Our therapists provide couples & marriage counseling in Boston, MA

I have limited experience with couples work, but I have worked with couples here at Thriveworks and I have seven years of experience in a previous job engaging in family therapy. My go-to approaches focus on communication-building skills/activities and positive psychology techniques. I found it helpful because it was a positive way to rebuild communication and strengthen relationships.

I teach “fair fighting” rules, which consist of psychoeducation on how best to engage in conflict resolution in a relationship. The Fair Fighting Rules handout I provide describes the “rules of engagement” when it comes to disagreements. Instead of telling people they can't argue, fair fighting rules tell them how to do it safely and productively while exploring topics such as boundaries, warning signs, and techniques for handling disagreements.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in couples/marriage counseling when they are reporting progress in sessions, as well as when I observe changes in their communication styles when bringing in difficult topics during sessions.

Clients can supplement their time in couples/marriage counseling by completing/reviewing the five love languages activity I provide, engaging in fair fighting rules, and having monthly check-ins about how they feel their relationship goals are/or are not progressing.

To prepare for your first couples/marriage counseling session, you can create a list, either separately or together (preferred), about important topics that would be helpful to process in future sessions.