Couples Counselling Principles that Help
Couples relationship counselling is a type of talk therapy that lets both parties in a relationship talk about their issues and feelings in a safer environment where they are free from any judgement. Couples Counselling attempts to improve relationships between a couple and resolve their interpersonal conflicts. Through relationship counselling, couples get to explore the bigger picture of their relationship and individual interactions. During counselling sessions, a couple is offered a safe space to understand the patterns on a personal level. This way, they become more conscious of their actions and the consequences. Through Counselling, couples actually get to lead a better life.
What makes couple therapy fail sometimes is that couples often avoid going for therapy until they have reached a point where they are on the verge of breaking up. Couples should spot the early signs and reach out to the therapists for accurate results. Couples counselling is a properly structured method of healing. When it focuses on the right goal, it can be very effective in restoring the relationships that couples have. Certain principles should be followed throughout the couple's counselling sessions.
1. Couples counselling should aim to change the way couples view their relationship. The primary and overall purpose of relationship Counselling is often to change the way couples view their relationship. With this principle of the process of Counselling, the therapist takes a look at daily interactions between the couple. It also involves looking at how the couple interacts with each other in different physical or social contexts. It consists of examining everything from how they greet each other, what does their body language say, how do they deal with each other's stress issues. All this helps the therapist alter the way couples look at their relationship and find more adaptive ways to continue forward.
2. Couples counselling should modify their dysfunctional behaviour Couple’s therapists often attempt to change the way partners behave with each other. This means observing the friction in their behaviours that lead to regular dysfunctional behaviours. Therapists attempt to change the way partners behave with each other. In addition to helping them improve their interactions and behaviour with each other, therapists should also emphasize being more empathetic towards one another. Therapists at Ottawa psychotherapy center aim to correct the behavioural patterns that couples follow, which destroy their relationships and make things worse. They work towards enlightening the couple about their harmful behaviours and make them more considerate towards each other.
3. It should encourage emotional intelligence and developing empathy. Understanding each other's emotional needs and expressing feelings is a fuel that keeps the relationship going. Often couples put themselves at risk when they avoid expressing their own emotions and become emotionally distant. Therapists help their clients bring those suppressed emotions out that they fear to express to their spouse. More often than not, there have been people who have failed to develop secure connections during their childhood. They carry those unmet needs into their adult relationships. They do not express their needs because of fear of rejection, which was stemmed from their childhood. As per this principle, therapists encourage wounded partners to open up emotionally, express themselves and take that leap of faith.
4. It should improve communication. Effective couple's counselling focuses on helping the partners to communicate more effectively. The lack of clear communication is one of the primary reasons for failed marriages. Effective couple's therapists ask their clients to learn how to communicate well, in understanding and supportive ways. It is another principle of the therapy, where therapists educate them on what type of communication is most effective and also teach them to identify unhelpful patterns of communication. Technically, the skills therapists should help couples develop is active listening and learning how to use 'I' statements and stop the blame game.
5. It should promote strength and trust in their relationships. Another principle of couple's counselling is helping them strengthen their relationship and make it resilient for future conflict. Every relationship was started for a reason, and the role of relationship counselling here is assisting couples to remember these reasons, which ultimately help them stick together and strengthen the bond. Often, the relationship between two people was started on a good note, but over time, they start taking little things for granted, which makes one or both partners feel less appreciated. Often, relationships fall apart when the struggles of life get in the way of the spark, which started the relationship in the first place. Much of the relationship counselling focuses on the problems and tries to solve them one after the other until both the partners feel heard. And this principle is about enlightening the couple about all the positives in their relationship and enhancing them. Focusing on the good memories, positive emotions and the connection between a couple is a big part of the road to recovery.
Summary Committing yourself to another human comes with its own pros and cons. It is one of the greatest sources of happiness, but it can be challenging at times to tune in with another different kind of a person. And with these emotional, social or financial challenges, and arguments and personality clashes, there can often be the need for relationship counselling. However, there is nothing like an ideal or perfect couple, but the couple's relationship counselling does open the right door towards improving the relationships between couples, helping them lead a happy life together.