Marriage Counseling

Has Something Changed in Your Marriage Leaving You Lonely, Isolated, Disconnected?

Life and relationships evolve over time and you may find the dynamic in your marriage relationship has changed. You may have been married for decades, or for only a few months or years. The struggles you and your partner are having in your marriage may be things that have just come up for one or both of you, or perhaps resentments have been simmering below the surface for a long time.

You May Be Considering Marriage Counseling if You Are Struggling With Any of the Following:

Communication difficulties
Conversations that escalate into conflict or power struggles
Disconnection
Loneliness
Feeling misunderstood
Loss of the passion and excitement you once shared in your marriage
An incident of infidelity
Juggling family and career responsibilities
Recovery from addiction
Feeling more like roommates than soulmates

You and your partner may be feeling discouraged, sad, hopeless, helpless, defeated, hurt, frustrated, angry, and more. You made a commitment to each other when you married and are not sure how you have gotten to a place in your relationship where there is so much disagreement, conflict, uncertainty, and pain. You may find yourself thinking, “We used to be so good together. What happened?”

Most Couples Have Times When Their Marriage Gets Off-Track

It’s inevitable that you and your partner will have some challenges and conflict in your life together. All marriage relationships do. Right now, you may be looking at your marriage in a more negative light and have difficulty remembering, seeing, and feeling the positives of your relationship with your partner. Maybe misunderstandings have left you feeling closed-off and unable to be vulnerable and open with your partner. Perhaps there has been a breach of trust or an extramarital affair. Stressors outside of your relationship with your spouse, such as parenting, careers, financial responsibilities, extended family concerns, illness, and a host of other life events have created a distance between the two of you that neither of you want.

Marriage Counseling Can Help You Revive Your Relationship

As a therapist with specialized training in marriage counseling, I will work with you and your partner to identify the specific challenges you are experiencing in your marriage. I help couples to notice patterns of communication that are harming their marriage relationship, and will work with you to help you learn new and more productive ways of expressing personal needs, desires, concerns, and differences of opinion. The fact is, all couples have conflict. How you communicate with each other is the key difference in productive conflict and conflict that is damaging to your relationship.

Some couples view marital infidelity as a violation of trust that cannot be overcome. The truth is, infidelity in your marriage relationship does not have to mean the end of your marriage. Many couples, through marriage counseling, have found that they can have a better relationship after infidelity than they had before. With the guidance of a therapist who specializes in marriage counseling, it’s possible for you to have an even stronger marriage.

Marriage counseling helps you and your partner to rebuild friendship, trust, connection, and learn positive communication skills. Marriage can be the most satisfying and happy of relationships. When couples make a commitment to each other early in their relationship, they look ahead to a happy future and life together. You and your partner may have hit a difficult spot in your marriage, but you can still find the connection, trust, and love to keep your relationship going strong.

Questions You May be Asking Yourself

Isn’t marriage counseling a last-ditch effort at saving our relationship?

Every couple has their particular set of circumstances that bring them to my office for marriage counseling. No two couples are ever exactly in the same place when they see me for marriage counseling. Waiting too long to address marital conflict and concern is far more damaging to your marriage than hoping things will work out for you and your spouse. Marriage counseling is the first step toward finding a path to restoring your relationship and the connection you once had with your partner. It’s never too early in your marriage to see a marriage counselor. If you have concerns that you and your spouse can’t work out together, seeing a marriage counselor is a healthy way to address issues before they become bigger and more complex.

How many sessions will it take to resolve our issues? I’ve heard marriage counseling is expensive.

Marriage counseling is an investment in yourself and your relationship. All couples bring their own set of circumstances and history into their marriage counseling sessions, so there is no average number of sessions that can be determined. My experience with couples is that the more effort you put into your marriage counseling, both in an out of scheduled appointments, the more successful your marriage counseling experience will be. Additionally, investing the time and resources to repair the issues in your marriage can help you avoid potentially costly and damaging divorce proceedings.

Why should I choose you for marriage counseling?

Marriage counseling is a specialty area of my counseling practice. I use the Gottman Method of couples counseling as the foundation of my work with all married couples. I have completed Level 1 and Level 2 training in the Gottman Method, as well as other specialty Gottman trainings to work with couples and addiction, and couples with complex issues affecting their marriage relationship.

marriage counseling - austin, tx - janie mcmahan counseling

I offer you a safe, compassionate, and confidential environment for you and your partner to share your deepest concerns, disappointments, and hurts in your marriage. I have no judgments about what brings you to marriage counseling, only the desire to help you navigate the difficulties you are having in your marriage, and help you gain insight about why you are where you are, and provide direction to help you regain the connection you and your spouse once shared. I believe it is possible to move forward from difficult relationship issues to a happy future together.

I strongly believe the therapeutic relationship between you and your therapist is key to successful therapy. To help you decide if I’m the right marriage counselor for you, I offer a free 30-minute consultation in my office so you can meet me and decide if I am a good fit for you. There is no obligation for you continue to see me if you decide your needs would be better met by another counselor.