Couples Counseling in Jefferson City, Mo

Great question! The couples therapists are all trained in and utilie the Gottman Method Couples Therapy approach. It’s highly effective and has loads of research behind it.

Of course, an approach in and of itself isn’t enough for therapy to be great. The best therapy is done when the relationship between you and your therapist is strong. Sounds farfetched, but research supports that the most effective therapy is done when the “therapeutic rapport” is strong.

We work hard at both. We train hard and we work hard to keep strong rapport with our clients.

Another great question! Every therapist who practices couples therapy at The Counseling Hub has have Gottman Method Couples Training levels 1 and 2, at a minimum, to start working with couples. Additionally, each couples therapist engages in relationship/couples-focused group supervision with a highly trained couples-focused supervisor, and engages in reflective practices such as reviewing tape of their sessions. We take this craft very seriously and are always seeking to be the best couples therapists possible.

You might hear lots of different answers here, but we say six months is the minimum for couples therapy. For affair recovery work, that starting point is about one year. This work is hard, folks! It can’t be done overnight, and I’ve found that six months is the best time to see a major shift and feel some confidence in maintaining it.

Frequency will vary, but sessions should take place weekly to start, and then taper off to every other week, monthly, and then maybe a quarterly check-in. However, many couples discharge once they hit monthly because they feel confident about their progress and stability.

Frequency is something you and your therapist will talk about during sessions. They will have a therapeutically relevant recommendation, and then you can discuss from there. Our goal is not to keep you forever, it’s to get you set up for success and lovingly see you out (when you also feel ready).

Omgoodness, what a fantastic question. The short answer is no, not really.

The relationship is the client, and so to withhold information from one partner means that we’re inserting ourself into the dynamics of the relationship, and thus become unhelpful. If we engage in deceitful practices with a party within the relationship, we become an extension of one person instead of an advocate for the entire relationship. That’s not our intention, nor is it how we practice.

Another answer is, “probably not, but there are rare circumstances where we might withhold info (and this is typically based on safety and threat of harm for disclosing something).”

You just keep coming with the good questions, don’t you?!

Without know your specific issues, my answer is probably. There are very few things we can’t help with in couples therapy/marriage counseling.

A vast majority of issues boil down to a lack of ability to communicate, a disconnect from intimacy (emotional or physical), intense or nonexistence conflict, and no friendship system. It sounds trite, but those are at the core of many issues, including affairs, in-laws, sex, money, household, parenting, etc. So, again, without knowing your specifics, my general answer is going to be, “yes, we can help.”

With that said, we also have clinicians who specialize in specific couples issues, like affair recovery, for example. Or excessive conflict, for another example. So our therapists can help, broadly speaking, and some are even more specialized. #BecauseCouplesTherapyRocks

Ooh, we love it! We won’t have your couples therapist see you for individual work, but it’s a fantastic addition to couples work when one (or both) partners has a separate individual therapist. It allows for collaborative care, for deeper internal work, for assistance in showing up in couples therapy with even more clarity and insight, and I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.

This isn’t something we only do in-house, either. There are plenty of cases for couples where one (or both) partners are going elsewhere for individual work. There are also cases where people stay within The Counseling Hub. There’s room for all of the above.

Additionally, there is at least one session during Gottman Method Couples Therapy where you will have an “individual interview” (see the breakdown here). This isn’t the same as individual therapy, but is a solo session. In some circumstances, your therapist might request an additional solo session (around the same time or at a later date). This isn’t a standard, but it happens occasionally.

Bring it on! That sounds wild to say, but seriously, bring the conflict to us and we can help.

Honestly, we want some emotionality in session. The best work in therapy is done when people are in the heat of things and/or in the thick of it. There’s a happy dance between some emotional arousal and too much (that can lead to overwhelm and shutting down), but the therapists job is to help you stay in that zone of emotional arousal while still being able to think and engage with your partner.

When people come with nothing emotional, it’s actually a little more difficult to get therapeutic work done. You might even feel like the session was a “waste of time.” If you can bring in some issues and you get frustrated while you’re talking about them, we’ll be able to intervene effectively and help you sort through things.

Lastly, we’re, quite literally, trained to intervene and have specific tools for helping you handle conflict as it’s occurring. This isn’t news to us, nor it is something we’re wary of happening.

Bring your whole self in, including the part where you actively get angry about something in session. We’re here for it and for helping you through.

And another great question! Alas, I don’t have a solid answer for you here.

If you go over to our contact form, you can submit your information and request an Initial Assessment (you’ll be prompted to schedule one right after you submit the contact form). We’ll shoot you an email within one business day and, from there, our Intake Coordinator can assess your needs, figure out best fit, and get you scheduled with the ideal clinician!

Lots of folks get scheduled within two weeks, but there are sometimes waitlists (for specific clinicians), so it’s hard to say any one person will have availability. Our therapists are seriously wonderful, so I’d contact us sooner rather than later!