Are You Struggling In Your Relationship?

• Do you feel lonely, anxious or invisible around your partner?
• Do you long for more attention, affection or closeness?
• Does your communication becomes tense or volatile or, alternatively, nonexistent?
• Are you nostalgic for how it used to be with your partner, when you adored, respected and valued each other?

It can feel painful, frustrating and lonely to be in a relationship that is full of conflict, silently strained or disconnected. Your relationship likely began with a strong foundation that weakened over time. But now, the negative patterns may have become entrenched. You feel stuck, confused and are no longer willing to live the way you have been.

You are seeking a couples or marriage counselor in hopes that you can get your relationship back on track. We can help.

Common Problems That May Be Bringing You into Couples Counseling

Unresolved Conflict

Like many couples, the inability to resolve conflict in a loving way may be bringing you to couples therapy. You may have the same fights over and over again. You can’t find common ground. The tension may be unbearable at times, adding more and more fuel to the fire until it’s out of control.

Feelings of Love Are Weak or Non-existent

Or, perhaps the intimacy in your relationship has faded away and it feels like you behave more like “roommates” than a couple. Rather than living together, you end up tolerating one another’s existence, so that any conversations you do have revolves around whose responsibility it is to do this or that chore.

Sexual Or Intimacy Problems

Your sex life may have deteriorated to the point where it is no longer enjoyable. One or both of you are not satisfied. Your sexual needs or desires do not seem to match one another. You no longer know how to communicate at that level, and don’t know where to begin to repair communication between you.

A Betrayal or Affair Recovery

Or, it could be infidelity that has broken your trust. Your relationship is in crisis and you don’t know if you will make it through this scar. You don’t see a way forward to begin the healing process but want to find some road that will lead you both to a time when you were happiest to be together.

Whatever your specific situation, you’ve decided you want help. You want to save your relationship. If you don’t do something soon, you may fear that you are headed towards separation or divorce.

How Couples Counseling Can Help You Move Forward

• Are you having trouble deciding if you want to stay or go in the relationship?
• Are you ambivalent about therapy because you feel like the relationship is no longer serving you or your partner(s)?
• Are you feeling trapped in your relationship? And do you feel like couples counseling is another trap?

Although I can’t promise to save your relationship(s), couples counseling can bring clarity to your relationship’s underlying issues and provide communication techniques that allow you to feel heard. With the right approach and guidance, it’s possible to gain a deeper understanding of your partner’s inner world, reduce misunderstandings, recognize sensitivities and become more emotionally engaged.

If all individuals in the relationship are committed to being real and honest about their needs and concerns it’s possible to create a new, more loving and stable bond.

If You Want To Separate

If you and/or your partner(s) decide that separation is best, counseling can help you do so in a manner that allows your dignity and respect to remain intact. If you’re struggling to decide if separation is the right choice, I can help you examine relationship patterns that are no longer serving you, and support you as you come to an empowered decision.

Relationship Therapy Can Help You Reconnect & Make Your Relationship Stronger

If you and your partner are committed to improving your relationship, counseling with couples therapist, Dr. Susan Orenstein can be extremely beneficial.

Through marriage counseling you and your partner can regain a sense of love, connection, and confidence. You will come to listen and understand one another both inside and outside of the therapy office.

Our goal is for you to “graduate” from relationship counseling when you have become relationship experts. We want you to know how to nurture and sustain a healthy relationship so that you can continue to grow together after our sessions are over.

Couples And Marriage Counseling Can Create More Understanding And Intimacy

During couples counseling, Susan will help you stop the destructive patterns within your relationship. Eliminating the hurtful ways you and your partner relate can make room for seeing your partner in a new way, increase loving behaviors and improve your communication.

You can develop new ways to discuss sensitive or difficult topics. You will listen to each other better and have a more shared understanding.

Strong, Happy Individuals Have More Fulfilling Relationships

As you learn more about yourselves as a couple, you will also begin to better understand yourselves as individuals. You can identify your own needs and learn how to express them more honestly and respectfully.

You can become a stronger and happier person while increasing intimacy in your relationship. Having two emotionally healthy individuals who can share, confide and nurture each other is the best recipe for sustaining a healthy relationship.

Although you may be feeling hopeless right now, with guided support and a willingness to change, it is possible to rebuild your relationship and have it be even better than it was before.

We have seen couples teetering on the brink of break-up recommitted and connected just a few months later.