"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." --Michael Leunig

Because every person is wired in a different way, there is not a one size fits all approach to couples counseling. Individuals arrive for a couples counseling session with beliefs, personalities, perceptions, and values which often present themselves in the therapy session. Acknowledging these differences will help the clients and their counselor to fully explore the nature of their relationship issues.

Couples counseling is designed to help each individual in the couple become a more effective partner by learning how to resolve conflicts, exploring ways to fight fairly, and identifying broken communication patterns. By acknowledging their role in the relationship, an individual work on things s/he is doing that is maladaptive, unfair, or hurtful. Couples seek counseling for many reasons, such as infidelity, divorce, parenting issues, sex, anger, and other mental health issues. Further, couples counseling is not limited to only those who are married; couples counseling can be helpful for anyone involved in a committed relationship.

Couples oftentimes come to counseling wanting to "fix" their relationship; sometimes it means that they want the counselor to "fix" their partner. It is of utmost importance that both parties be involved, open, and honest throughout the counseling process in order to ensure a positive outcome. This being said, it also implies that a certain level of safety and trust be established between the therapist and the couple. Just as it is important to trust a partner, it is also important to trust your counselor with the therapeutic process.

The duration of couples counseling truly depends on the nature of the relationship. Sometimes it only takes a few sessions to sort through the emotional debris and put it back together in a pleasing fashion; other times it may take months or years to break it all down and rebuild it. It takes commitment, dedication, and trust in order to repair a relationship that has deteriorated over time. With the help of a counselor, the couple can safely and methodically explore the areas of the couple's relationship which are less than desirable, defective, and/or unhealthy.