Today, couples desperately want to repair their relationships, both for their sake and their children’s but may face difficulty with their partner’s point of view and rarely understand how their own behaviors contribute to conflicts within the relationship.

At East End Mental Health, the psychotherapist’s goal is to teach a method of communication that allows couples to resolve their conflicts during and after treatment. The goal is not to resolve issues for the couple. If a psychotherapist attempts to resolve an issue, one or both partners have the tendency become defensive.

The goal of the couples therapy process requires psychotherapists to do the following.

• Provide the couple with an understanding of the goals of treatment.

• Develop trust with each client without alienating the other.

• Set the boundaries of psychotherapy so each will feel safe to express his or her point of view in a way the other can hear and understand, even though he or she may not agree.

• Set the stage for the couple to have a conscious relationship, that is, one where each partner begins to understand how he or she is contributing to the conflicts and how using a different communication style can lead to the joyful and harmonious relationship they both deserve.

The therapist should meet privately with each partner (either in a separate session or part of the first session) to learn about any sensitive issues.

At East End Mental Health, we specialize in the following couples sessions.

• Premarital counseling is a preventative and constructive foundation for the beginning of the relationship.

• Counseling to learn how to communicate more effectively, connected with your partner and more comfortable to ask your partner what you want and need.

• High conflict and stressful situations.

• Couples struggling with infidelity.

• Couples with a history of substance use by either partner, eating disorder, and codependency.