Quite often, I get clients coming into the office wanting to work on their relationship troubles alone. This happens for a variety of reasons such as not being ready for couples therapy, wanting to sort out personal issues that are affecting the relationship, being unsure about whether or not to continue a relationship, or struggling to maintain a long-distance relationship. Whatever the case, coming in for individual relationship therapy can help both you and your partner. In my work with individuals, I employ many of the same concepts that I use with couples; the Gottman Couples Therapy approach.
Relationship Therapy
Working on your Half of the Relationship
Are you Going Through a Breakup?
Breakups are never easy no matter whether you’re the “breakuppee” or the “breakupper”. Perhaps you’re trying to decide whether you should continue working at your relationship or to move on completely. Maybe your partner decided to end it when you were hoping to work things out. If you haven’t broken up yet, counselling can provide you with insight into what to do next. If you have broken up, you’re likely going through a grieving period just as you would if someone died. You’re often left with questions like “what if?”, “why?”, and “now what?”. You’re forced to let go of any plans you had for your future with your partner, which can be devastating. When a breakup happens, your life changes drastically and this can be difficult to negotiate.
Are you tired of being Single?
If you’re single and struggling to find a match, you might start to question if you’ll ever meet “the one”. Perhaps you feel an all-consuming loneliness and start to lose hope for a healthy relationship. With the support of a therapist, you can sort out the barriers that are standing in the way of meeting your partner.
This will allow you to move towards finding the partner you’ve been hoping for and prepare you for a healthy and fulfilling relationship.
How Counselling Helps
Counselling will provide you a safe space to talk through your fears, regrets, loneliness, pain, and emotional upheaval. You’ll be given workable coping strategies and a place to sort through unresolved disappointments. Counselling will help you get back on your feet and move on from your broken relationship either together or apart. Contact us today for more information and to make an appointment.
Additional Issues that affect Relationships
When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan
Many people have a timeline they developed somewhere along the way about when they expected themselves to be in a relationship, to possibly get married, to have children, and so on. When this plan doesn’t work out or seems shaky, fear, insecurity, and hopelessness start to rise. Working with a therapist will help you sort through these timeline gaps so that you may head in the right direction by making decisions based on a deeper understanding of yourself.
Transitions Affect Relationships
Life decisions, transitions, and events can challenge relationships and make them difficult to navigate. Perhaps you’ve experienced a death, upsetting diagnosis, trauma, or some unexpected life change. Maybe you planned the change and had a recent move, got engaged/married, had a baby, started a new job, or retired. Working with a therapist can help you navigate these changes and get back to the relationship you once had. Most importantly, you’ll have a safe place to talk about your pain and how it’s affecting your relationship. This enables you to learn from your experience and prevent more damage that may be caused to you and your partner.
Other Impending Decisions
Thinking about Marriage: Marriage is a significant life decision that can bring up difficult emotions. Counselling can help you sort out these feelings so that you head into marriage with more ease and understanding.
To Have or Not to Have Children: Whether to have or not have children, pregnancy complications, the inevitable passing of time and expected age of pregnancy are all factors that impact relationships. Therapy will help you sort through these barriers to give you a greater sense of direction.
Contact Us
If you are having issues with your relationship (or lack thereof), you shouldn’t have to continue to deal with the pain and risk things getting worse. People who do not have healthy selves inevitably struggle and often make their relationships suffer. Healing can be sped up with professional support so that you can get back to being a stronger self and more reliable partner in your current or future relationship.
A clear understanding and workable coping strategies can transform your experience of life’s changes. It’s time to stop the pain and heal now. Arrange a consultation and session today.