Relationship Therapy (Individual)
Do You Want To Improve The Relationships In Your Life?
Are you reeling from a recent breakup, coping with an unhealthy relationship, or having trouble navigating the dating game after a divorce? Do you find yourself stuck in the same relationship patterns with the same toxic partners unable to interrupt the cycle on your own?
Perhaps you have difficulty setting boundaries, communicating your needs, or understanding what you really need to be happy. Or maybe you’re hoping that relationship counseling can improve your relational intelligence and help you cultivate healthier interpersonal connections overall.
Relationship Issues Are Unique For Each Person
For instance, you may be finding it hard to navigate the complex dynamics of a blended or extended family. If you have kids, working and parenting probably leave little room for dating, building a social life, or making/maintaining friends. Or, if your children have left home for the first time, you may be wondering who you are now in the absence of that relationship.
On the other hand, you could be questioning your sexuality, struggling with gender roles, or dealing with underlying trust and intimacy issues. Or maybe you need help navigating online dating, understanding ghosting, or identifying your attachment needs for future relationships.
Connection is at the heart of who we are as human beings, which is why our therapists at Bozeman Counseling Center want to help you enhance your relationships on every level. With a little support, you can interrupt negative cycles, learn about your own personal dynamics, and develop the relational intelligence to build and maintain healthy connections throughout your life.
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Hello, World!
Relationships Can Be Tricky For Anyone
Whether it involves friends, co-workers, family members, or romantic partners, relationships can be confusing—and none of us get an operating manual. Sometimes, problems within relationships stem from unresolved personal issues, such as low self-esteem, past traumas, anxiety, or depression. Other times, people have trouble setting and maintaining healthy boundaries.
It doesn’t help that our culture fails to reinforce how important boundaries are. We’re actually conditioned to put others’ needs before our own, which can be noble until it interferes with our own well-being. Plus, most of us were not taught how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact us as adults, so we carry pain and fear from the past into current relationships.
Why Choose Individual Therapy For Relationship Issues Over Couples Counseling?
First of all, romantic partnerships represent only a small fraction of the connections we experience in life. So, people need a place where they can hash out their conflicts, find solutions to problems, and increase their interpersonal skills.
With couples, partners almost always wait until their relationship is in crisis, so they stand a lower chance of creating real change in therapy. Typically, they’ll seek counseling to address surface-level things, like communication issues, financial disagreements, or infidelity, when in reality those relationship problems are symptomatic of something deeper.
Working with a relationship counselor helps you recognize and work through underlying issues so they no longer continue to affect how you connect with others. At the same time, it can help you identify your needs, values, and limits while fostering your overall personal growth and relational development.
Relationship Counseling Can Help You Grow In Profound Ways
Unlike couples therapy, individual counseling allows you to focus on your own personal growth and self-awareness within the context of relationships. This can be particularly beneficial for addressing any unresolved personal issues, such as low self-esteem, past trauma, or communication difficulties, that are impacting relationships.
If you feel hesitant or unsafe discussing certain topics in the presence of your partner, individual counseling provides a safe and confidential space for you to explore your thoughts, feelings, and concerns without fear of judgment or retaliation.
Even if you’re not in a relationship, we can still work on setting healthy boundaries, improving communication, regulating emotions, and building distress tolerance skills. This will enable you to enhance your interpersonal connections and take ownership of your healing and personal growth.
What Do We Do In Relationship Counseling?
To get started, we’ll first give you a chance to share some of the problems you’re encountering as well as your hopes and goals for therapy. Gradually, we’ll explore your past, looking for any possible underlying issues (e.g., trauma, childhood neglect, etc.) that may be contributing to challenges now.
If you feel marginalized in your relationship, we can help you define your needs, set boundaries, and build assertiveness skills that can lead to a more balanced and equitable relational dynamic. Individual relationship counseling also allows you to work on personal goals and aspects of yourself that may not necessarily align with your partner's expectations.
What Kind Of Strategies Do We Use In Relationship Therapy?
A large part of relationship counseling is person-centered in that the therapist simply sits with you and witnesses your story. Having that person to talk to—someone to listen to you—can be immensely powerful in and of itself. However, we also use a combination of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the Gottman Method in relationship counseling.
Emotionally Focused Therapy is about interrupting negative cycles—emotional reactions, automatic thinking, behavioral responses, and other patterns—within the relationship. It looks at how partners feed off of each other, escalating arguments and conflict.
Similarly, the Gottman Method is a communication-based approach to changing toxic relational patterns. However, it also involves accepting differences, becoming emotionally accessible, taking responsibility for your own dynamic, and learning how to communicate in a way that your partner can hear you.
In sessions, you’ll learn about the Window of Tolerance and why to avoid trying to solve problems while you’re triggered, upset, or overwhelmed. We’ll show you how your nervous system gets impacted in relationships and how the brain’s mirror neurons can lead to healthy adult attachments.
We’ll educate you about the neuroscience of your fight/flight/freeze response to conflict. And we’ll send you home with numerous tools for regulating your emotions to make sure you don’t freeze or explode when running into frustrating relationship problems.
Although it may be challenging to reach out for help, seeking therapy is a courageous step toward personal growth and improving your relationships across the board. Working with a relationship counselor can help you gain insight into your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
It can provide you with tools and strategies to navigate relationship dynamics more effectively. And it can be a vehicle for personal growth, self-discovery, and positive change that can lead to healthier, more fulfilling relationships throughout your life.
Do You Still Have Questions About Relationship Counseling?
How can individual therapy help with my relationship?
Because people often wait years before seeking therapy, couples counseling often has limited success. That’s why we encourage clients to explore individual therapy separately (or in conjunction with couples counseling). This allows us to focus solely on your own challenges, past traumas, and self-awareness, which can lead to healing and growth that couples counseling may not be able to produce.
Can counseling improve the relationship dynamics of my friendships?
Absolutely. Whether it be challenges with roommates, college friends, or friendships you’ve had for 20 years, counseling can help clarify the dynamics behind what’s going on. We can explore how healthy, balanced, and fulfilling the friendship is. You can gain tools for resolving conflict and communicating effectively. And we’ll help you set practical boundaries that will promote healthier connections to your friends.
Can therapy help me with my relationship with my family?
Families are complicated and can come with all kinds of challenges—sometimes generations of trauma—that can be hard to navigate. That’s why we’ll explore your relationship with you and help you understand each person’s dynamic—including your own. So, if you want to improve interactions with in-laws, get along better with your kids, or understand your family of origin better (mother, father, siblings), relationship counseling CAN help.
Elevate Your Relationships On Every Level
Whether you’re navigating the dating game, nursing the wounds of a painful breakup, or facing problems in your relationship, our therapists at Bozeman Counseling Center want to help. Please Contact Us or call (406) 624-6007 to schedule your free, 15-minute consultation. You can also get started today by setting up your initial online or in-person relationship therapy session.
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Relationship Therapy in Bozeman, MT: Northside Office
950 Stoneridge Dr. Suite 1, Bozeman, MT 59718
Relationship Therapy in Bozeman, MT: Southside Office
985 Technology Blvd. Ste 101, Bozeman, MT 59718