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Discover how starting couples/marriage therapy can support your own journey toward a happier, more fulfilling life.
8 therapists available in Charleston
Jordan is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of South Carolina. She has experience working with individuals, families,...
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Jordan is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of South Carolina. She has experience working with individuals, families, and groups of all ages. Her experience includes outpatient mental health counseling, in-home, community, and school-based services. Jordan utilizes a variety of methods when working with clients, including person-centered therapy, solution focused therapy, play therapy, family systems, as well as other evidence-based treatments. Jordan strives to be creative in sessions, using play, art, and music to help in healing. She believes that every individual is unique and has their own path to success and happiness. Jordan aims to build a strong therapeutic alliance and create a safe environment that offers support and empowerment.
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If you are feeling stuck, stressed out, lost, anxious, or depressed, I want you to know that there is hope and I am here to help....
If you are feeling stuck, stressed out, lost, anxious, or depressed, I want you to know that there is hope and I am here to help.
Edward Johnsen is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 10 years of experience working in the mental health field. He is passionate about helping adults of all ages and backgrounds address their unique challenges and live more fulfilled lives. Edward specializes in working with individuals who struggle with anxiety, depression, trauma, men's issues, relationship issues, substance use disorders, and major life transitions.
Edward completed his Master of Arts (MA) degree in Clinical-Counseling Psychology at The Citadel Graduate College. He has over 10 years of experience working in a variety of settings including a wilderness residential program, in-patient hospitals, and outpatient clinics. While knowledgeable of mental health treatments, Edward knows that you are the expert on you. He is committed to exploring your concerns together and coming up with a solution that you are most comfortable with.
Whatever challenges you may be facing, you do not have to face them alone. Edward is confident that he can help you gain new perspectives and techniques to support you on your journey. If you are ready to do the work, you will be amazed at how capable you are to tackle the obstacles ahead. Reach out and schedule an appointment with him today.
I am here to provide support, teach skills, and assist you with navigating through life challenges....
I am here to provide support, teach skills, and assist you with navigating through life challenges.
Luciana Smalls is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) who has 7 years of experience in the mental health field. Luciana enjoys working with individuals, families, and couples dealing with stress, life challenges, grief, and communication challenges. She has diverse experience working with individuals and families with addiction, self-esteem, anxiety, foster care, kinship care, military families, medical challenges, stress, and time management.
Luciana completed her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Human Services at Springfield College, graduating with honors. She completed her Master of Science (MS) in Professional Mental Health Counseling at Webster University.
Luciana has a mission to help individuals create a healthy lifestyle from utilizing community resources, learning tools, becoming adaptive, and using assertive communication.
Nancy Lloyd is a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in relationship issues, grief and loss, life transitions, depress...
Nancy Lloyd is a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in relationship issues, grief and loss, life transitions, depression, eating disorders, trauma, recovery from substance abuse, anxiety, gender issues, and symptom management for chronic problems. She has gained experience both in private practice and community mental health services after graduating from The Citadel Graduate College in 2010. Nancy primarily works with adults but has notable experience with adolescents and children when providing interventions for families. She also has a decade of experience as an Adjunct Psychology Instructor and has a passion for providing psychoeducational information as an important supplement to understanding ourselves and our brains.
Nancy is a general practitioner with the ability to provide evidence-based interventions (CBT, TFCBT, DBT, MI, REBT, ACT, or Crisis Intervention for instance) for a very wide scope of acute and chronic conditions. She’s able to accommodate clients who prefer more supportive services to simply process life situations or reach goals. Interested in learning skills to be more aware of your dreams? She’s had experience with that, too. She prioritizes a humanistic approach as a compassionate and non-judgmental foundation to support the alliance between her and her clients and encourage the best possible therapeutic outcomes.
When someone feels genuinely understood, crisis will dissipate some and he or she can feel supported to make decisions or changes in a safe way… maybe even with a little humor and wit. Engagement in therapy is very sacred work that merits a soulful reverence for each client who decides to seek help. So, if you want a clinically-trained therapist who can also speak in terms of spiritual and personal growth from many philosophical perspectives effectively, give Nancy a try.
I will work with you to establish a better quality of life....
I will work with you to establish a better quality of life.
Elizabeth Philips is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Associate Counselor (LPC, LAC) who has over 7 years of experience working with adults suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, stress, family conflict, life transitions, grief, OCD, and more.
