Relationship Therapy
Do You Long For Deeper, More Fulfilling Relationships?
Are you having trouble navigating interpersonal conflict, healing from past relational wounds, or finding someone special to share your life with? Do these challenges ever make you feel:
Anxious, stressed out, depressed, or emotionally unfulfilled?
So overwhelmed that you cry frequently or lash out in anger?
Powerless or confused, unsure of which direction you want your life to take?
Perhaps you’re realizing that, in order to thrive, something has to change in your relationship, but you need some help making it happen.
Conversely, it could be that you’re struggling with trust or intimacy issues and longing for a deeper, more fulfilling connection with your partner.
Everyone Seeks Out Relationship Therapy For Different Reasons
If you’re in a romantic relationship, you may feel unloved, undeserving, or inadequate but don’t want to involve your spouse or partner in therapy. You might run into conflict, communication issues, or challenges with parenting that diminish your sense of intimacy and connection.
If you’re alone or in a problematic relationship, life can feel empty and meaningless, making you wonder: “Will things always be like this?” The stress and loneliness can become so consuming that you end up with muscle tension, headaches, stomachaches, low sex drive, and even panic attacks.
Whether you’re having trouble with your marriage, friendships, family, or working relationships, counseling with our compassionate therapists at Live Well can help. Together, we can work on reducing anxiety, gaining clarity on your life direction and goals, and developing healthier relationship dynamics so you feel happier and more fulfilled.
Relationships—Of Every Type—Can Involve Challenges
Life is about connection, but sometimes that comes with a caveat, as everyone eventually runs into relationship problems—whether platonic, professional, familial, or romantic. Oftentimes, insecure attachment styles that develop during early childhood cause long-lasting repercussions.
For instance, anxious attachment can lead to clinginess and a desperate need for validation while those with avoidant attachment can struggle with seeming standoffish and indifferent. In most poorly functioning relationships, regardless of their nature, there is typically a lack of strong communication skills—something that counseling can readily address.
Why Do People Have Such A Hard Time Overcoming These Challenges?
Typically, attachment issues are deeply rooted. Plus, most folks simply do not have the skills or knowledge needed to navigate conflict or communication problems on their own.
Instead, they often mirror behaviors witnessed in relationships modeled during their youth—relationships that were potentially flawed for similar reasons. For some individuals, there may be relational trauma too deeply ingrained to overcome without support.
Thankfully, working with a relationship therapist provides you with a compassionate listener you can share your story with—someone who can validate and understand what you’re going through. It gives you an objective observer and teacher who can identify problematic patterns and help you develop new skills and insights that can improve your relationships across the board.
Therapy Can Benefit Your Relationships On Every Level
A lot of times, when people are trying to overcome conflict, they end up spiraling into the same old arguments without resolving anything.
That’s especially true for couples navigating things like co-parenting issues, different attachment styles, and past relational trauma. Therapy gives partners a chance to communicate with each other in a way that builds mutual understanding and brings them closer together.
Similarly, individual therapy for relationship issues is a great opportunity to work on yourself. It helps you identify what really makes you happy and gives you tools and support for managing any underlying issues contributing to your situation.
Relationship therapy can also address any negative dynamics you may have with family members, friends, co-workers, or even yourself. So, it truly is a powerful tool for improving relationships on any level.
What Are Our Relationship Counseling Sessions Like?
Just as every person’s situation is different, every session is unique and based on the client's goals and needs. If you are a couple coming in, one session might involve learning and practicing communication skills in real time. Other times, we may focus on addressing a specific topic or challenge.
In individual therapy for relationship issues, we may recap a fight you had with your partner and discuss what could be improved next time. Another scenario might see us examining your attachment style and looking at any past experiences that make it difficult for you to form relationships now. If you’re single, relationship therapy can even help you navigate the dating game.
Regardless of your situation, we’ll help you set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) Goals that speak to you. At the same time, we’ll monitor your progress as you work toward those goals—and build the relationships and life you want for yourself.
Some Of The Popular Strategies We Use In Relationship Counseling
To create an individualized treatment plan for every client, we draw upon several evidence-based therapy models:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) recognizes that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. CBT therapy for relationship issues helps bring awareness to all three, enabling clients to make deliberate changes that can positively affect the whole system.
The Gottman Method is a therapy model developed by a husband-and-wife team and based on research conducted on thousands of real couples. Partners learn how to improve communication during conflict, foster shared dreams, and build safety in the relationship.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) posits that we all have an internal "family," or an interconnected system of parts, within us. In IFS, we seek to speak to those wounded parts embedded in the deep recesses of our minds to heal the self as a whole.
Positive Psychology focuses on looking at what is going right in our lives instead of fixating on what's going wrong. Positive psychology, comprised of rigorously tested interventions, is a strengths-based approach to relationship therapy that can help people in their search for happiness and meaning.
Whether you're single, with a partner who's not quite right for you, or in a relationship that needs some support, therapy can help you find the happiness, love, and companionship you deserve. Working with our caring and impartial therapists, that kind of relationship is not just a possibility—it’s an eventuality.
Perhaps You’re Still Hesitant About Seeking Relationship Therapy…
With my busy schedule, I worry I’ll miss a session.
One of the great things about our online relationship counseling services is that you can meet virtually anywhere you feel safe. We also provide sessions on weeknights and offer flexibility in our week-to-week scheduling of appointments. With its added convenience, accessibility, and confidentiality, online relationship therapy ensures you get the help you need, when you need it.
I feel like therapy will take forever to make a difference.
Because we use a collaborative, goal-oriented approach to counseling for relationship problems, you and your partner will likely be able to start making active changes in your lives right away. Each person’s situation is different, but simply having someone objective to talk to—someone who can referee conversations and offer practical guidance—can often lead to immediate and lasting change.
I’m concerned that I’ll become reliant on relationship counseling.
Our goal as relationship counselors is to actively guide you through your personal change process so that you are empowered to one day be your own inner therapist. We don’t want to keep you on the proverbial couch forever. Rather, we want to help you make positive changes and experience consistent growth for the better so that we ultimately become unnecessary.
You Deserve More Fulfilling Relationships In Your Life
If you’re suddenly new to the dating game, your marriage is in a funk, or you’re struggling to connect with others on any level, therapy with Live Well can transform your relationships for the better. To get started, set up your free, 15-minute consultation by using our contact page or calling our virtual assistant at (212) 300-3314. We look forward to hearing from you.
Live Well Practice provides virtual relationship therapy for adults in NYC and the state of New York.