At Chilliwack Mountain View Counselling, we offer a range of counselling services, including marriage and family therapy. Our blog Benefits of Family Therapy outlines the benefits of family therapy, including improving communication, applying skills learned in dealing with family members outside of the family (e.g., friends, neighbors, colleagues, supervisors), recognize and address problematic themes within the family, and, when needed, when and how to set boundaries with family members.  There are also several benefits of marriage counselling. 

Benefits of Marriage and Family Therapy

In the context of family, parents are the root of the family. When there is tension and stress between the couple, this tends to have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the family. Strengthening the marriage not only benefits the couple, but it also benefits the family.  

Participating in marriage counselling with a skilled marriage counsellor can help to mediate situations. Not being as invested, and with the goal of seeing both perspectives, a marriage counsellor can help a partner communicate their needs. A skilled marriage counsellor can also help a couple to understand why an issue is important to them and help them consider if there is an opportunity to compromise in appropriate situations. 

A skilled marriage counsellor can also help to identify themes which may be repeating themselves in different situations. Dealing with the issues behind these themes (e.g., loneliness, fear) can help to get to the root of the issue, so these themes don’t continue to repeatedly pop up in the relationship.

In addition, a marriage counsellor provides an opportunity to learn and introduce new skills as a way of breaking the cycle of ineffective patterns. These skills can include understanding one’s own emotions as well as skills for controlling these emotions to improve communication with our partner, improving identifying and communicating our needs in a relationship, as well as how to truly listen to what our partner is saying. In addition, Gottman couples therapy focuses on several skills to improve the effectiveness of our communication without compromising our needs. 

Gottman Couples Therapy

Life can be a challenge, and there are times we do not always agree with other people. These disagreements tend to be particularly problematic when they are with our partners. Gottman couples therapy provides a set of skills which research has proven effective in improving couple relationships. Gottman couples therapy includes increasing awareness in four areas which have been linked to increased divorce rates, improving communication, understanding why an issue is important to your partner, as well as the art of compromise. Gottman couples therapy also works to strengthen connection between partners. Gottman couples therapy is a great way of learning practical, realistic skills to implement in your marriage, resulting in happier marriages, happier individuals, and happier families.