Who can benefit from Marriage/Couples Counseling?
Journey to Joy Counseling provides Marriage/Couples Counseling in the Arts and Design District in downtown Carmel, IN. It is important to us that we provide the most compassionate and individualized care to any couples that we work with. We strive to provide professional and caring Marriage/Couples Counseling in Carmel, IN and to the surrounding suburbs of Indianapolis.
You may be wondering who can benefit from marriage/couples counseling. It’s true that ANY couple can benefit from counseling! Marriage/couples counseling can help couples who are struggling to communicate or are fighting a lot, couples with parenting struggles, couples with infertility or pregnancy loss, couples with family of origin issues, and couples with infidelity and affair history. All of this to say, marriage/couples counseling can help address many different and unique problems that couples today face in their relationship.
We often get asked how marriage/couples counseling can help. It’s important to state that sometimes issues creep up in a relationship, no matter what stage you are in or how long you’ve been together. Whether you’ve been together for a few months, or for forty years, counseling can help fine-tune the relationship and help you build skills together. Marriage/couples counseling at Journey to Joy is personalized for each couple to address the issues pertinent to you. We don’t use a “one size fits all” approach. We take time to gather information on what brought you in and how we can help. With the divorce rate as high as it is, we believe that marriage counseling is a huge step towards divorce prevention.
One the most important aspects of marriage/couples therapy is the relationship with your therapist. We strive to be kind, good listeners, and empathetic with our couples. We also make sure that we provide you with plenty of constructive feedback. At Journey to Joy, we want you to feel that you both have a voice and that your feelings and opinions are considered and validated. You can trust that we will always work to help you both be the healthiest you can, both individually and within the relationship. It’s extremely important to us that you both feel comfortable at Journey to Joy the moment you walk in the door.
What is Marriage/Couples Counseling for?
Marriage/couples counseling is offered at Journey to Joy Counseling to address the following subjects: Boundaries, codependency, infidelity, affair prevention and recovery, trust, shame, perfectionism, stress management, grief and loss, parenthood challenges, blended family issues, ADHD, anxiety, depression, abandonment, family of origin issues, life adjustment and transitions, healthy communication, fair fighting, spirituality, infertility and pregnancy loss, body image and self esteem issues, sex, intimacy issues, addiction and compulsion issues, emotional needs, trauma, work-life balances, and Emotional Intelligence development.
Sometimes individuals involved in marriage/couples counseling can benefit from participating in some individual counseling sessions. It’s important to work through individual issues you may be bringing into your current relationship. This is often something your therapist will discuss with you if they believe it would be beneficial.
Why should you start Marriage/Couples Counseling?
Marriage/couples counseling allows each partner to explore their individual thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and see how they impact the relationship. It can also help couples work through different and challenging upbringings, learn to understand themselves and their partner, set individual and relationship goals by identifying areas they would like to change and work toward that desired change together as one united team.
Marriage/couples counseling allows for couples to be guided through a process of discussing topics that are impacting both people. It allows you both to explore your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a safe and supportive environment. Marriage/couples counseling can help enlighten you to unhealthy patterns of behavior and distorted thinking that is causing negative interactions within your relationship.
When should you start Marriage/Couples Counseling?
Often couples come to marriage/couples therapy when they are at a breaking point or in a crisis situation. While these situations are appropriate reasons to seek out therapy, it’s important to point out that you can be proactive with your relationship instead of reactive. This is why couples counseling is so important. You can start therapy the moment a problem arises to get guidance and help to navigate the issue. You don’t have to wait until a break-up is threatened or divorce is brought up. Marriage/couples therapy can help you work through difficult topics, process emotions and feelings, gain insight about your partner, and help you intimately connect.
How can Marriage/Couples Counseling help?
You may be wondering how the process works for marriage/couples counseling at Journey to Joy. The first session an initial assessment, and a time to get to know you both. During the initial session, we will ask questions about your history and what brought you to counseling. Some questions we may ask will be “What brought you both in?”, “What do your fights looks like?”, “How well do you communicate?”. Together we will work to set goals for therapy in order to address the issues you both identify. It’s common that we will assign homework for you both to work on outside of the therapy sessions. This is important for you both to reflect and implement the strategies we discuss during the couples counseling. To read more about the initial session, click here.
After the first initial therapy session, we will help you both identify thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are negatively impacting the relationship. We will discuss the best steps for moving forward with positive change in your relationship or marriage. We will discuss and identify positive copings skills, problems solving strategies, and ways to improve communication. Often we will process and discuss any negative behavior patterns that may be creating problems in your relationship or marriage. We like to develop a plan of action to ensure you are accomplishing your goals as a couple. Your therapist will be encouraging, supportive, and hold you both accountable. We will provide constant guidance as you both are on your journey to a healthier relationship or marriage.
Marriage/couples counseling takes a large emotional and time commitment from each person. It also requires active participation from both people. Your therapist will make recommendations that you complete homework outside of the therapy sessions. Sometimes this will mean implementing fair fighting techniques, initiating conversations, setting boundaries between yourselves and others, or working on intimacy. While this homework is not graded or required, it will help you gain more value from the time you spend in therapy. As a couple, you will get out of counseling what you put in.
What you both identify as your relationship issues may only be the tip of the iceberg as to what’s actually going on. Or, maybe you only know that something is wrong but you cannot quite put your finger on it. Your therapist is educated and trained to look for and identify other problem areas. Your therapist will make sure to uncover or bring to light any additional underlying issues that could be causing problems within your relationship or marriage.
It’s so amazing to see clients in marriage/couples counseling make progress in their relationship. This is why we love what we do! It’s so neat to watch couples learn healthy communication skills, improve their intimacy, and ultimately make their families healthier. We truly want you to have the happiest and healthiest relationship possible!
Marriage/couples therapy is most beneficial when you both come consistently, ready to work. When you prematurely stop marriage/couples counseling, it can leave topics unaddressed and issues can creep up later. Marriage/couples therapy is intended to help repair and correct any problem areas in the relationship so that you can move forward together. Sometimes it takes some time before you start to notice progress or change within your relationship or marriage. Stick with it, you both are worth it!
