Marriage Counseling and Couples Therapy

Marriage has many challenges – both small and large.

If you are concerned about your marriage and find it increasingly difficult to relate to your spouse, or if it feels like you drifted apart over the years and you are afraid it may be too late to get your relationship back on track, you are not alone.

Many couples face challenges at some point in the relationship, but some are too hurt and afraid to reach out for help.

Some may even feel their relationship has been on autopilot for so long that if they try to make changes, it might cause even more problems.

Whatever the challenge, counseling helps mend what’s not right in your relationship.

Relationships are repairable.

The fact is that relationships are very repairable if both partners are willing, but it is also a fact that it is challenging to solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.

Couples who don’t get help working through major challenges tend to try fixing their problems by doing more of what they did before, which didn’t work in the first place. They keep doing the same thing, becoming exhausted and too worn down to try anymore. It’s not that couples don’t try hard enough or don’t care enough; they didn’t know how to handle it better.

Marriage counseling is designed to help you look at your relationship from a different perspective and learn to handle issues better.

This new approach will help you connect on a level where you will finally feel that your partner understands you and will let you feel closer to each other as you realize that you are on the same side, working together to build an even better marriage.

The Gottman Method provides effective marriage counseling.

I offer relationship therapy rooted in the Gottman Method of marriage counseling. This approach to relationship work is one of the most effective modalities available today for helping couples reconnect and repair their relationships.

The Gottman Method is a research-based, scientifically validated approach to help couples with relationship problems – even with some of the thorniest issues such as infidelity and addictions. This method results from over two decades of research in couples relationships, revealing many counterintuitive findings of what helps couples repair relationships, what is necessary for relationships, and what approaches seem like good options but do not actually result in lasting changes in relationships.

Here’s the bottom line. Rather than wasting your time and effort on well-meaning but ineffective attempts to help your marriage – you will benefit instead from the proven methods in Gottman Therapy.

Following the Gottman method, you will learn the skills needed for rebuilding your marriage, and you will experience meaningful and measurable positive changes in the quality of your relationship.

Here’s what you can expect.

The Gottman method emphasizes the importance of a precise and thorough assessment process that gives a 360-degree view of the relationship before working on any issues. We will dedicate the first three sessions to the assessment process.

The first session will involve all three of us. We will discuss the history of your relationship from the perspective of individuals and as a couple. We also will discuss what is currently happening in your relationship. Then, I will ask each partner to complete an online assessment sometime before the second session. The second session will involve two half sessions, allowing me to meet with each partner individually.

In the third session, we will discuss the combined results of the assessment and the previous sessions. This discussion will focus on the present state of the relationship, the growth and strength areas, the recommended changes, and what implementing those changes will realistically take.

At this point, you and your partner can decide what you want to work toward, and we can create a plan that can best help you get there. During the rest of our sessions, the work will follow this plan, and periodically, we will evaluate the progress.

Meet the challenge! Together, we can develop a plan designed to enhance your relationship.

Call me today at (912) 777-9842.

Clinical Supervisor: Douglas A. Spears, Ph.D., M.Div., LPC, CPCS, LPCC/s, Director of LifeCHANGE Christian Counseling Services (912-421-8699)