Marriage & Family Counseling

Marriage Counseling

Most people desire a satisfying marriage that lasts a lifetime. Yet couples marrying today have a 50% chance of getting divorced.

Many couples that do not divorce wind up staying together, but remain unhappy and unfulfilled for years.

The damaging effects of destructive marital conflict and divorce on spouses and children include economic problems, medical problems, spiritual problems and mental health problems.

Can couples learn how to avoid the pitfalls and learn to deepen and maintain love for a lifetime? Yes, if they work at it!

The purpose of marital counseling at 70 West Counseling is to teach couples skills for a great marriage. The fact is that most of us didn’t learn relationship skills in a direct manner from qualified sources.

Most of us simply picked up bits of information from people who had good intentions, but lacked expertise.

What happens during marriage counseling?

The bottom line about any relationship that is having problems is that needs are not being met.

Your marriage counselor will teach you how to meet each other’s deepest needs, how to resolve past hurts, how to stop damaging conflicts and how to restore those original loving feelings.

Towards the end of your session, you and your counselor will create a specific action plan that can immediately start turning things around.

What if my spouse doesn’t want to participate?

Although it is most ideal when both are committed to making changes in the marriage–significant changes can be made even if therapy is done with only one person.

Many times, marriage counseling starts out as individual counseling and after a little while, the other person will want to participate.

We are considering divorce, can you still help?

Yes! There is reason to hope regardless of what has happened in your past-or for how long.

These are just a few areas often covered in relationship counseling:

  • stopping hurtful conflict

  • communication skills

  • financial stress and disagreements

  • how to forgive each other of past hurts

  • sexual issues

  • parenting differences

  • meeting each other’s needs

  • what makes men feel loved

  • what makes women feel loved

  • different parenting styles

  • how time is spent

  • how money is spent (or not spent)

  • different spiritual inclinations

Our marriage counselors are certified and trained to utilize Life Innovation’s PREPARE® premarriage and ENRICH® marriage counseling.

Seeking marriage counseling is the first step in healing a troubled relationship-and it may be the hardest step. We’re here to help you continue on your journey. Our marriage counselors are experts in getting to the root of the problem and helping the couple identify and meet their partner’s needs, no matter how hard they have to work or for how long. The goal of 70 West is to help you cultivate the marriage you intended to have before your issues interfered.

Family Counseling

Counseling is offered to families to provide emotional support, education and guidance for a variety of concerns confronted by today’s families. The process and workings of family counseling are often very challenging for family members as well as for the counselor.

70 West Counseling counselors often work with the entire nuclear family, viewing them as a unit or system. Relationships emerge from this system that influence development and behavior of all the family members. An individual member of the family may receive attention during the therapy session to address problem behavior or provide support for hardships or pathologies that affect them.

Examples of problems encountered by families include:

  • family planning

  • adoption

  • parenting skills

  • blended family issues

  • step-parenting

  • health related problems

  • problems of mental health

  • problems of mental retardation

Common family counseling goals are:

  • to communicate more effectively and meaningfully

  • to guide the family through traumatic experiences

  • to resolve problems and conflicts

  • to create a more positive family environment

There is nothing more important than the health and well-being of your family, and that includes addressing the dynamics and interaction of each of its members. You and your loved ones can learn to develop the skills needed to foster better communication and resolve problems and conflicts effectively and positively.

Every family has issues-it’s natural given the ebb and flow of human emotions. But they don’t all have to be insurmountable. We can help you rediscover the beauty and magic of finding comfort within your family.