Elizabeth utilizes an eclectic counseling approach, using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectal behavior therapy (DBT), and solutions-focused methods. She always seeks to accommodate every client's unique situation and set of needs.
Elizabeth seeks to establish a caring and trusting relationship that puts you first and helps you find your direction and motivation to enact positive change. If you're ready to work together with Elizabeth to start making the transitions and decisions needed to live a healthier life, reach out to schedule your first session today.
Drawing from my journey with anxiety, self-esteem, and postpartum challenges, I am dedicated to helping both men and women find st...
Drawing from my journey with anxiety, self-esteem, and postpartum challenges, I am dedicated to helping both men and women find strength and balance in their lives.
Leanee Marsh is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate with 1 year of experience in counseling and 6 years of experience as an educator. Her ideal clients are individuals and couples who feel overwhelmed by anxiety, struggle with self-worth, or are navigating the emotional complexities and adjustments in life. Her clients seek compassionate support to regain confidence, develop coping skills, and build a healthier, more balanced mindset. They grow within a safe, nonjudgmental space, where Leanee provides them with a supportive environment to explore their feelings and challenges, allowing them to flourish.
Leanee earned a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Walden University and is also a National Certified Counselor. Her counseling sessions incorporate mindfulness, motivational interviewing, coping skills development, and emotional regulation to help clients build resilience and self-awareness.
When you're ready to take the first step towards improving your well-being and personal growth, reaching out for support can make all the difference. Let's connect and begin your journey toward healing and empowerment because you deserve support that meets you where you are.
My aim is to help my clients figure out what is keeping them from realizing their goals and working with them to identify strategi...
My aim is to help my clients figure out what is keeping them from realizing their goals and working with them to identify strategies for overcoming those obstacles.
Abdul is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) who specializes in working with adults who are seeking help with depression, anxiety, bereavement, and substance use disorders. He helps them transform their lives by learning to think about their lives in new and less hurtful ways.
Abdul holds a master’s degree in social work from Howard University’s School of Social Work. Prior to getting his MSW, he was working at an outpatient community mental health center and working on getting certified as an addiction counselor. He employs a variety of techniques including psychoeducation, motivational interviewing, Socratic questioning, and unconditional positive regard. His treatment orientation is heavily influenced by rational emotive and cognitive approaches. Abdul always aims to help clients understand what they want from their lives and to motivate them to achieve those goals.
Abdul's practice is rooted in humanism, the belief that people are self-motivated to pursue their own happiness. He sees his role as a guide who can support you on your journey toward happiness. Abdul accepts that all people are unique, with unique biology, chemistry, life stories, and life goals all their own. He understands that not everyone gets the same start in life and that each of us is uniquely shaped by the challenges and opportunities we encounter in our families of origin, our communities, and our society at large.
Abdul's goal as a professional is to support you as you strive for happiness and help you identify challenges and develop skills to overcome them. Ultimately, he believes that each person he meets is on a quest, searching for a rewarding, meaningful, and fulfilling life. His role is simply to help you get to your destination. "Noted psychiatrist and addiction expert Gabor Maté said that only when compassion is present can healing truly take place. My goal is to be that compassionate presence in your life as you work to understand yourself, identify the source of your unhappiness, and work with you to discover the happiness and life satisfaction that you deserve," says Abdul.
Adam Sachs is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally-Certified Counselor (LPC, NCC) with more than 6 years of experience...
Adam Sachs is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally-Certified Counselor (LPC, NCC) with more than 6 years of experience. He works with adults, couples, families, and children age 12 and older who are experiencing problems related to depression, anxiety, AD/HD, anger, substance abuse, relationships, work, parenting, and stress management.
He especially likes working with people and couples who commit to their treatment and goals, show courage and persistence in their pursuit, and strive to see a big picture for their life and to feel fully alive.
You may recognize your feelings or problems. But you may have difficulty identifying the root causes. Adam will help you examine beneath the surface to gain more insight and clarity, promoting healing, change, and progress. He will create an environment of safety, trust, curiosity, and acceptance as you explore challenging emotions and issues, and foster your hopes and dreams.
Adam recognizes the courage it takes to acknowledge you are struggling and want help. He encourages you to take the step to make an initial appointment. He will consider it his honor to work with you. Adam will commit to doing his best to meet you where you are in your life and help set you on your path to where you want to go.
