reconnecting emotionally so they can let go of the anger both past and present and begin to develop skills that make relationships work, such as:

• Nurturing fondness and admiration
• Turning towards each other instead of away
• Allowing partners to influence one another
• Problem-solving
• Overcoming gridlock
• Creating a life with shared meaning

You can stop the arguing, reconnect emotionally and have a loving and fulfilling relationship.

Unlike individual therapy, couples work focuses on the relationship itself, not on diagnosing one partner with a mental health condition. Unfortunately, insurance companies require a formal diagnosis to justify payment, which means one partner would need to meet the medical necessity criteria, and the treatment would have to focus on reducing the symptoms related to the diagnosis. Also, the medical record must reflect that the focus of the session was on the individual diagnosis.

At New Perspective Counseling we believe that struggling in a relationship is not a mental health diagnosis — it’s a human experience — and assigning one would both misrepresent the work we’re doing together and compromise the integrity of your clinical records. Couples work is about mutual healing, exploring patterns, repairing trust and strengthening bonds. The couples therapists at New Perspective Counseling bring specialized training in evidence-based relationship models like the Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and the Developmental Model.

For couples with trauma as part of your experience, either individually or relationally, we have trauma informed therapists trained to help address the deeper layers that often drive conflict and disconnection in relationships. It is this kind of focused skilled care that we believe your relationship deserves.