Couples Therapy
Every relationship will experience different challenges and struggles. No couple is perfect and can benefit from working through issues with proper communication and understanding. Arguing, family concerns, navigating sharing space, or splitting finances are all common problems that couples will need to learn how to navigate. Therapy can be helpful in providing an outside perspective and having a mitigator for complex issues. Therapists can help you unpack past trauma and work towards healing and breaking generational patterns.
Areas Of Tension In Relationships
Couples of different backgrounds, cultures, or even large age gaps can have dynamic relationship conflicts. Every couple is unique and will not all experience challenges in the same way.
Some common couple issues we see during therapy sessions include:
- Money or savings
- Distribution of household chores
- Physical intimacy
- Extended family obligations
- Extended family relationships or getting along with in-laws.
- Children
- Parenting concerns or discrepancies
- Career
- Sleeping habits or living habits
- Past relationships or worry about platonic relationships
- Substance abuse
- Physical or emotional abuse
- Unhealthy coping behaviors or patterns
While this list does not cover all issues that couples will experience, experiencing conflict or rough patches in relationships and marriage is normal.
Couples that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community will face their own set of challenges as well. Discrimination from outside forces, exploring sexuality, and lack of family support can all put strain on an LGBTQ+ relationship. Our therapists and counselors at Red Willow Counseling and Recovery work with couples of all backgrounds and specifically want to help those in the LGBTQ+ community. We use competence, compassion, and collaboration to take your relationships to a better and more wholesome level.
Sticking To Present Concerns
When couples attend therapy, many issues or annoyances start to surface. Working on past issues may help a couple of experience better relationship dynamics, but pulling up too many past issues is irrelevant and does more harm than good.
Sticking to current concerns will help you focus on the present and future and see the positive direction you are wanting to go. Past hurts, damaging ex-relationships, or issues you have overcome in the past can be discussed in a separate session or individual therapy. Taking one problem at a time will help you and your partner to fully focus on the concerns at hand and deeply work through them to solve the root of the problem.
Benefits Of Couples Therapy
Different couples will find different benefits from couples therapy, and some couples may not find many benefits at all. Couples can work on learning healthy relationship strategies while unlearning unhealthy ones. Working with a licensed therapist will help you to understand what relationship stage you are in and how your actions impact the future of your relationship.
A therapy session might help you to brainstorm ideas to better show love or concern, make a guide on how to approach concerns without violence, and gain better emotional well-being. Some couples are navigating combining different cultures and backgrounds, which can take a long time to get comfortable with.
Couples therapy can help save you time in working on these issues and give you tools for better understanding each other. Moving forward in your relationship and accomplishing new things is the biggest benefit of couples therapy.
Red Willow Counseling and Recovery in Salt Lake City wants to help couples and individuals to gain better coping skills, better communicate with those who matter to them, and give them the tools to have a more loving relationship. Couples therapy, family therapy, or individual therapy can help you have a more well-rounded emotional connection to others.
