Great Couples Counselling in Ottawa, ON. Therapy to heal relationships.

Much of life satisfaction depends on our ability to create and maintain meaningful and mutually satisfying relationships. Our attachments to partners can be a great source of love, comfort, soothing, and pleasure. Emotional, physical, and sexual intimacy together form the cornerstone of couple bonds. The CFIR couple therapist will create safety in the therapeutic environment. He or she will not ‘side’ with any one partner, but instead will explore how emotional, physical, and sexual intimacy has been blocked and how each member in the couple inadvertently may be contributing to the disconnection.

What are the most common couples' issues? If you are thinking "communication, conflict, sex, money, child rearing" you are correct. However, most therapists will go after the symptom on each side of the couple fence thinking that the way to effective change is by getting each party to "work" on their respective "issue". Many times the parties don’t agree but comply. Imagine if you could align the unconscious brains of a couple and stop the "working on your issues" part that has become so popular in therapy settings? Contact kevin@kevinflemingphd.com to learn how! Or call 877-606-6161. DR. FLEMING'S NEW RELATIONSHIP/COUPLES INTENSIVES. www.kevinflemingphd.com/marriage-couples-retreats.php

The single counsellor option is available as well as the CO-THERAPY MODEL: Two therapists - one man and one woman: a therapeutic square rather than the traditional triangle. This tends to provide a sense of equal representation in the therapeutic team and liberates each member of the couple in bringing his/her issues and positions forward. Each partner receives clinical attention and support as does the couple relationship.

Couples can often feel disconnected and can have long standing patterns of interaction which feel like they can't move away from, no matter how hard they try. Couples work can help unlock this feeling of 'lock down' and help people understand the pain and fear under the behaviours -their own and their partner's. Through exploring together couples can heal old wounds and begin to feel safe, understood, connected, engaged, and fulfilled bringing vitality back to the relationship.

In couples therapy, I support couples who seek to work on challenges in their relationship, which could be contributing to or increasing the existence of other life stressors such as relationship failures, problems solving difficulties, communication problems, depression, anxiety or burnout in the life of the couples. In therapy with me the couple are supported to learn how to work through their issues, to communicate better, and develop relationship skills to avoid future problems.

Getting married soon or recently engaged? Premarital counselling helps couples explore their marriage assumptions & expectations. Together we can work to recognize your fight patterns and identify where you both get stuck. We can help you learn how to listen to each other without becoming defensive, talk about your hot buttons and your raw spots. We identify your strengths and use them to help build your relationship. Couples counselling can bring you closer together and help you achieve the intimacy and love that you both desire. We offer couples counseling to repair relationships, rebuild trust, communication and intimacy. Call us today at 613 287 3799.

I work with couples in a variety of ways, depending on what the couple identifies as their priorities for work in therapy. As with my therapeutic approach in individual therapy, it's most important that both partners feel comfortable with me and feel safe to share their emotions and experiences. I offer a non-judgemental space in which couples can explore the complex feelings, patterns of behaviour, and strengths they share together as a couple. This process ultimately leads to couples achieving greater understanding, mutual compassion, deeper intimacy and informed choices.

Couples are sometimes stuck in their cycle of communication where the "dance" has stopped and no one can move smoothly. Negative patterns have taken hold and both partners are caught in a rut. In a supportive and empathic environment I help clients understand and experience where they have been caught in their cycle, where they no longer hear or understand their partner. With new insights and understanding they become able to hear the music again, join the flow and move ahead with new choices in a clearer channel of communication.

I have had 5 years of training in Emotionally Focused Therapy an Attachment based modal of therapy that has been shown to be highly effective with many couples. Helping couples understand the issues which are underneath most arguments. By learning about the 'Negative Cycle' clients learn to speak to each other about their attachment needs and to become a real 'team' as they go through life together. In some instances a Psycho-dynamic approach allows a couple to move forward more quickly. Each couple is assessed and the most effective model is used in resolving their issues.

Couples will be guided in finding a common ground in their relationships. They will learn about each others' communication styles and gain better understanding of each other along the way. They will learn to reconnect by rediscovering each other and engaging in various homework activities in the goal of enjoying spending time with each other again.

Most of my practice is working with couples. I have over 30 years of experience dealing mostly with couples. Many people, including therapists, believe that couple counselling is synonymous with "double individual" counselling. Clients coming to my practice soon learn that there is a dynamic set up with a couple that is quite different than when they just list all of their respective issues, challenges and potential solutions. I teach them how to negotiate on every level of their daily lives together. I share with them techniques of how to avoid falling into the "blame and shame game". I have 25 years of experience as a divorce mediator and so I can teach couples conflict resolution.

The level of challenge a couple deals with in a relationship, and the ability that each couple has to overcome these hurdles depends on a number of factors. My goal is to help you both develop strategies in order to: better communicate; identify the direction you want to take in your lives as a couple; and most importantly, to grow together, as individuals in a relationship with each other, on your journey through life!

In my work with couples I adhere to the philosophy that relationships are at the core of human experience. Research indicates that emotionally fulfilling relationships are integral components of mental and physical health, and that emotionally focused interventions have the power to establish and re-create supportive bonds among individuals. I am therefore dedicated to the understanding and enhancement of couple and family relationships through an emphasis on emotions and their interpersonal impact. I believe that all people can maximize their potential given a nurturing social environment, which I endeavour to foster in my work with clients.