What Can You And Your Partner Expect From Couple’s Therapy?

For many couples, going to a therapist is often seen as a last resort. It’s typically the step that most people take when they’ve tried everything else, and many see it as a last chance to save their relationship.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the practice. Which is a shame - because when it’s done correctly, seeing a couple therapist in Calgary can help repair your relationship and set it back on the right course (regardless of how bad things have or haven’t gotten).

So if you and your partner are considering attending couple therapy near you, it’s important to understand what to expect before you go in.

What Couple’s Therapy Can Address

Let’s start with what a psychologist in Calgary can help you with. Because while it’s certainly not a magic pill, there are a few key areas that many couples (if they put the work in) can see improvements in.

Communication Issues

It sounds like a cliche at this point, but it’s absolutely true - good communication is critical in any partnership. If you want to have a good relationship with your partner, you both need to learn to be honest with each other.

The bad news is that this can often be one of the most difficult steps you can take (particularly if you’ve developed a habit of hiding your feelings and not being open and honest).

The good news is that psychologists near you have an arsenal of strategies, and will work with you can your partner to help implement them in your relationship.

Conflict Resolution

One of the most persistent myths is that a happy, healthy relationship is totally devoid of conflict.

This is simply not true. All healthy relationships come with some level of conflict - and a relationship without any is actually a sign that something is very wrong.

With that said, the ability to successfully manage and resolve these conflicts is something that many, many couples lack.

A good therapist will help you and your partner identify sources of conflict and give you strategies to help manage it.

Understand Your Partner Better

Chances are, if you’ve been with your partner for a while now, you probably know quite a bit about them.

Unfortunately, even with people we’ve been intimate with for a long time, many people still have a tendency to hide things away and keep them buried deep down.

One of the joys of couple’s therapy is you can uncover a lot of those little things that you never knew about the person you’re with, see them with a fresh pair of eyes, and learn to appreciate them.

Homework For A Better Relationship

Just like you’d expect a good personal trainer to give you a workout and diet plan outside of your sessions with them, you can expect your therapist to do the same.

Your therapist will very likely give you and your partner assignments and things to work on throughout the week. This will ensure that you’re actually implementing the strategies they’re giving you and keeping your relationship on the right track - this can include everything from journaling to scheduling dates, and will depend on the specific situation and goals of you and your partner.

What Couples Therapy CAN’T DO

We’ve mentioned it already, but it’s worth reiterating - couple’s therapy is NOT a magic pill. You can’t reasonably expect issues and problems that have been building up over months, years or even decades to vanish overnight. It’s going to take a lot of time, effort and (most importantly) consistency.

You also shouldn’t expect your therapist to “take your side”. Psychologists in Calgary are not relationship referees - they’re there to help you and your partner find out what’s wrong and give you the tools to fix it.