Marriage & Couples Therapy

Marriages and romantic relationships require strong commitment and good, ongoing communication if they are going to endure and grow. Marriage or couples therapy can be beneficial if you are experiencing stress or conflict, are stuck in the same negative behavior patterns with your partner, lack good communication skills or simply feel stagnant in your relationship.

During marriage and couples therapy the therapist works with couples to help them learn good communications skills. These skills help to resolve conflict and improve overall communication so that couples feel heard and understood. Once couples are able to communicate effectively they can tackle issues such as feeling stagnant in their relationship, emotional conflict, sexual issues, trust issues and infidelity. The therapist may also teach couples decision making skills. These skills are invaluable as couples must make many important and often difficult choices during the course of their relationships.

Our therapists also employ the scientific research methods of Drs. John and Julie Gottman. Using Gottman Couples Therapy, we work with couples to build a strong foundation of friendship, love, fondness, affection, and admiration with each other. This method of couples therapy has been scientifically researched by the Gottman Institute for decades using real couples with real issues. Our therapists use their methods to teach couples how to enhance their strengths.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is commonly used when working with couples and families. This approach is based on the principles of emotion theory and attachment theory. EFT helps to identify, experience, explore, make sense of, transform and flexibly manage emotional experiences.

Some marriage/relationship issues addressed in therapy include communication, conflict resolution, separation/divorce, trust issues, infidelity, affair recovery, sexual issues, decision making skills and forgiveness.

Yolanda Brailey is a Certified Facilitator for PREPARE/ENRICH, which is a customized couple assessment that identifies strength and growth areas. This is one of the most widely used programs for marriage counseling, marriage enrichment, and dating couples considering engagement.