Great Couples Counseling in Bowie, MD. Therapy to heal relationships.

I provide marriage and couples counseling. I help couples to improve their communications to reduce arguing and to improve their understanding of each other. I also work with couples going through the pain of an affair. In most cases couples can work through their feelings and have an improved connection. Being a male therapist sometimes can help reluctant husbands/partners feel more comfortable coming to therapy and talking in therapy.

We specialize in helping couples, using Emotionally Focused Therapy. This is a complex approach which helps couples (of all sorts) to understand the deep need for safety and connection we all have, innately. When we feel repeatedly disappointed in the connection, or a serious breach such as an affair occurs, people react with protective anger, protesting the loss. Unfortunately, that angry protest often drives the more reticent partner farther away, leaving the first one even more desperate. We help people see that the unhappy cycle they are caught in is responsible for their suffering. And then we help them to find and share their more vulnerable feelings, creating a positive and affirming cycle....

Your relationship with your partner is the most important relationship in your life. Relationship issues touch every area of our lives. Learning healthy relationship skills is a fundamental building block of a successful life. Through therapy, you will learn how to achieve intimacy, manage conflict, how to give and receive love, and to create the relationship you have always wanted.

One of the most prevaling issues with one or both is to not feel "heard". Much emphasis has to be on the word "feelings". If one or the other has been abused in some way, they are very sensitive to "feelings". The word "being" is a key for stabilization of the relationship. I have done much research on the "Keys to Life" and one of the necessities is to trust. Listening and trusting are probably the glue that holds any relationship together and is foundational. A couple learning their primary function is not about themselves, but the common good of the family unit. After all, what will be your legacy? What will you be known for?

Working with couples is my area of expertise and passion. I have seen relationships transform through the power of mutual understanding and increased sensitivity. Often couples become so entrenched in certain communication patterns that they can't even really see when and if their partner is trying to do something different. This is one way working with a good couples therapist can be so powerful - they can act as "translator" for partners, and dig through the years of pain and pattern to what's really in each other's minds and hearts. If both partners are willing, it's amazing what can happen; and even if only one person is willing, change is possible. I hold the hope until they can.

There are two most basic fears of intimacy that we all have: one is fear of abandonment, the other is fear of being taken over, of losing my autonomy. In a relationship, people often become polarized with one clinging and the other seeming distant. With awareness of our fears and how to take care of ourselves and each other, we will bring out the best in each other. Everyone knows how to speak and listen, right? Not so. The most difficult skills to learn are to speak self-responsibly about your own experience and to truly listen and understand the other person's experience even when you don't like it. To learn these skills enables love. I can help.

Robyn E. Brickel, M.A., LMFT is a trained marriage and family therapist and a clinical fellow member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Robyn incorporates systems based theories, along with her training in IMAGO Relationship Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to help couples - both married and in relationships reach their goals of improving their relationships. We offer couples counseling to couples of any sexual preference.

Communication is the key in any coupe's relationship. And communication is usually the reason why many couples fight. Are you having a difficult time communicating with your significant other? Do you feel like you are not being heard? Couples counseling may be of use in your relationship to not only help communication improve but also to ensure there are shared goals to work towards the next step in your relationship.

Relationships are hard! They can bring out the best in us...and also the worst. What's more, its easy to feel confused and unable to see what is happening clearly when things in your relationship are troubled. Relationships can be up & down, and often it is that one familiar pattern or issue that triggers everything. As you and your partner are so 'in it', it is pretty difficult to find your own way out of the same old behavior. I work with couples, providing an unbiased and neutral perspective, helping you gain greater understanding into what is happening and how you want things to change. Yes, relationships are hard, but also contain infinite potential for healing & renewal.

Learning that one's spouse or partner has been living a "secret" sexual life can very quickly lead to the dissolution of a marriage or relationship. I work with couples to help heal the damage that one spouse has done to the marriage and family. Couples therapy can also be helpful in helping couples heal from the damage caused by a spouse's anger issues.

Every relationship has its challenges. Sometimes it takes an outside person to help you and your partner work through these challenges in an empathic and objective way. I use techniques that have been proven to work. Together, we will create a trusting and safe environment where you and your partner can talk openly about the issues that divide you. I don’t take sides or place blame. Instead, I work to understand each of you as individuals and as a couple. Our work will focus on building better communication skills, having more positive experiences as a couple, and coping more effectively with challenges. Together, you and your partner can build a stronger relationship.

I provide couples counseling (including marriage counseling) to helping you explore current challenges in your relationship. Are you suffering in your relationship due to consistent conflict, an inability to effectively communicate, lack of intimacy, separation, and simply growing apart? Do you want to find more effective ways to relate to one another and acquire a new sense of intimacy and closeness? Consider couple's counseling to acquire a new awareness of how you can become more effective in your relationship. Give counseling a try; you are deserving of this. Give me a call for a free phone consult to discuss your concerns. 240.292.6127. Make it a good day - - be well. Laurieann

Committed and loving connections with a partner are probably the most challenging and potentially healing of all relationships in life. Deep fears of closeness tend to get in the way of realizing such potential, often without being consciously recognized as fears. I help partners in couples to find ways of being gentle and honest with each other and with themselves as they confront and overcome their fears.