Marriage & couples counseling Services

Marriage counselors are highly skilled at helping couples to learn more productive ways to deal with conflict and disagreements. 65% of arguments are not solvable and couples and the downfall many couples make is focusing on winning arguments as opposed to progressing. A marriage counselor helps you to build skills for managing conflict – even when upset. The goal is to build new skills for the friendship of the couple to feel safe. (Read our blog post How To Fight Right)

Couples counseling can help to repair a fractured relationship, but it helps the outcome if couples get in for marriage counseling before the damage is too widespread. When the damage is too extensive, it can be much more difficult to rebuild. Things like abortion, multiple affairs, emotional abuse, violence, and drug abuse can be difficult to come back from. So, in a nutshell, don’t wait till it’s too late.

• You should both feel supported by your therapist.
• If your therapist insists that there is only one way to have a successful marriage, find another therapist.
• Your perspective and feelings should be validated by your therapist. If your therapist sides with you over your spouse, that’s not good. No one should feel ganged up on.
• Make sure you and your partner set concrete goals early on with your therapist. You should be learning new skills and practicing implementing them. (Watch how to complain without criticism)
• Finally, I would suggest that you trust your instincts. If you feel like therapy isn’t helping, pay attention to that. Bring it up in session and if you need to, see someone else.

ADHD tends to have profound effects on intimate relationships. Running late, miscommunication, remembering things, acting impulsively, getting distracted are all par for the course with ADHD and this tends to frustrate partners. We can help you slow down the issues and work to create effective ways to communicate. We also educate you on how to build neural capacity and grow to understand of each partner’s unique neurodiversity.

Do you have a crisis that is immediate and needs an intensive intervention? In the same way that the diagnosis of a life-threatening medical condition requires immediate and aggressive intervention, sometimes relationship conditions arise that also require intensive help. Intensive couples counseling is the most potent form of treatment that we offer. Intensive sessions are longer than normal sessions and vary from 2-3 hours depending on the therapists availability.

In a nutshell, sex positive couples counseling means that therapists are not shaming of any sexual preference. These therapists are also trained in best practices for building intimacy within partnerships, and they are also trained in best practices for those relationships which are non-monogamous.

Very often marriage counseling is not covered by insurance but that isn’t always the case. We will check your benefits to make sure if it is covered under your plan. If you are unsure, you can also contact your insurance company directly. Make sure you use their phone number for mental health benefits (commonly on the back of your insurance card) and ask them if you are covered for couples therapy.

Yes, you absolutely can.

This varies. Some marriage counselors do a 60-minute session, some do 90-120 minute sessions to try and cover more ground in a single session. In Austin, data shows that marriage counseling in Austin ranges from $100-$500 per session with an average being between $150-$200 per session. Many therapists recommend at least three months of therapy (12 weeks) with one session per week. A motivated couple tends to work faster but problems that have built over time with lots of emotional injury can take time to repair. Our rates for couples range from $110-165 and the rate depends on their years of experience and training. More can be found here: https://justmind.org/rates-and-insurance/

This is largely variable depending on the skill of the therapist and the unique factors associated with the couple. Traditional marriage counseling has a success rate of 70 to 80 percent. Some research was done a decade ago and it indicated that 38 percent of couples who receive marriage therapy got divorced within four years of completing therapy. This study was done with couples therapists who were new to the profession and not trained on evidence-based practices like Emotionally Focused Therapy, Gottman Therapy, or PACT. That said, couples both have to work to make meaningful change, it takes time, and it helps to have a therapist you believe in.