Tulsa Couples Counseling
Couples counseling can impact and help to create healthy marriages and family life. Strong marriages have a positive impact on society, especially in the home, where the married couple feels safe, loved, and respected. Children from stable homes are more likely to succeed in life, be more self-confident, and do better academically. Having a strong marriage does not mean that there are no hard times, disappointments, tragedies, or not problems. Having a strong marriage does not mean there will be no arguments, misunderstandings, and fights. In a strong marriage, the couple and family work together to problem-solve, communicate well, take care of each other, and have a safe environment to go through life together. Strong marriages are a result of love and daily decisions to honor and respect our marriage and spouse. In that way, we can listen to each other, work together, and have fun in our daily routines and hectic schedules.
A strong marriage is not the absence of problems, it is defined by how we handle and manage our problems and ourselves in the process. Couples that are in need of safety, trust, support, and love can build their marriage up again in Tulsa couples counseling. Tulsa counseling for couples can be very effective to help to understand ourselves and each other and define our vision for our family and our future. It’s a sign of strength and respect to choose to go to go couples counseling, not a weakness.
Marriage Therapy: Prepare and Enrich
Some of the mental health providers at Legacy Counseling Service in Broken Arrow are certified to offer the Prepare and Enrich program. This program begins offers assessments that are great to use with couples of all stages in life (premarital, newly married all the way to marriage for more than half of their life). Couples complete an assessment and a report is sent to the couple and the therapist. This report helps the mental health provider see areas of strengths and weaknesses in the relationship. Areas of exploration generated from the report include relationship dynamics, how committed each person feels to the other, how each person manages stress, and how family dynamics affect the couple. Prepare and Enrich is helpful for churches, pastors, married couples, and pre-marital couples.
Tulsa Couples Counseling – Predictors of Divorce
Dr. John Gottman, an expert in marriage and family therapy, has stated with scientific accuracy and research, that there are four predictors of divorce, which he calls the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first predictor of divorce is Criticism. Criticism represents when you personally attack your spouse and their character so that they feel verbally assaulted, rejected, and hurt. Contempt is the second predictor of divorce. This is when you are treated with disrespect, mocking, sarcasm, and acting superior. In Defensiveness, a spouse will blame and accuse without apology and not take personal responsibility for their actions. And finally, Stonewalling, in which the partner withdraws, shuts down, and closes themselves off emotionally and sexually.
Hope for Marriage through Tulsa Couples Counseling
If your marriage looks like the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and you have tried to solve problems but feel stuck and don’t feel close to your spouse, couples counseling can be a very effective tool to help the couple problem-solve, identifying stuck points, allow for mental health improvement, give coping and communication skills that can help to bring hope and reconnection to a tired and stressed marriage. In therapy, we can help to replace negative communication and coping patterns and allow the couple to define their marriage in a way that is healthy and loving.
Call 918-505-4367 today to schedule your appointment for Tulsa marriage counseling. At Legacy Counseling Service, in Broken Arrow, we strive to be excellent and caring in our treatment approach to marriage counseling and to respect and value each person, while helping them with life struggles. Getting help is hard, and admitting it is harder. If you have done the first step of admitting you need to get help, the next step is easier. Call us today and let’s begin a journey to healing and wholeness at our Tulsa counseling clinic.
The article was based on work from Dr. Gottman, the website noted:
https://www.gottman.com/
Sandy Stone, LPC Christina Parks, LPC-S
Bonnie Lee, LPC