Great Couples Counseling in Lowes Island, VA. Therapy to heal relationships.

Communication. Trust. Connection. All three are important to any committed relationship, but they require teamwork to develop and maintain. I think of your relationship as a team of two. Sometimes one of you can pursue individual goals that cause your relationship to improve - like a star quarterback on the football field. But to experience the greatest change in your relationship, I’ll encourage each of you to explore and pursue individual objectives that promote the success of your team of two. Working as a team, you can discover ways to improve communication, build trust, and reconnect. This is how I help couples, and if the approach appeals to you, please contact me

Working with couples is a dynamic process that requires the therapist to maintain a safe space where both people can feel heard and understood. I am a certified Imago therapist and use a dialogical process to increase the emotional intimacy between the two people. I have worked with straight, bi, gay and lesbian and transgendered couples, and many different ethnic groups---and find that the challenges are essentially the same---to create a bond of trust that allows for all parts of the two people to show up and be accepted in the relationship. I share helpful handouts that people can use when they are home, to be able to deal with conflict more skillfully.

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.

Training and experience matter for couples therapy. Therapists should not choose sides. We can help you work through difficult issues with better communication and understanding of how and why you experience conflict. Your relationship patterns are our focus. We will meet with you together, then individually, and then come back together with a plan.

Are you frustrated with your partner's career or life plan? As your career or life coach, I can help you get a plan to help decrease your stress. Together we navigate the path to realizing your ideal life vision. During the coaching process, we work to identify your core values, enhance your strengths, increase your self awareness and to ensure that we find you and your partner a career or life plan.

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.

I offer couples therapy for partners who are looking make positive changes in their relationships, whether they are dating, engaged, married, or committed. I blend strategies and interventions from several couple therapy models to fit our conversations to your unique goals. By learning new skills, healing emotional injuries, experiencing each other's vulnerabilities in a safe way, and gaining insights about how each other's past influences their current behaviors, we work together to build a compassionate and joyful relationship.

Given the many challenges that can lead to divorce (money problems, adultery, differences in raising children, etc.) the wisest thing couples can do is to seek Christian counseling before they say "I do." No matter how solid a couple’s relationship may be, problems and differences will inescapably arise. Therefore, pre-marital counseling really operates as the best security system a couple could ever purchase. Our Christian counselors can be beneficial by familiarizing couples with targeted areas of conflict that often lead to divorce. These areas are: • Communication • In-Laws • Money/finances • Sexuality • Spiritual Intimacy • Roles (delegation of responsibilities)

Often the relationships we cherish the most are also the places where we experience the most discomfort. We can feel all sorts of variations of misunderstood, unheard and uncared for (and often our partner feels similarly). The good news is that growth and healing are possible. Our brains are built for relational healing--we just need help getting unstuck sometimes. I would be honored to walk with you and your partner in helping you both to better understand yourselves, and each other, in the places where you are experiencing difficulty. And in so doing help you both to experience each other in richer, more meaningful ways.

Our team of therapists can help you face your specific relationship issues as a couple and tailor a treatment plan specifically for you. Our team of counselors come from a wide variety of backgrounds, so we're confident we can find you help that's best suited for your unique challenges and goals. Working with us, you'll get results. Please don't wait, we're ready to help you today.

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.

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), I have extensive training and experience helping couples navigate some of the most painful and difficult chapters of their relationships. My approach is both compassionate and practical, shaped by years of walking with couples across the country as they work through challenges of trust, intimacy, and communication. I have also been featured in leading outlets such as Forbes, The Knot, Women’s Health, Yahoo, Self, Glamour, and AARP for my insights on relationships, intimacy, and communication. Whether you are facing ongoing conflict, a loss of closeness, or the aftermath of betrayal, I would be honored to meet with you and your partner.

Sometimes a couple reaches a place where they need to work on resolving different conflict in their relationship. There may be communication issues and the ability to make thoughtful decisions about the relationship is lost. I use the Gottman approach to help you identify where the major issues are and interventions to help improve communication. I will be your neutral mediator, I do not take sides. My focus will be on the relationship and both of you will get time to give your story. The couple will have an opportunity to talk through the issues and at times figure out what the issues are.