You deserve dedicated time with a mental health professional — it can be life-changing.
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Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Licensed Independent Social Worker - Clinical Practice (LISW-CP)
Sarah: My go-to approach for helping those seeking couples/marriage counseling is to find out what motivated them to make the initial appointment and to understand their individual and shared goals for therapy. I find great benefit in taking this a step further by looking more closely at the four foundations of a successful relationship: communication, friendship, intimacy, and shared values. During intake, or as a take-home exercise, both individuals will complete a short survey that we will go over together in the first session. I make sure to inform them that even if the scores are low, that does not mean they will fail — they are in counseling after all! We will look at the lower scores and practice communicating to their partner what they could be doing more/less of for that number to increase. I also enjoy providing individualized methods, practices, and tools to use outside of the office. I will also explore their attachment styles together, with the shared goal of forming a secure attachment with healthy communication, respect, and enjoying spending time with their partner.
Ebony: My go-to approach for helping people in couples/marriage counseling is establishing boundaries within communication to process your partner’s thoughts and feelings to inappropriate reactions and comments. I find the best benefit in establishing boundaries because it helps partners establish foundations to address disagreements and resolve issues that occur.
Sarah: I teach clients “communication 101,” where we practice active listening and asking clarifying questions to our partner. Too often we mind-read, make assumptions, and react or respond to our partner as if our interpretation was fact. I also enjoy teaching partners how to be on the same “team,” parenting skills, reconnection, and how to validate our partner's feelings even when we do not agree. My 24-hour rule to build trust is also often used. This is where one person can call the other out for shutting down, or for being too reactive during a “hot topic” conversation. The partners will agree to table the conversation for now but choose an exact time (i.e. 3:30 pm) that is within 24 hours. Anxious-attached partners will be happy that this will be addressed the next day, avoidant-attached partners will be happy that they have more time to think about what to say, and things will inevitably be calmer at that time. This is also a simple way to build trust when both partners show up at the agreed-upon time.
Ebony: I teach the following tools in couples/marriage counseling:
Sarah: I know that a client is making meaningful progress in couples/marriage counseling when they are able to share how they have been using therapy tools at home and are able to compliment their partner on the progress they have seen in them as well. I look for my clients to validate their partner's opinions and feelings respectfully, even if they do not agree. I observe the clients being more kind to one another and reporting back on good memories/quality time being prioritized again. The best couples are those that can problem solve together, without combat.
Ebony: I know a client is making meaningful progress in couples/marriage counseling when there are more small gestures of appreciation within the day-to-day routine to decrease stressors for their partner and/or increase motivation.
Sarah: Clients can supplement their time in couples/marriage counseling with individual therapy. Many couples come into relationships with relational trauma from the past and/or other unresolved personal traumas. While we will be able to address these in some form during our time together, couples counseling will be focused mostly on the goals of the two of them as a couple. Many couples report significant progress in their partners when they are attending individual therapy on the side. I also always bring up self-care outside of counseling. Self-care is very important for any relationship. Having individual, healthy hobbies and activities and socializing outside of just the marriage or relationship is important.
Ebony: Clients can supplement their time in couples/marriage counseling by continuing to date each other and engage in activities together to see how you and your partner are changing in the process. Dating and doing activities together gives you motivation to continue working on current issues and remind yourself of the relationship you can have.
Sarah: To prepare for your first couples/marriage counseling session, you can begin thinking about what goals you hope to work toward throughout our time together. If comfortable at this stage, you can also talk to your partner about their goals, and see if there are some shared goals you both want to be sure to share with me. After we go over the background information during the intake session, we will discuss what motivated you both to make and attend the session, take a look at what has been going on, and address what you both want to see change or improve. I will save the initial goals in your secure chart, and we will look back at them from time to time to see our progress.
Ebony: To prepare for your first couples/marriage counseling session, you can provide grace to each other to express thoughts and feelings in a safe space to address root issues. The first session can come with nervousness and uncertainty about how your partner will respond. Give each other the chance to identify concerns to know where to start to improve.
Couples therapy and marriage counseling, also known as relationship counseling, helps couples work through their specific relationship issues. Some examples of common focuses within couples therapy and marriage counseling include:
The types of therapy used in couples and marriage counseling include:
At Thriveworks, Couples/marriage therapy is led by licensed professionals — often licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) — who are experts in their field and best-equipped to help couples.
