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 Making the decision to seek professional help for you marriage requires a great deal of courage.  It requires sharing some of the most intimate details about your life with an outsider in the hopes that your dreams and hopes for your family can be restored.  For this reason, many people do not seek couple's therapy.  Even when they do, many approach it with a great deal of fear that their relationship cannot be salvaged and shame that they have been unable to relate with another successfully.  If these are your concerns rest assured that there may yet be help for you.

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My approach to couple's therapy is one in which I utilize a behavioral therapy approach called Integrative Behavioral Couple's Therapy.  My goal is to help each couple clearly define what is missing from their relationship and what they would like both to give and to receive from it.  Additionally, IBCT works best when each couple determines their unique goals and sets the pace of therapy.

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Traditionally, any couple coming for treatment would meet with a therapist and agree to a certain number of sessions, perhaps 12 or 16.  However IBCT is different in that treatment is offered in four week increments.  The first four meetings make up the assessment phase.  During this phase important information about the couple is gathered and at its completions, feedback is provided to the couple regarding their readiness for couple's therapy or their need for other types of treatment.

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For those couple who are ready for treatment and who agree to continue, another four weeks is scheduled and the treatment phase begins. Every four weeks the couple will decide whether to continue with treatment or if they have received benefit and are ready to terminate treatment. Those couple who spend greater than four weeks in the treatment phase and are doing well can expect to taper off sessions. 

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Couple's therapy is an investment into your relationship that is both costly and time consuming. However, the benefits can last a lifetime.