Great Couples Counseling in Greenbriar, VA. Therapy to heal relationships.

I offer couples therapy for partners who are looking make positive changes in their relationships, whether they are dating, engaged, married, or committed. I blend strategies and interventions from several couple therapy models to fit our conversations to your unique goals. By learning new skills, healing emotional injuries, experiencing each other's vulnerabilities in a safe way, and gaining insights about how each other's past influences their current behaviors, we work together to build a compassionate and joyful relationship.

There are two most basic fears of intimacy that we all have: one is fear of abandonment, the other is fear of being taken over, of losing my autonomy. In a relationship, people often become polarized with one clinging and the other seeming distant. With awareness of our fears and how to take care of ourselves and each other, we will bring out the best in each other. Everyone knows how to speak and listen, right? Not so. The most difficult skills to learn are to speak self-responsibly about your own experience and to truly listen and understand the other person's experience even when you don't like it. To learn these skills enables love. I can help.

Learning that one's spouse or partner has been living a "secret" sexual life can very quickly lead to the dissolution of a marriage or relationship. I work with couples to help heal the damage that one spouse has done to the marriage and family. Couples therapy can also be helpful in helping couples heal from the damage caused by a spouse's anger issues.

Ashburn Psychological Services has therapists available for couple's therapy. Couple's therapy can be effective in addressing emotional conflicts, intimacy and communication struggles that may be negatively impacting the relationship. Separation, divorce, blended families and step parenting, and one's individual problems are some of the factors that can contribute to relationship problems. Cognitive-behavior therapy and interpersonal therapy are approaches that can be successful in bringing about positive change for couple's. Ashburn Psychological Services is here to help.

My "Treasure Therapy" helps couples to become aware of themselves and their partner and to appreciate our inherent worth. I use different lenses to analyze how our social identity and sense of worth is shaped by society. This is important for helping couples have a sense of mutuality. John Gottman, an expert in couples therapy, talks about how power differentials can actually impede trust in his book, The Science of Trust. My own PhD research looked at 91 couples and found 12 common factors that influenced the balance of power in heterosexual romantic relationships, summed up with the word "TREASURES" because it summarizes how we approach people as precious treasures.

Relationships are hard! They can bring out the best in us...and also the worst. What's more, its easy to feel confused and unable to see what is happening clearly when things in your relationship are troubled. Relationships can be up & down, and often it is that one familiar pattern or issue that triggers everything. As you and your partner are so 'in it', it is pretty difficult to find your own way out of the same old behavior. I work with couples, providing an unbiased and neutral perspective, helping you gain greater understanding into what is happening and how you want things to change. Yes, relationships are hard, but also contain infinite potential for healing & renewal.

Married, partnered, exclusive, non-exclusive, gay, straight, cis, trans, or poly…relationships are tough. Being in relationship with another human being is the hardest work we will ever do. Whether you’re struggling with something as painful as infidelity or as simple as whether to get another cat, we can help you find your way back to where you want to be.

Your relationship with your partner is the most important relationship in your life. Relationship issues touch every area of our lives. Learning healthy relationship skills is a fundamental building block of a successful life. Through therapy, you will learn how to achieve intimacy, manage conflict, how to give and receive love, and to create the relationship you have always wanted.

We use the latest method of communication, conflict resolution, attachment theory and trust building to help couples resolve conflicts quickly and deepen they connection. We can help you transform your troubled relationship into a happy, successful, supportive relationship. Very few people are equipped with the understandings and technical skills that are necessary for an intimate relationship to be successful. Many couples lack skills in the area of communication, anger management, commitment, conflict revolution and / or intimacy skills. The things that make a relationship work are about the little things like how you solve arguments and how much you like and respect each other.

Working with couples is a dynamic process that requires the therapist to maintain a safe space where both people can feel heard and understood. I am a certified Imago therapist and use a dialogical process to increase the emotional intimacy between the two people. I have worked with straight, bi, gay and lesbian and transgendered couples, and many different ethnic groups---and find that the challenges are essentially the same---to create a bond of trust that allows for all parts of the two people to show up and be accepted in the relationship. I share helpful handouts that people can use when they are home, to be able to deal with conflict more skillfully.

Relationship counseling for couples is our primary specialty. How can you tell if couples therapy is right for you? Consider calling if you: * Find it hard to stop criticizing your partner * Feel defensive when asked for something by your partner * Find yourself avoiding your partner or family * Are developing emotional attachments to other potential partners about which you would not want your partner to find out * Are thinking about your partner or your marriage makes you depressed or anxious * Are not able to be sexually intimate with your partner We have relationship experts that will speak with you today.

Robyn E. Brickel, M.A., LMFT is a trained marriage and family therapist and a clinical fellow member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Robyn incorporates systems based theories, along with her training in IMAGO Relationship Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to help couples - both married and in relationships reach their goals of improving their relationships. We offer couples counseling to couples of any sexual preference.

