Living Well Counselling Services - Counselling Calgary

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Living Well Counselling Services - Counselling Calgary

415 14 St NW, Calgary, AB T2N 2A1

3W43+9X Calgary, Alberta

(587)579-7911

Living Well · Living Well Counselling Services - Counselling Calgary

Why Seek Couples Therapy

Couples therapy is often seen as a last resort for relationships that are already on the brink of collapse. However, seeking therapy with your partner can actually be a proactive step towards building a stronger and healthier relationship. While it may be uncomfortable to confront issues head-on, couples therapy can provide a safe and supportive environment to work through challenges and improve communication skills. One of the main reasons to seek couples therapy is to improve communication skills. Many couples struggle with expressing themselves effectively and understanding their partner's perspective. A therapist can help identify communication patterns and provide tools to improve active listening, empathy, and expressing emotions. Additionally, therapy can create a space for each partner to feel heard and validated, which can lead to a deeper understanding and connection. By investing in therapy, couples can build a stronger foundation for their relationship and navigate future challenges with more ease.

Improving Communication Skills

Let's work on improving our communication skills so we can stop getting into silly arguments and actually understand each other better. Couples therapy can help us learn how to communicate effectively with each other. It's important to understand that communication is not just about talking, but also about listening. In therapy, we can learn how to actively listen to each other and understand each other's perspectives. Improving our communication skills can also help us avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. In therapy, we can learn how to express our thoughts and feelings in a clear and respectful manner. We can also learn how to identify and address any communication barriers that may be hindering our ability to communicate effectively. By improving our communication skills, we can strengthen our relationship and build a stronger foundation for the future.

Resolving Conflict in Relationships

Dealing with conflicts in relationships can be a real challenge, but it's important to find healthy ways to resolve them. Conflicts can arise from differences in personalities, lifestyles, beliefs, and expectations. Ignoring or avoiding conflicts can lead to resentment, anger, and eventually, the breakdown of the relationship. One way to resolve conflicts is to practice active listening and empathy. This means listening to your partner without interrupting, trying to understand their point of view, and acknowledging their feelings. It also means communicating your own feelings and needs clearly and respectfully. By doing so, you can find common ground and work towards a solution that benefits both parties. Seeking the help of a couples therapist can also be beneficial in resolving conflicts, as they can provide objective guidance and support.

Addressing Longstanding Issues

Addressing longstanding issues in relationships requires active effort and a willingness to communicate openly and honestly in a mature and respectful manner. Many couples may avoid discussing certain topics or issues that have been present for a long time, hoping that they will eventually go away on their own. However, this approach only leads to the issue becoming more entrenched and difficult to resolve. Longstanding issues can range from unresolved conflicts, to unmet needs, to patterns of behavior that no longer serve the relationship. Seeking couples therapy can help couples address these issues by providing a safe and neutral space for communication. A trained therapist can help couples identify the root causes of their issues, explore different perspectives, and develop strategies to work through them. By addressing longstanding issues, couples can not only improve their current relationship, but also prevent similar issues from arising in the future.

Strengthening Emotional Connection

You can deepen your emotional connection with your partner by actively expressing your feelings and actively listening to theirs, creating a stronger bond between you. It's important to create a safe space where both partners feel comfortable sharing their emotions without fear of judgment or criticism. This can be achieved by setting aside dedicated time to talk and actively listening to each other without interrupting or becoming defensive. Strengthening emotional connection also involves being present and attentive to your partner's needs and desires. This means being aware of their emotional state and responding with empathy and understanding. By showing your partner that you care about their emotional well-being, you can build a deeper level of trust and intimacy in your relationship. Couples therapy can provide a supportive environment for couples to work on strengthening their emotional connection and building a stronger, more fulfilling relationship.

lding a Healthier Relationship

To build a healthier relationship, it's important to prioritize open communication and actively work on understanding and meeting each other's needs. This means taking the time to really listen to your partner and empathize with their perspective, even if you don't necessarily agree with it. It also means being willing to express your own thoughts and feelings in a clear and respectful manner, without resorting to blame or criticism. In addition to communication, building a healthier relationship often involves working on other aspects of your partnership, such as trust, intimacy, and teamwork. This could mean setting boundaries and expectations around things like finances or household responsibilities, or finding new ways to connect emotionally and physically. Ultimately, the goal of couples therapy is to help you and your partner develop the skills and tools you need to create a strong and fulfilling relationship that can withstand the ups and downs of life. Frequently Asked Questions How do we know if couples therapy is the right choice for us? If you're struggling in your relationship, couples therapy can be a helpful tool. Consider if you're both willing to work on the issues, have realistic expectations, and are committed to the process. Can couples therapy actually save a relationship that seems beyond repair? Couples therapy can work wonders for relationships that seem beyond repair. With commitment and effort from both partners, a skilled therapist can help identify and address underlying issues, leading to improved communication, understanding, and a stronger bond. What is the typical duration of couples therapy? Typical duration of couples therapy varies depending on the severity of issues, but generally ranges from a few months to a year. It's important to commit to regular sessions to achieve lasting results. How much does couples therapy usually cost? The cost of couples therapy can vary depending on the therapist's experience, location, and the length of the sessions. On average, couples can expect to pay anywhere from $75 to $200 per session. What if one partner is not willing to attend couples therapy? If one partner is unwilling to attend couples therapy, it can be difficult to make progress. It's important to communicate the benefits of therapy and try to understand their reluctance. If necessary, individual therapy may be a helpful first step. There’s no shame in admitting that your marriage needs help. Sometimes issues come up and neither you nor your spouse can figure out how to resolve these problems. Being able to admit that there’s a problem is the first step to fixing it. The next step is to get help. And this is where marriage counselling comes in. It can be difficult to open up about deeply personal issues with someone who’s essentially a stranger to you, but these people are trained professionals and they understand exactly how to help you.

