Every couple feels ebb and flow in their levels of closeness and harmony over time. This can range from basic concerns of stagnation to serious expressions of aggressive behavior. Thus, the goals of couples counseling can vary from improving the overall richness in the relationship to trying to make the difficult decision between rebuilding or dissolving the relationship in the most healthy way for all involved. Common topics leading to distress in marriages or other relationships may include:
- communication problems,
- infidelity issues,
- struggles around sex, anger, unrealistic expectations, and
- poor strategies to punish or leverage power over the other.
Marriage counseling or couples counseling can help resolve conflicts and heal wounds. Overall, couples counseling can help couples slow down their spiral and reestablish realistic expectations and goals. Usually, Green Wave asks couples to meet the first session together and then as needed, they may meet in the individual format as well.
Family therapy
Family therapy is often sought due to a life change or stress negatively affecting one or all areas of family closeness, family structure (rules and roles) or communication style. This mode of counseling can take a variety of forms. Sometimes it is best to see an entire family together for a few sessions. At other times, it may be better to see children and their parents separately.
Whatever the format, the goal of family counseling is to identify the dynamics that cause problems and to institute changes in the structure or style of how the family operates. A small change in one area can often have tremendous impact on other areas, which means that significant gains can often be produced quickly and dramatically.
As in many areas of life, problems will not go away just by ignoring them, so family counseling may become vitally important to get back on track to a more enjoyable relationship with those you care about most. Common issues addressed in family counseling are concerns around parenting, sibling conflict, loss of family members, new members entering the family, dealing with a major move or a general change affecting the family system.
Let us know how we can be a part of your solution. Call (850) 215-5657 today to learn more about our counseling and therapy services.