Couples Counseling in Dublin, California

Couples Counseling in the East Bay Area, CA

At Honor Your Emotions, we provide professional online couples counseling & therapy services in San Ramon, CA. Contact us for a free 15-minute consultation. Get started today!

Feeling stuck and lonely in a marriage or relationship can feel like a nightmare.

In fact, when was the last time found yourself wondering “how did I even get here”? I mean you were so in love and full of hope for your future, right?

Now, you’re just disconnected, avoiding each other every second of the day, and find yourself in conflict about the smallest issue.

A simple question about dinner has turned into World War 3. Or worse, you have no idea what you’re even fighting about. You just know you are tired of being ignored, unhappy with how your partner makes you feel and annoyed with the constant criticisms.

It just seems like someone has taken the joy out of every aspect of your life.

Or perhaps you aren’t fighting at all, but you both feel like strangers in your own home or dread coming home. No one is talking to each other, there’s been no intimacy for months, and spending quality time together is non-existent. Moreover, it no longer feels safe to share your innermost thoughts and feelings because you feel misunderstood and judged.

In the end, you become more worried that your partner doesn’t understand you at all or simply doesn’t care anymore.

Whatever your issue is, you are very clear that something needs to change and fast.

With this realization, it can be difficult to know where to turn next. What can possibly save your relationship when all of your previous attempts have failed?

How can you make anything work when you’re already working a full-time job, caring for children or aging parents, maintaining household tasks, and hanging on by a string regarding managing your own self-care? All of this is extremely taxing on any relationship and it covers a small portion of what calls for our attention.

Maybe you’re just too tired to do the things that once brought you joy, and the demands of the day leave you exhausted. Is sleep really the only thing you want to do? Maybe. Or, perhaps, you are questioning whether your partner loves you anymore, or worse, if you love them.

Relationships are complex and many people struggle at some point in time.

Regardless of how the relationship started out, as the honeymoon period ends, many couples have a difficult time adjusting to the various roles and responsibilities, demands and challenges their union will bring. In fact, these changes are developmentally unavoidable in any relationship. This is why it’s crucial to evolve with the challenges in an effort for both partners to sustain and grow together.

Unfortunately, many relationships end prematurely because the couple has not dedicated enough time to adjust to these struggles and many problems build up. Disagreements about parenting, finances, hobbies, career, desires, and more are unpleasant but very common and shouldn’t be the predictor of ending a relationship.

Conflict in relationships is unavoidable because everyone is different and has different needs, wants, desires, and values. When partners try to force a change on each other instead of accepting and appreciating their differences, this often leads to a breakdown of communication, anger, frustration, anxiety, and depression.

Fortunately, due to many years of research regarding romance, marriage, intimacy, and relationships in general, we now know what variables make a relationship succeed or fail. We also know what things individuals can do to shift the atmosphere from negative to positive and identify and nurture strengths and connections in your relationship.

By working with an experienced therapist and dedicating time to couples therapy sessions, you can learn the skills and techniques necessary to develop the characteristics and tools needed to create a strong, loving, and nurturing relationship.

Why do most couples come for couples counseling?

There are so many reasons why many couples seek counseling, but a few common reasons are because they feel they are no longer emotionally connecting to their partners and worry they have fallen out of love. Or, they have poor communication and the relationship feels empty.

Many couples are constantly fighting about sex, the sex feels “off”, or they have shut down intimacy completely. Some couples are merely looking for ways to increase communication.

There may also be other external factors that are causing distance in a relationship like an affair, problems with in-laws, and demanding jobs.

The best idea is to maintain a solid relationship and continue to strengthen the partnership. But whatever you are struggling with in your relationship, consulting with one of our experienced therapists will help you explore and figure ways to improve your relationship.

Our couples therapists know it can be difficult to admit the need for relational support. Many couples feel shame about their lack of getting along. They worry that couples counseling will uncover that they are incompatible. Unfortunately, this anxiety often keeps them pretending for 6 years (says the research) before getting the help needed to make them happy again.

Benefits of couples & marriage counseling

One major benefit of couples or marriage counseling is helping you discover how to change the negative cycles today!

We’ve seen couples on the brink of divorce – radically change – and feel in love again. And we will help your partner see their part too! Here’s what to expect from couples counseling:

Develop healthy trust, respect, listening, and communication
Gain emotional intimacy, improve your sex life, and develop a deeper connection
Better resolve relationship issues and stop fighting
Strengthen the love you feel for each other and repair past hurts
Develop skills to understand each other’s attachment styles
Feel safe, increase well-being, and have constructive conversations
See and change negative patterns of relating to each other
Restore trust, find closeness, and affair-proof your marriage
Teach empathic communication skills beyond mere parroting
Talk more easily about sex as an important part of the relationship
Understand most people are discouraged by a lack of relational tools
Change the childhood blueprint for how relationships work

What is the couple’s counseling process?

Couple counseling sessions are created to find solutions in order to meet your relationship’s needs. Therefore, the couple’s counseling process often differs from couple to couple. But there are certain key aspects to most couples’ counseling sessions.

The main goal of counseling is to help eliminate conflict and improve your overall relationship. You’ll be given the tools to work on your relationship while learning introspective insights into whether the relationship is a bond you want to continue forever.

Couple’s counseling is provided by our experienced couples therapists with a focus on healthy relationships and relationship building. In most cases, you’ll attend therapy sessions with your partner, but there may be occasions where you might be asked to attend individually.

The total length of your couple’s counseling depends on your specific relationship situation. But no worries, we will do our best to gain a deeper understanding of your situation, each person involved, and help you get to where you want to be or once were.

Professional Couple’s Counseling Dublin, CA

The good news is if you show up for couples counseling and are committed to working on your relationship, our couples counselor will commit to doing the same. Why? Because we believe that there is always a pathway through to hope in any relationship.

Our professional couple’s counselors have worked with many relationships and we understand that the hard part is just picking up the phone and getting started.

We understand that relationships follow patterns and we use this life-changing information to help you understand how to stop your negative, repetitive cycles and feel connected again.

Whether you’re experiencing a difficult relationship, struggling with unwanted physical or emotional pain, dealing with difficult life transitions, or simply curious about what counseling can offer, we are here to help! We offer individual therapy treatment as well as couples therapy.

With couples counseling, you can learn to use the love language your partner understands. Call us today at (925) 577-4732 for a free 15-minute phone consultation and to learn more about our couples counseling services.

Honor Your Emotions provides licensed couples counseling & mental health therapy in San Ramon, CA. We serve East Bay families from Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, and Livermore.

Our licensed marriage and family therapists also provide online counseling sessions for new clients and residents across the state of California.

At Honor Your Emotions, our practice is made up of a team of highly trained counselors and therapists including: