Lucid Loving:
Compassionate Counseling for Couples
Is your relationship in need of repair? Frequently in conflict?
Are you concerned it might be on the verge of collapse?
Is it hard to know just where to begin?
We assist couples to find the best ways to reach one another, to clarify issues and to light a path forward in greater satisfaction. With our guidance, you can each learn and apply the skills to save your partnership.
We explore issues foundational to relationship; including clear communication, and empathic listening. We delve deeper into the habits that support or limit behavioral and lifestyle compatibility. We help identify the beliefs, values and attitudes “getting in the way” of harmony and fulfillment. Our comprehensive assessment results in the encouragement of clear goals by each partner with plenty of room for future vision, wants and desires.This process aids discovery of workable resolutions to the areas of identified discomfort.
With many couples, conflict is based on one partner trying to convince another partner that their way is the only way. This is called a power struggle and most people come into marital therapy wishing to resolve the struggle. Sometimes it’s not even recognized as a struggle because one of the parties has shut down and doesn’t communicate — we need to begin there by creating a safe environment for doing so.
The model we use is psycho-educational therapy and is flexible in delivery. Our work is based on an integration of best practices in the field over the past few decades. We encourage our clients to familiarize themselves with recommended resources to learn more about what works to optimize couple-hood. Often, we offer engaging assignments between sessions. Our work is to illuminate, facilitate and support optimal interactions between members of a couple .
Some common benchmarks for improvement include:
A growing atmosphere of trust, comfort and pleasure.
Easier communication and more instances of feeling understood.
A sense of mutual respect and allowance for individual differences and styles.
Reduction of conflict and less time feeling angry or depressed.
Quicker resolution of conflicts
We, Dr. Andrea Gould-Marks and Dr. Michael Marks are a social and professional partnership and are board certified in clinical and cognitive-behavioral psychology respectively. Based upon the initial assessment and interview with the couple or, if indicated, with each partner in the couple, we collectively decide on the form that the therapy takes whether individual, or as a group. A variety of options for structure are available based on initial interview.