For couples or marriages
For people who would like to work on their relationship we offer couples therapy – sessions that both partners participate in. The meetings last 60 minutes and take place once a week. The first one is a consultation, during which we determine which areas to work on.
The Process Work paradigm that the therapists deploy focuses on discovering the meaning of what is happening in a relationship rather than judging the partners or giving them advice.
The sessions can be devoted to addressing specific issues, e.g. recurring conflicts or accusations, sexual difficulties, parental challenges, matters of fidelity or loyalty, but also to more general problems, such as the atmosphere in the relationship (e.g. of frustration or tension) or feelings of loneliness or distance. Looking for the current potential of the relationship is always one of the key goals of these sessions.
Communication
Often a big part of the work regards improving communication between the partners and then searching for something that constitutes the foundation of their relationship. Being in touch with the most important elements of a bond between two people helps them to discover the actual direction their relationship as a couple is developing.
Sometimes the main theme of the sessions is the question of whether to continue in a relationship or to end it. The therapists help the couple discover and express the different aspects of their situation. In some cases therapy then evolves into deciding whether and/or how to implement the changes that are needed for the relationship to last. Other couples decide to split up and the therapist can help them in working through the feelings connected to the separation.
Conflicts
Conflicts in a relationship are often the result of a difficult situation that the couple encounters, e.g. an illness of one of the partners or a member of the family, a financial or professional crisis, mourning, an inability to get pregnant or moving to a new place. Therapy enables these couples to express their frustration, sorrow or anger in such a way that it serves the relationship. The therapeutic work focuses on discovering the psychological resources embedded in the relationship that will enable the couple to ride out the crisis and support each other through it.
Social environment
Sometimes an important aspect of couples therapy is gaining insight into the role social context can play in partnerships. Societal prejudice concerning what constitutes a legitimate relationship may have a huge impact on the well-being of the couple. This is often the case for minority groups such as homosexual couples, and also partners whose health, age or education, for example, may vary. When one of the problems is social animosity towards the couple itself, therapy can help deal with fears that the problems are exclusively the result of personal limitations and allow clients to search for the best strategies of dealing with a difficult external situation.
Imbalance of privilages
For other couples central issues are connected with differences in privileges within the relationship itself., e.g. varying social status or family backgrounds of the partners. Therapy enables such couples to identify the exact source of their difficulties and to reconnect to the resources of each of the partners individually and the whole relationship.
Couples therapy in the Process Work paradigm perceives of all relationships as entities in their own right – not merely the sum of the partners’ individual psychologies. The therapeutic work focuses on the development of the relationship as a whole (if individual work is needed separate sessions can be arranged for one of the partners or for both, after which couples’ sessions are resumed).
For hetero- and homosexual couples
Heterosexual and homosexual relationships are welcome.
Read about practical information regarding therapy at our Center