We specialize in helping couples, using Emotionally Focused Therapy. This is a complex approach which helps couples (of all sorts) to understand the deep need for safety and connection we all have, innately. When we feel repeatedly disappointed in the connection, or a serious breach such as an affair occurs, people react with protective anger, protesting the loss. Unfortunately, that angry protest often drives the more reticent partner farther away, leaving the first one even more desperate. We help people see that the unhappy cycle they are caught in is responsible for their suffering. And then we help them to find and share their more vulnerable feelings, creating a positive and affirming cycle....

Every relationship has its challenges. Sometimes it takes an outside person to help you and your partner work through these challenges in an empathic and objective way. I use techniques that have been proven to work. Together, we will create a trusting and safe environment where you and your partner can talk openly about the issues that divide you. I don’t take sides or place blame. Instead, I work to understand each of you as individuals and as a couple. Our work will focus on building better communication skills, having more positive experiences as a couple, and coping more effectively with challenges. Together, you and your partner can build a stronger relationship.

Training and experience matter for couples therapy. Therapists should not choose sides. We can help you work through difficult issues with better communication and understanding of how and why you experience conflict. Your relationship patterns are our focus. We will meet with you together, then individually, and then come back together with a plan.

Couples usually go to therapy when they are feeling distressed. Maybe they are also feeling isolated from each other, distrustful, or like they just can't communicate with each other. I like to start by getting to know what is is like for each of you to be in your relationship and how each of you understands how your relationship ended up in this distressed place. When I work with couples, I use a model called Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT). EFT provides me with a map, a way to help couples out of their stuck places. I have earned my Certification as an Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist and Supervisor.

Are you engaged and need premarital counseling? Or, perhaps you are married and simply "fell out of love". Is there an infidelity that needs to be forgiven, and the desire to repair the marriage? Is arguing the norm between the two of you? Through faith-based counseling a healthier "couple" will emerge and manifest. In a nonjudgmental and safe environment, exploration will take place to identify and eradicate the problematic circumstances. I look forward to working with you, and I applaud you for taking the first step toward a happier state of co-existence! Let's start your tomorrow today.

Intimate relationships have a unique ability to highlight areas we need improvement in. With that said, the challenges that intimate relationships pose also create the opportunity for each person in the relationship to grow in ways they otherwise would not have. In couples counseling with me, we will work to understand how the baggage each person brings into the relationship affects the relationship, as well as discover strategies to support each other in healing so that this relationship can help both individuals be the person they have potential to be.

I help couples develop skills and behaviors to better understand each other, resolve conflicts and communicate effectively. My approach is educational and practical, and it will help you find ways to increase intimacy, marital satisfaction and happiness. I offer services to people in a wide spectrum, from those who are looking for help with difficult relationship issues to others who are looking for relationship enrichment.

Are you frustrated with your partner's career or life plan? As your career or life coach, I can help you get a plan to help decrease your stress. Together we navigate the path to realizing your ideal life vision. During the coaching process, we work to identify your core values, enhance your strengths, increase your self awareness and to ensure that we find you and your partner a career or life plan.

A large part of my work as a therapist is with couples: married, unmarried and pre-marriage. My approach focuses on communication, conflict resolution and understanding the internal dynamics of each individual and how these dynamics affect the couple relationship. I seek to help you understand your own personality and background as well as that of your partner. I am certified to administer an inventory, which can uncover the similarities and differences in your relationship dynamics.

Couples counseling, which includes marriage counseling, tends to be at least 50% of my work as a therapist. I have had post-graduate training in couples counseling and working with couples after an affair. I am also certified to provide pre-marriage counseling using the Prepare Inventory. There is great benefit in seeing a counselor when your relationship is fracturing. In therapy, each person is given the opportunity to express his or her concerns, communication and conflict resolution skills are developed, and new patterns of relating are established.

Communication. Trust. Connection. All three are important to any committed relationship, but they require teamwork to develop and maintain. I think of your relationship as a team of two. Sometimes one of you can pursue individual goals that cause your relationship to improve - like a star quarterback on the football field. But to experience the greatest change in your relationship, I’ll encourage each of you to explore and pursue individual objectives that promote the success of your team of two. Working as a team, you can discover ways to improve communication, build trust, and reconnect. This is how I help couples, and if the approach appeals to you, please contact me

Given the many challenges that can lead to divorce (money problems, adultery, differences in raising children, etc.) the wisest thing couples can do is to seek Christian counseling before they say "I do." No matter how solid a couple’s relationship may be, problems and differences will inescapably arise. Therefore, pre-marital counseling really operates as the best security system a couple could ever purchase. Our Christian counselors can be beneficial by familiarizing couples with targeted areas of conflict that often lead to divorce. These areas are: • Communication • In-Laws • Money/finances • Sexuality • Spiritual Intimacy • Roles (delegation of responsibilities)

I work with couples to help them create new and stronger avenues of communication--allowing them to find, once again, the joy each partner had in the other. Whether work has stressed your relationship, or children have created the gap, we can reimagine ways to find closer connections. Perhaps you feel as if you're roommates more than a couple. Or one of you has been tempted to stray--or has strayed--but you want to do the work to come back together. Therapy helps you find the new ways you need to communicate, leading to a stronger bond between you.