Individual therapy involves meetings between a client and a therapist to tackle areas of concern, such as depression, anxiety, relationship issues, and trauma. While some people may recognize these issues in themselves, others might enter therapy feeling overly exposed, drained, and lacking in energy. They might struggle with sleep, motivation, and a feeling that they are not living their life fully. Some may feel constantly on edge, experience panic attacks, or struggle to balance the demands of work and personal life.

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The goal of individual therapy is to uncover and address the root causes of these challenges. A key part of this process is building a trusting and respectful relationship between the client and the therapist. This foundation allows clients to safely examine and work through difficult thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, with the ultimate aim of making changes to lead a more satisfying life.

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Therapy may also include practical, solution-focused strategies, and homework to extend the benefits of therapy outside of sessions. Techniques such as exposure therapy might be used to confront fears directly, helping to reduce emotional reactions and alleviate anxiety symptoms. Your therapist will work with you to determine the most effective combination of approaches to meet your specific needs.

Couples seek therapy for a range of challenges. Many find it hard to communicate constructively, leading to patterns of contempt, frequent arguments, or withdrawal. Some couples might avoid conflict altogether, resulting in a loss of intimacy. Infidelity, too, places a heavy burden on relationships, often leaving lingering feelings of betrayal, anger, and distrust.

These issues are common reasons couples come to therapy, often after months or years of attempting to navigate these conflicts on their own, only to fall back into detrimental patterns. This cycle can foster feelings of shame and perceived failure. Sometimes, it feels as though the relationship has become more about maintaining the status quo than about meaningful connection.

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The aim of couples therapy is multi-layered. Fundamentally, it's about understanding each partner's role in the relationship dynamics, not to assign blame but to recognize how individual histories may be influencing current interactions. Establishing effective communication is crucial, and while being completely open and honest might seem daunting at first, your therapist will guide you in expressing your feelings in a way that's impactful yet respectful.

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During therapy, the established balance between you and your partner might be unsettled, which, despite being uncomfortable, is often an essential step towards a deeper connection. The objective isn't to eliminate conflict, but to manage disagreements constructively. Relationships can be challenging, but they shouldn't consistently feel like an uphill battle.

We also extend our support to polyamorous couples, recognizing the unique dynamics and challenges within these relationships. We invite you to schedule an appointment to explore how we can assist in healing past wounds, rejuvenating your connection, and fostering growth in your relationship(s).

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Billing

Couples therapy is a form of treatment that focuses on the relationship as the primary unit of care. The work centers on patterns of interaction, emotional dynamics, communication styles, attachment needs, and the ways in which each partner both shapes and is shaped by the relationship. The purpose of couples therapy is not to identify one partner as the problem or to treat one individual in isolation, but to address the relational system itself.

 

Health insurance companies do not recognize couples therapy as treatment of a relational unit. Instead, insurers require that services be billed under a single identified patient who carries a mental health diagnosis, with the other partner present. This framework is incompatible with the relational focus of couples therapy and places constraints on clinical documentation that do not accurately reflect the nature of the work.

 

For this reason, couples therapy is not billed to insurance and is provided on a self pay basis only. No partner is designated as the identified patient for couples therapy, and no diagnosis is assigned for the purpose of this treatment. Clinical records for couples therapy reflect the relational focus of the work rather than the symptoms or pathology of one individual.

 

Clients should understand that this policy is intended to preserve the integrity of couples therapy, avoid unnecessary diagnoses, and prevent one partner from being positioned as the patient in what is fundamentally a shared relational process. Individual therapy, when clinically indicated, may be billed to insurance separately and follows different documentation and billing requirements.