Cou­ples Coun­sel­ing

“Mar­riage is not for the faint of heart. It forces us to face our­selves and grow.”

David Schnarch

What is cou­ples coun­sel­ing?

Cou­ples coun­sel­ing is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to trans­form your relationship—not by assign­ing blame, but by cre­at­ing a deep­er, more ful­fill­ing con­nec­tion.

When the demands of every­day life—whether career stress, par­ent­ing, or emo­tion­al distance—put a strain on your rela­tion­ship, it’s easy to feel stuck in recur­ring con­flicts or dis­con­nec­tion. But you don’t have to nav­i­gate this alone.

Imag­ine hav­ing a space where both of you feel heard and under­stood. A space where you can explore your needs, express your emo­tions with­out fear, and redis­cov­er what tru­ly con­nects you. In my ses­sions, we focus on improv­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion, break­ing unhealthy pat­terns, and build­ing a part­ner­ship where both of you can thrive.

Whether you’re fac­ing recur­ring argu­ments, strug­gles with trust, or uncer­tain­ty about your future together—couples coun­sel­ing can help. I’m here to guide you through the process of heal­ing, under­stand­ing, and growth, so your rela­tion­ship not only lasts but flour­ish­es.

Goals of Cou­ples Coun­sel­ing

Is Your Rela­tion­ship Thriv­ing?

Take the Rela­tion­ship Quiz

Dis­cov­er how you and your part­ner are real­ly doing with this quick and insight­ful quiz. Whether you’re work­ing through chal­lenges or deep­en­ing your bond, this quiz will help you under­stand your rela­tion­ship dynam­ics and uncov­er areas for growth.

💡 Why take the Quiz?

  • Get a clear­er pic­ture of your strengths as a cou­ple.
  • Find out where your rela­tion­ship could use a lit­tle extra care or atten­tion.
  • Take the first step toward an even stronger con­nec­tion.
Take Quiz

FAQ

Cou­ples coun­sel­ing is suit­able for any cou­ple look­ing to improve their rela­tion­ship, whether they are mar­ried, unmar­ried, or in a same-sex part­ner­ship. It is par­tic­u­lar­ly ben­e­fi­cial when dif­fi­cul­ties have per­sist­ed for a long time, when prob­lems, frus­tra­tion, and argu­ments over­shad­ow dai­ly life, when joy­ful moments fade into the back­ground, when needs for under­stand­ing, trust, affec­tion, or inti­ma­cy are bare­ly met, or when one or both part­ners feel lost about how to improve the strained sit­u­a­tion. In such cas­es, it’s cru­cial to seek appro­pri­ate help as soon as pos­si­ble, before sep­a­ra­tion or divorce seems inevitable.

 
 
  • Suc­cess­ful cou­ples coun­sel­ing requires that both part­ners are will­ing to par­tic­i­pate in the process. While it’s nat­ur­al to feel skep­ti­cal or uncer­tain about shar­ing per­son­al mat­ters with a stranger, a con­sul­ta­tion ses­sion can help deter­mine if cou­ples coun­sel­ing and my approach as a coun­selor are the right fit for you.
  • Cou­ples coun­sel­ing may not be suit­able for those deal­ing with severe psy­cho­log­i­cal issues, such as major depres­sion or per­son­al­i­ty dis­or­ders. In such cas­es, psy­chother­a­py should take pri­or­i­ty.

In every­day lan­guage, the terms “cou­ples coun­sel­ing” and “cou­ples ther­a­py” are often used inter­change­ably. How­ev­er, in Ger­many, there is a legal dis­tinc­tion between the two. The term “ther­a­py” is pro­tect­ed under fed­er­al law and is lim­it­ed to licensed med­ical and health pro­fes­sion­als, such as psy­chother­a­pists and oth­er reg­u­lat­ed health­care providers.

Cou­ples coun­sel­ing, on the oth­er hand, is not nec­es­sar­i­ly tied to the treat­ment of men­tal ill­ness and can be pro­vid­ed by cer­ti­fied psy­chol­o­gists, coun­selors, or coach­es. While cou­ples ther­a­py focus­es on address­ing deep psy­cho­log­i­cal issues and is con­duct­ed by licensed pro­fes­sion­als, cou­ples coun­sel­ing is typ­i­cal­ly aimed at improv­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion, resolv­ing con­flicts, and enhanc­ing rela­tion­ships, mak­ing it acces­si­ble through a broad­er range of qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­als.

Cou­ples coun­selling and indi­vid­ual coach­ing dif­fer in their objec­tives and approach. In cou­ples coun­selling, the coun­sel­lor acts as an advo­cate for the rela­tion­ship, aim­ing to bring the cou­ple clos­er togeth­er and strength­en their bond. Dur­ing cou­ples coun­selling, it can some­times be help­ful to speak with each part­ner indi­vid­u­al­ly. Even in these one-on-one ses­sions, the coun­sel­lor’s pri­ma­ry con­cern remains the well-being of the cou­ple and the enhance­ment of their rela­tion­ship.

In con­trast, indi­vid­ual coach­ing, which occurs inde­pen­dent­ly of cou­ples coun­selling, focus­es on per­son­al devel­op­ment, indi­vid­ual goals, and desires, regard­less of the rela­tion­ship. The empha­sis here is on recog­nis­ing and sup­port­ing the per­son­al chal­lenges and needs of the indi­vid­ual.

Cou­ples coun­sel­ing is not psy­chother­a­py. There­fore, the costs are not cov­ered by either pub­lic or pri­vate health insur­ance.

Excep­tions: If one part­ner has a men­tal ill­ness that sig­nif­i­cant­ly impacts the rela­tion­ship (e.g., depres­sion, anx­i­ety dis­or­der, etc.), you should con­sult a psy­chother­a­pist.