“Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.” So goes the lyrics made famous by UK singer Adele. When a marriage starts faltering it can be really painful. It usually takes a huge emotional toll on couples. Before you know it, a snowballing ripple effect is in motion potentially impacting other family relationships and friendships, finances, housing arrangements and careers.
Is your relationship on the brink of breaking down and in need of rescuing? If that’s a situation you’re facing, then perhaps you may have wondered whether counselling can save your marriage, and if so, how? There is ample evidence that counselling is a successful therapy for supporting troubled couples in helping to restore a healthy relationship. Of course, it is never without its challenges, because there’s not a one-size-fits-all simple formula to follow, nor can anyone guarantee a particular result.
Let’s be real… relationships are complex! You have two unique individuals, each having their own particular thoughts, feelings and desires, but also holding intimate knowledge of their partner’s weaknesses or vulnerabilities. Mixed into all of that might be a partner’s betrayal, crossing the line and breaching trust, or a relationship may have fractured over time, simply because the expectations that one partner had for the other, hasn’t been lived up to.
Each couple brings there own set of different factors to the counselling table. How those different elements are navigated and responded to by the couple, will have a determining effect on the success of their marriage therapy. Timing is everything! Early intervention is the first vital key.
Why seek Relationship Counselling? A Counsellor offers couples the advantage of an independent, impartial, neutral third party. An experienced professional counsellor will help a couple explore new perspectives, illuminate what is happening in the mindset of each partner, bring an understanding of how stuck patterns have set in, and offer strategies to prevent spiralling toxic behaviours.
So, how can a relationship encountering troubled waters make the most from Counselling? The best starting place is when a couple come with genuine motivation for healing and a strong mutual desire to make their marriage work.
Here are a few Steps for anyone wanting to begin this journey:
- Get help early: In some cases, the cause of relationship breakdown may be the result of a single major crisis. But commonly it’s not just one big thing at the core of the problem, and instead, a cumulative effect of a myriad of much smaller issues… such as unresolved minor conflicts, fault-finding and built-up resentment. So once you recognise and acknowledge relationship problems, take action. The quicker you address a fraying or faltering relationship, the faster the opportunity you have for de-escalating the situation and rekindling a healthier and happier relationship.
- Listen: Let go of your own agenda. Dismiss any ideas you may have of persuading a counsellor to your own way of thinking, because it will only undermine and hinder the process. Your counsellor is trained to help unpick the root cause of problems and offer tools and strategies to help you manage and overcome barriers. Listen to your counsellor whose role it is to ultimately guide you in reaching your own decisions and choices, about what is important to you, and in the best interests of the wellbeing of the marriage relationship.
- Honesty: Be honest with yourself, your partner, and your counsellor. Tell the truth without being hurtful or blame-shaming. Be real, you’re not there to impress the counsellor. Shoulder ownership and responsibility for your own attitudes and actions, and allow yourself to be transparent and accountable.
- Compromise v Cooperate: There is a world of difference between these two. If you come into counselling with the notion that it is all about making compromises, then in itself, it is limiting potential. That’s because, in essence, the parties are feeling a requirement to concede something, incur a sacrifice, or suffer loss in any negotiation. Alternatively, moving forward in a spirit of cooperation, involves a preparedness to put aside differences and work side-by-side to achieve mutually fulfilling goals. It is a more satisfying, synergistic and supportive approach.
- Openness: You’ll gain so much more when you come to counselling with a willingness to be open-minded about growing in greater awareness of yourself, and your partner, rather than approaching therapy begrudgingly and resentfully. For change to happen, it first requires a deeper understanding of what it is that needs to change.
- Find positives: Healing steps can be hastened by reflecting on and acknowledging your partner’s positive qualities. Identify the common ground that cemented the union in happier times, prior to any subsequent breakdown of the relationship. Foster open-ended dialogue and communicate your expectancy of how a brighter future might look.
- Continue as long it takes: Avoid putting a time-line on therapy. Results may come quickly for some couples and for others it may require a longer process. Each therapy situation with a couple is unique. And often there’ll be many different dynamics or layers to a relationship which may take time to unfold and be worked through. Providing both partners remain committed to the process and cooperative with the therapy, then persist. Support, strategies and insights can be offered, but outcomes ultimately are determined by the couple themselves. And for those who are able to mend their hearts and revitalise their relationship, they will be the ones that will find it all the more easier to project a fresh vision for the future ahead.
Remember that you’re not alone, support is available. If you are struggling in your relationship, reach out to a professional and caring relationship counsellor.