The Gottman Method of couples therapy is a research-supported approach designed to enhance relationships by bolstering the bond between partners, resolving conflicts, and fostering shared meaning in their relationship through comprehensive assessments and tailored interventions that improve communication, trust, and the overall health of the partnership.
If you’re facing persistent relationship problems, communication breakdowns, or unresolved conflicts that are impacting your emotional well-being and happiness, Couples/marriage therapy may be beneficial for you.
While marriage and couple’s counseling is typically recommended for couples who are experiencing persistent or severe relationship issues, any relationship can benefit from attending these sessions.
Marriage and couples counseling at Thriveworks is conducted both in person and online by video. We encourage you to choose the option that works best for you and your partner.
On average, couples attend marriage and couples counseling for 12 weeks. However, couples & marriage counseling may last longer or shorter, dependent on the couples’ needs, the challenges they’d like to work through, and the pace of their progress.
At Thriveworks, we accept most major insurance plans, allowing many clients to pay as little as $0–$50 per session with their co-pay. We also offer self-pay options for those out-of-network or without insurance. Self-pay rates for talk therapy range from $160 to $240 for intake sessions and $135 to $195 for follow-ups, depending on your state. For psychiatry services, self-pay intake sessions are $255–$375, with follow-ups ranging from $175–$300, also varying by state. More information on current self-pay costs is available on our pricing page.
One of the main reasons people seek couples therapy and marriage counseling is for help with their closest, most intimate relationships. While couples therapy tends to be viewed as something for relationships in crisis, there are many reasons that individuals in relationships pursue it. Whether the reasons are large or small, they deserve to be explored and improved upon.
Couples therapy and marriage counseling at Thriveworks Charleston has helped many couples with a variety of issues. These qualified therapists help their clients learn new insights, improve cognitive and emotional skills, as well as adopt new habits that can have a huge impact on their lives and relationships. The couples therapists and marriage counselors at Thriveworks Charleston can guide couples toward better relationships. If this sounds like something you’re interested in or could benefit from, give us a call at (843) 480-4034 to schedule a couples therapy or marriage counseling appointment.
Throughout our relationships, there may be small conflicts that arise every now and then. In other cases, there may be large issues that appear or prove to be monumental. Each scenario can be explored with the help of a professional therapist who can guide couples through the “bumps in the road” or the seemingly overwhelming roadblocks. Some of the most common issues couples experience are:
The foundation of all relationships, communication can be face to face, over the phone, text messaging, and social media. Counselors can teach couples how to communicate with each other in positive ways. The type of communication people experience while growing up strongly affects how they communicate in adult relationships. Thriveworks Charleston can help couples to adapt a communication style that works well instead of falling back on problematic habits they learned in their past.
Sexuality is complex and personal, entailing more than just sexual activity. An individual’s personal definition of sexuality may include feelings of attraction toward another, how they choose to be intimate, and feelings relating to body image and personal values. There are as many individual expressions of sexuality as there are preferences for music. When individuals experience confusion or distress about aspects of sexuality–anxiety, embarrassment, anger and hurt–counselors at Thriveworks Charleston can be of great help and act as your support system.
One of the most hurtful and damaging experiences a couple undergoes is infidelity, but it doesn’t mean the relationship is beyond repair or has to end. In couples therapy or marriage counseling, individuals have a safe place to begin the journey toward resolving the issue. Experienced therapists at Thriveworks in Charleston, SC can help find meaningful and practical ways to work through the rough waters of unfaithfulness.
These examples are only a few of the many issues couples may experience in their marriage. Whether couples experience a few ups and downs or a seemingly unsurmountable issue, there is help. Consider working with a couples therapist or marriage counselor at Thriveworks Charleston.
Call Thriveworks Charleston at (843) 480-4034 to schedule a session or to find out more about how couples therapy and marriage counseling can improve your relationship. When you call to set up your appointment, a scheduling specialist will help you find the right counselor, psychologist, or therapist for you. Additionally, they will assist you in finding an appointment day and time that works for you and your partner. We have extended hours in the evenings and on the weekends.
We look forward to working with you and your partner! Schedule an appointment at Thriveworks Charleston when you feel ready. We’ll be here.
Includes individual, couples, child/ teen, & family therapy
Includes reducing symptoms with medication & management
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