With marriage counseling, we work with a married couple to help improve, stabilize, or restore their relationship. Our initial goal and direction will help you recognize what your relationship was, is, and could be.
We may discuss your past, your family of origin, and its impact on your marriage. Sometimes we concentrate on the baggage you brought to the relationship before and even after marriage. And we could focus on your relationship dance. When couples dancers are out of step, they jeopardize the dance and the other’s safety. Likewise, your ‘unhealthy dance moves’ today potentially jeopardize your relationships… maybe you are stepping on each other’s toes!
You can heal. Your life can be so much better and stronger together! You both can make that happen together!
What do your vows say? Did they tell you you’d be theirs in every situation, whether sick or healthy, poor or wealthy? Most couples expressed the above statements and more on their wedding day. The marriage counseling process is first to take a hard look at your vows and then build toward them. Along the way, they learn new communication patterns, relationship history, & a host of other factors that can be used to help you. We guide you toward becoming intimate partners and best friends.
Co-therapy teaches you and your partner about being each other’s hero, playmate, confidant, partner, and lover. You talk about choices, and our counselors guide you to find ways to be interested in each other’s uniqueness.
Your success is up to you. You learn that success means considering how you will be together in your mutual “for better and for worse” part of your vows. Our counselors help you practice your relationship. Anything practiced will improve; that is how you can make your best relationship happen.
Your lives, and your stories, matter. We are about enhancing your unique relationship and helping you improve your lives. Marriage counseling can be challenging, and it can be fun. Know one thing…this is something you’ll learn the first day we shake hands: You are not the problem. The problem is the problem. You can solve problems together.
You have issues, but these issues are not your core identity. Your problems are imposters and create havoc when you’ve lost the memory of who you were and are and who you can be with your spouse. Problems arise from the chaos. We help you understand chaos and then fight it. To do this, we help you reframe and rewrite your story.
Real Connections Counseling offers longer sessions of 80 minutes, 2 or 4 hours.
These options provide couples enough time to progress towards their relationship goals.
The therapy duration varies depending on the couple's needs, goals, and effort—however, the average session amount is 10-15 sessions
The counselors check in regularly to ensure the goals are met, and therapy is about collaboration between the couple and the therapists. Marriage counseling requires dedication, patience, and practice but offers excellent benefits for the long-term health of a relationship.
Counselors & Therapists in Des Moines, IA