Why You Need to be Careful

How to find a counsellor that’s right for you is very important. While all therapists and counsellors undergo training and certification, they’re still people at the end of the day. This means that they will handle different problems using different solutions. With a matter as sensitive as marriage therapy, you need to make sure that both you and your spouse are comfortable with them and that they can provide the kind of help you need to strengthen your marriage. Can Marriage Counselling Help? There are a lot of different opinions regarding marriage counselling. There are many who claim that it served to exacerbate the problems in their marriage while others claim that their marriages would have crumbled without it. At the end of the day, counselling is only helpful when the therapist and the couple are all working together to resolve issues. If there’s some kind of disconnect between the three parties, then success seems less likely. This is why you need to know how to find a counsellor that’s right for you.

Find Someone Trained to Help Couples

There are several factors to keep in mind before committing to a marital therapist. Among the various points that you need to consider, one of them would be the training the counsellor has received. Couples counselling isn’t the same as individual counselling because the needs and structure of the therapy sessions are very different from each other. A counsellor on the individual level will provide you with the guidance to process your emotions and will let you take the reins mostly. In a couple’s session, the therapist is meant to function as a mediator and supposed to defuse conflict and help identify the areas which need to be worked on without taking sides. There are many counsellors out there who say that they provide counselling for couples because they believe that there’s nothing unique or different about couple’s therapy. This is an incorrect assumption on their part. When researching therapists, it would be a good idea to ask questions about their qualifications in couples counselling, such as if they have any credentials in models designed by the Gottman Institute for example. Another helpful tip to determine whether a potential counsellor is capable of helping you, would be to ask about how often they see couple clients during the day. Those who tend to more couples in the day are going to be more experienced at handling the specific needs of marital therapy, whereas those who don’t regularly meet clients that are couples will lack the necessary experience and expertise.

The Approach of the Therapist

Couples therapyFiguring out how to find the right counsellor for you is also dependent on factors other than how well versed they are with couple’s therapy. The methods that a counsellor employs to help you are also crucial to the success of your sessions. The first and foremost thing to keep in mind is that your counsellor’s only priority should be to help you resolve your problems with your spouse. Harmony is the end goal here. Your counsellor should not replace solutions with their opinions. In the context of the sessions they need to be as neutral as possible. So if your therapist begins suggesting divorce or starts saying that your problems can’t be resolved, then you need a new therapist. Also of note is that some therapists might suggest a single strategy for helping your marriage. This is also an extremely unhelpful approach because people (and couples) are all distinct from one another and a standard approach will not be successful in every case. Any therapist that insists your marriage will not succeed if it follows a ‘cookie-cutter’ pattern, is not adequately qualified to help you resolve your problems. And remember, marriage counsellors are people and not all-knowing entities. They aren’t privy to any secret information that tells them when a couple needs to give up. Many who attend marital therapy don’t seem to realise this fact and take it to heart when the counsellor talks about incompatibility. In truth, that’s merely an opinion and not a fact. It must not be treated as an objective assessment on the state of your marriage.

They Shouldn’t Encourage You to Part with Your Spouse

As said earlier, the therapist shouldn’t be suggesting divorce as though it is a solution. Any counsellor who recommends it has a fundamental misunderstanding of how to approach couple’s therapy. Taking this advice too seriously might lead to more problems than it can resolve. First and foremost, divorce is a massive decision to be making. It’s not just a matter of the couple themselves being affected (which is bad enough on its own), but also the families involved. If the couple has had children, then divorce tends to cause a fair amount of trauma to the children and strain between one or both of the parents. Aside from that, counsellors need to be aware that a lot of the time that couples are upset with each other, it’s a momentary issue and not necessarily an unsalvageable situation. If they lack that awareness and suggest divorce then they aren’t doing any favours to you. Conclusion It can be overwhelming and scary to admit your marriage is in trouble. And it can certainly feel stressful when you have to figure out how to find a counsellor that’s right for you. But as long as you ask the right questions and focus on repairing your marriage you will be able to get the best out of the experience.   Living Well Counselling Services Inc. 4803 Centre Street Northwest #4, Calgary, AB T2E 2Z6 (403) 695-7911

Counselling Calgary -Living Well

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Living Well counselling services inc. was created with Helping you and any issues you may be having. our goal is to help you find a Psychologist or Counsellor that can fit your needs and personality well. If you require to meet with  us for anxiety, addictions or depression, are in need of couples therapy, anger management tools or an LGBTQ friendly therapist, One of our top local Counsellors will be a fit for you Living Well strives to keep  our rates lower than the set rate for most other practices, and We have therapists covered by benefits should you have access to extended health coverage. Although We are a counselling service based in Calgary  ,we now serve clients worldwide through the advances of technology. We also offer a free 20-minute initial consultation to