Couples Therapy

in Hudson, OH and all of Ohio Online

Is Your Relationship On Rocky Ground?

Have you and your partner grown apart, feeling more like roommates than romantic partners?

Has a betrayal created a rift between you that seems insurmountable?

Do you desire a deeper connection and more intimacy, but don’t know how to achieve it?

If your relationship with your partner, the person you rely on for unconditional love and support, is in trouble, you may be feeling profoundly alone. Whether you’re experiencing a breach in trust, disagreements over parenting, intimacy issues, health challenges, or emotional distance, you may be wondering how to move forward.

Does This Sound Familiar?

Perhaps you’ve noticed a familiar pattern emerges whenever conflict arises. While one of you becomes anxious and desperate to reconnect, these pleas for reassurance get interpreted as criticism or blame by the other. Feeling attacked, the other partner may initially lash out, but sensing the hurt they’ve caused, turn away, becoming distant and aloof.

Once a pattern like this takes hold, it’s challenging to break free from. Every disagreement seems to lead you back to the same place, causing deep pain and isolation on both sides. As the distance between you grows, you may feel hopeless that there’s any way to bridge the divide.

The good news is that couples therapy can help you gain insight into the deeper emotions that underlie these patterns. Drawing from EFT and attachment therapy, you can learn how to express yourself without shame or judgment. By accessing vulnerability, you can move beyond the arguments that keep you stuck and reconnect more deeply.

“Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself. ”

— Kierkegaard

Have questions or schedule a session today, Reach out!

The Way We Interpret Emotions Can Lead Us Astray

While we’re all naturally wired for connection, it’s also human nature to do whatever it takes to avoid failure, rejection, and pain. Rather than accepting that more challenging emotions, such as fear and sadness, exist alongside easier emotions, like joy and love, we tend to identify emotions as either "good” or “bad.”

Oftentimes, these harder, “bad” emotions are perceived as signals that something's wrong—either with ourselves or our relationship. Consequently, we mask difficult emotions in layers of self-protection, which often results in disconnection from our partners.

Expressing Vulnerability Isn’t Always Easy

Most of us weren’t raised with models that demonstrated to us how to be open and vulnerable with a partner. Instead, cultural messaging often depicts vulnerability as a weakness that at its best, is unattractive and at its worst, is potentially dangerous.

Ironically, whenever we experience someone close to us being open with their genuine feelings, we tend to respond more positively. We feel safer and more connected to them because we understand them more deeply.

Even though this is the true connection we all long for, we also fear it. After all, to be genuinely understood, one must be fully seen, warts and all, which can be terrifying.

In couples counseling, you’ll be encouraged to show vulnerability and accept the wide range of emotions each of you experiences without judgment or labeling. Attuning to a new way of navigating the emotional landscape of your relationship allows room for more compassion, empathy, and understanding to grow.

Couples Therapy Can Help Restore Communication, Intimacy, And Connection

If your relationship has felt out of alignment for some time, you may be inclined to blame someone, either yourself or your partner, as the reason something’s wrong. But the truth is, the protective moves each of you makes to defend vulnerable feelings has led you to where you are. Your disconnection isn’t signaling that something is necessarily “wrong”—it just isn’t working right now.

In couples therapy, the less judgment you bring in, the better able you will be to find new ways of expressing your true feelings. Together, we will address the core question beneath most relationship distress: "Do I matter and will you be here for me when I need you?"

What To Expect In Sessions

Initially, we will meet together for the first session, followed by individual sessions with each partner for the second and third sessions. This structure is part of the overall assessment process, during which presenting issues, treatment goals, and relationship and attachment histories are gathered. If appropriate, I may recommend that one or both of you work with a specialist individually to address underlying trauma.

As a couples therapist, my goal is to help you slow down your interaction and notice how your negative cycle feeds on itself. Gradually, you will begin to understand the impact each of you has on the other when coping with difficult emotions. Oftentimes, the way you protect yourself is the very thing that threatens and triggers your partner. With growing awareness, I will help you talk to each other from a more open, vulnerable place.

Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT)

EFT therapy is based on the premise that each of us longs for closeness, while fearing pain and potential rejection. Conflicts arise from our attempts to protect our feelings and avoid vulnerability. In EFT, neither of you will be blamed or viewed as "the problem." Instead, we focus on dismantling the ineffective pattern you engage in repeatedly that perpetuates emotional distance.

By identifying these patterns—along with underlying emotions, fears, and needs—you can unite against the pattern rather than being pitted against each other. With this understanding, you can move from a place of reactivity to one of vulnerability, not only learning to "argue better" but also rebuilding trust and security. Through an exploration and reexamination of long-held beliefs, couples often experience enduring shifts in how safe, worthy, and lovable they feel in all relationships.

EFT therapy follows a well-defined roadmap that naturally aligns with nervous system regulation, trauma healing, parts work, and somatic/body-based awareness, making it especially effective for couples with trauma histories. It also includes a protocol to help overcome betrayal and/or infidelity. EFT for couples has been widely researched, and its effectiveness is well documented, making it the gold standard for evidence-based marriage counseling, with high rates of satisfaction and long-term stability after therapy ends.

Couples therapy offers a chance to be seen and understood by your partner anew. The objective isn’t merely to learn how to manage conflict and improve communication skills, but to learn how to feel close again, or perhaps, closer than you’ve ever been.

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Schedule a Session Today

But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Couples Therapy Is Right For You…

Won’t talking about what isn’t working in our relationship make things worse?

Trying to navigate conflict while remaining stuck in the same negative patterns causes pain and disconnect, not the talking itself. Learning how to share safely, with deeper understanding and connection, helps create new, healthier patterns of interaction. Unexpressed fear, hurt, and needs exist whether or not they're discussed. Sharing them from an open, vulnerable place can be healing rather than hurtful, helping forge a closer relationship.

If people find out we’re in couples therapy, won’t they judge us?

The judgment of another is a reflection of their own fear and has no bearing on your decision to embark on couples counseling. In therapy, there is no judgment—only curiosity, respect, and support for the bond you share.

Choosing therapy is not about what others might think, nor is it an indication that something is wrong. It's about creating the relationship you want with no explanation or justification needed, and that's something to be proud of.

My partner is reluctant to go try marriage therapy because they worry the counselor will take sides.

Although this is a common concern for couples, I can assure you that my opinion will never factor into therapy. My role is to create a safe space for both partners that ensures each feels heard, respected, and understood. If one partner feels misunderstood, that concern will be welcomed and openly addressed.

If you’re ready to restore your connection, there’s no reason to delay receiving the unbiased and compassionate support marriage counseling offers. To schedule a free, 10-15-minute consultation to learn more about couples therapy, please contact me.