Couples Therapy
It really hurts when your most important relationship feels distant or full of conflict. This can happen within mature or newer relationships. Couples therapy is effective at restoring emotional connection and trust, fostering intimacy and opening up communication.
Conflict
In an intimate relationship we are seeking a safe emotional connection with the person we love. Conflict makes us feel very unsafe and unable to reach for each other. Therapy can contain conflict and open up communication again.
Marriage & Relationship Counselling
This is for those experiencing conflict, feeling alone and isolated, or caught in a situation where trust has been violated. It is also for those struggling in a relationship or wondering why they can’t seem to make long-term relationships work.
Separation & Divorce
This is perhaps the most difficult event in a person’s life. A skilled therapist provides emotional safety to deal with intense negative emotions and creates a safe space for important conversations to occur.
Sexuality & Intimacy
The goal of sex therapy is to help people move past physical and emotional challenges to have a satisfying relationship and a pleasurable sex life. Sexual dysfunction is common with many people during their lifetime, but they can experience positive change through therapy.
How to become a client
To send a confidential message, please fill out our contact form or email us directly at info@turningpt.ca. Our administrative support team will contact you within one business day. Once we have assessed what your needs are we will connect you with a therapist that, we believe, is aligned with what you are looking for.
FAQ
How can the therapist ensure I’m not going to be blamed, or the therapist won’t take sides?
A marital or couple’s relationship can often be experienced where one person feels blamed. Couples, however, get into a pattern of protection and activation and this prompts both individuals to become defensive. Good couples therapy doesn’t look for someone to blame. Rather, a couples therapist will help people identify the negative cycle, and help them to develop the skill to stay connected, avoid reactive behaviour and restore trust and communication.
What happens if I want to speak to our couple’s therapist separately?
The couple’s therapy process depends on trusting that the therapist will be fair, balanced and unbiased in their approach. All work and communication will be done with both people involved. If the couple decides that it would benefit one of the partners in the relationship to do individual work with that therapist then that can be discussed. All couple’s work begins with an individual session for each person, to explore the history of attachment, connection, safety and potential trauma.
Will we be able to have couple therapy virtually if we are in two separate locations?
Yes. Couples therapy can be quite effective if done online. It works well even if the couple are in two different locations.
Do you help high-conflict couples?
The first step in couples therapy is to help couples recognize their emotional raw spots, and begin to build safety. Conflict in an intimate relationship feels so destructive. Finding other ways to listen and be heard, to restore emotional safety and to begin to communicate your needs again are the first steps in the couple’s therapy process.
My partner and I have been married for 30 years. How likely is our relationship to change?
Couples, or marriage therapy, is effective for all couples. In our practice we have benefitted couples who have been married for over 50 years! We often find that both people in the relationship are longing for more emotional connection again. Having a skilled therapist to provide the safety to begin to have those conversations again can be very effective and rewarding.
Is couple therapy appropriate if we just want a tune-up?
Couples therapy is effective for all couples; you don’t need to be in distress for it to be useful. Staying connected emotionally to your partner is essential for intimacy to be maintained. Sometimes just having a safe space in therapy permits couples to have honest and authentic conversations with each other again.
What to expect from therapy
After you’ve decided to work with a particular therapist, the next few sessions are usually devoted to talking about the circumstances that have brought you to therapy.
