I use a therapeutic approach in couples counseling called "Solution-Focused Brief Couples Therapy" or "Brief Couples Therapy" for short. Brief Couples Therapy generally tends to be future-oriented, goal-oriented, and solution-focused. Brief Couples Therapy is based on four stages of therapy; awareness and education, moving towards closeness rather than defensiveness, emphasizing the positive, and rehearsal of newly learned skills.

Few of us were taught as children how to practice good communication skills and how to resolve conflict with a win/win approach. What most of us learned instead was the old "attack and defend" model of conflict, which tends to be verbally abusive. I know from my own experience that nothing good ever comes out of such an approach. Nothing ever gets resolved, and the pain and resentment usually gets bigger and deeper.

How couples counseling can help

Conflict resolution is an area where couples counseling that can help to resolve ongoing disagreements. By learning how to successfully negotiate conflicts, both parties tend to feel more satisfied with the relationship. Conflict resolution in couples counseling is a specialized intervention that aims to help both people feel that they are being heard and their needs are being met.

Learning how to communicate is important for all our relationships, especially with our partner. When we state our needs in a way that can be more easily understood, there's a much higher likelihood of our needs being met. Fine tuning our communication skills is how we learn to overcome unproductive patterns of communication and interaction, and move beyond unresolved relationship issues.

Improve intimacy by developing strategies to maintain and strengthen the relationship commitment, revitalize the intimate bond between partners, and improve the overall quality of the relationship and marital satisfaction. This is often the area where sexual differences come into play, and where intimacy and sexuality need to be redefined.

I know how it feels to go through the pain and dysfunction of an unhappy relationship. Because of this, I have always felt the importance of helping men and women understand and support each other instead of attacking each other and feeling like enemies. I am truly delighted when I help couples get past their conflicts and come back to love, and laughter, and light-heartedness. It gives me great satisfaction to see the difference it makes in their relationship and in their personal lives.

When we work together in couple's counseling, you will find that I am kind and gentle, yet strong and firm in my understanding and guidance with you. You will learn to communicate and resolve your conflicts in healthy, life-affirming ways, and develop healthy communication skills that will allow you to communicate with your partner with a depth of understanding and compassion. I also teach healthy conflict resolution so that couples can resolve conflicts in a manner that is mutually satisfying.

My goal in doing couple's counseling is to help you get back in touch with the original feeling of love you had for your partner when you first met and fell in love. In the process of couples counseling, I will help each of you deal with your individual issues so that your joint problems become easier to manage.

Couples counseling is always custom designed to meet each couples' needs, whether it be understanding and resolving conflicts, improving the relationship, communicating better, negotiating differences, problem solving, or learning to argue in a healthier way. Sometimes the need is simply finding a way to rejoin after becoming separated within the relationship.