Couples Counseling

Private Week-to-Week Sessions or Day-Long Intensives Scheduled as Your Calendar Allows

In-Person and Online Options Available

Our unique couples counseling programs in Charlotte, NC, are private and customized. Your first four (4) meetings make up our Assessment and Discovery phase. You may schedule appointments with a Wellness Counseling Center professional of your choice and at your convenience. Imagine, finally finding someone you trust who can provide you with valuable insight into the negative spiral that is taking your relationship down.

Uniquely different from marriage counseling of days gone by, Wellness’ services are based on best practices of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), a science based method with over 20 years of empirical research. These well researched studies consistently show 70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery and approximately 90% show significant improvements; typically within 8-20 sessions. At Wellness Counseling, we find 16 sessions to be optimal for most couples although some complete their goals in less.

Online couples counseling is available. It’s also important to mention that pandemic related issues that have surfaced between couples and family members are easily integrated into the work.

Let’s explore:

Your Assessment and Discovery Phase begins with these four sessions:

• One (1) 90-Minute Initial Consultation
• Two (2) Individual Therapy Sessions — one each for you and your partner
• One (1) 80-Minute Couples Therapy Session

Learn more about your first four meetings below:

90-Minute Initial Consultation

This first consultation moves quickly, and we begin by aligning with you as we review and assess your relationship. By seeing you as a couple and asking a lot of questions, we learn as much as we possibly can about how your relationship works.

• We ask three (3) critical questions.
• We ask you to tell us about your issues, goals and objectives.
• We take a full family history because you and your partner are different in so many ways.
• We want to know what you learned in your family about relationship, comfort and connection.
• We invite you to share challenges and stressors that may have developed during the pandemic.
• Then we begin tracking the patterns and interactions happening between you and your partner:

—What does tension look like between you?
—How do disagreements start?
—How do these disagreements become unpleasant?
—Do you tend to argue and fight? Or do you say nothing and walk away?
—Do you persist and try to resolve the problem?
—Do you withdraw and wait for things to calm down?
—And how does this all this happen?

Our professionals take time to parachute into your relationship, catch a glimpse of the negative cycle and begin tracking it with you. Identifying your negative patterns of interaction is the first step in better understanding each other and creating change in your relationship.

We also recognize the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on all our lives. Some couples and families have been facing challenges that are beyond stressful and overwhelming and may need a place to sort that out.

By the time you leave, you will have an assignment and a sense of what relationship counseling feels like and what you need to do next.

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50-Minute Individual Sessions

In the two (2) individual 50-minute sessions, we want to see you and your partner alone. This gives your therapist an opportunity to know each of you better. Perspective matters and we take time to hear each point of view. People in distressed relationships almost always need to get a few things off their chest and sometimes, it’s easier to express yourself without your partner in the room. We want you to feel free to explore your concerns, as well as your hopes and dreams about the future. In these sessions, we are looking for attachment themes. That means we gather more information specifically about you, your earlier relationships and how your family functioned when you were growing up.

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80-Minute Couple Session

In your follow-up 80-minute session, we give you feedback. By this time, your therapist has a clearer understanding of where each person comes from, the model you grew up with and the current state of your relationship. We provide feedback on how you and your partner grew apart and what is required to repair your relationship. We work collaboratively and help you determine a next step. These 80-Minute Couple Sessions are the centerpiece in our work with couples and families. The work is collaborative and the task is to access emotions and behaviors that have your relationship stuck in a downward spiral. We help you and your partner identify them and talk about them — in a new way. Bit by bit, you begin to see things differently and change starts to happen. Some couples find this Assessment and Discovery work satisfying and sufficient. At Wellness Counseling Center, we have found 16 sessions to be optimal for most couples, although some complete their goal earlier and we support that choice. Most couples want to continue their work and turn their relationship around.

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EXTRA: 80-Minute Extended Individual Session

Sometimes, while undergoing couples counseling you may want extended alone-time to explore a special concern. We consider this an opportunity for exploration and growth and its a privilege to support you. To keep things in alignment, your partner should plan for alone-time too.