How Marriage and Couples Counseling Benefits Relationships

You’ve probably heard the phrase “No relationship is a complete 50/50 balance.” In other words, you and your partner won’t always agree on everything and both get exactly what you want. 

Sometimes, it’s easy to reach common ground. However, if you and your partner feel like you’ve reached a dead end on unresolved issues, you might be asking yourself how marriage counseling or couples therapy can benefit your relationship. Help from a therapist who specializes in couples and marriage counseling can help you and your partner build the skills you need to resolve conflict and find understanding.  

Read on to learn more about couples and marriage counseling and how it can help improve the health of your relationship. 

Reasons to seek couples counseling 

Every relationship goes through its ups and downs. Many couples seek counseling when they are in a “down” period they can’t seem to get out of. In fact, 49% of married couples end up in marriage counseling at some point during their union. 

Seeking couples therapy before big, unresolvable problems arise — rather than waiting until you and your partner are at an impasse — can make it more effective. A few common reasons couples seek counseling include wanting to: 

• Improve communication skills
• Build relationship conflict resolution skills 
• Resolve money problems 
• Settle disagreements on parenting
• Fix trust issues
• Overcome in-law/family challenges
• Better understand each other’s values

Couples therapy can also be beneficial even if issues aren’t present in your relationship. Some couples seek therapy simply to maintain a healthy relationship and keep communication strong.

Does Marriage and Couples Counseling Work? 

Whether you’re looking to overcome challenges with your partner or simply want to continue to keep your relationship strong, seeking therapy together from a licensed professional can help you and your partner build the skills you need to have a healthy relationship, including: 

• Making your communication better so you both feel understood
• Strengthening the emotional bond between you and your partner to bring you closer together 
• Increasing cooperation and helping you develop relationship conflict resolution strategies 
• Reducing arguments and stress  

In couples therapy, your relationship is the “client”. This means your therapist won’t focus on you or your partner as individuals. Instead, they’ll focus on the relationship goals you want to achieve and how you and your partner can work together to reach those goals. 

Moreover, couples therapy isn’t just for people who are married or who have been together for a long period of time. It can be beneficial at any stage in your relationship — whether you’ve been together for months or decades.

Research shows that couples therapy positively impacts 70% of those who get treatment. But positive results don’t come without commitment. To get the most out of couples and marriage counseling, experts say it’s important for both you and your partner to be open to learning from each other, growing, and healing, both individually and as a couple. 

How to find the right couples therapist or marriage counselor

Making the decision with your partner to seek couples and marriage counseling is a big first step in building a healthier relationship together. To get the most out of couples therapy, it’s important to connect with the right therapist for your relationship’s unique challenges and goals. 

First, you’ll want to make sure the therapist you connect with specializes in couples and marriage counseling. Then, in your initial discussions, you’ll want to ask them questions about their experience counseling couples and their approach to treatment. You’ll also want to share with them the specific issues you’d like to work through and the goals you’d like to achieve as a couple. Then, you and your partner can decide whether your therapist is the right fit to help you both achieve those goals. 

It may take a little trial and error to find the right therapist for your relationship. That’s okay. It’s worth it to make sure you and your partner get the most out of couples therapy. 

If you and your partner are considering couples therapy, here’s how SonderMind can connect you to a therapist who’s right for you.