Marriage counseling, also called couples therapy, helps couples of all types recognize and resolve conflicts and improve their relationships. Through counseling, you can make thoughtful decisions about rebuilding and strengthening your relationship or going your separate ways.

Marriage counseling is often short term. Marriage counseling typically includes both partners, but sometimes one partner chooses to work with a therapist alone. The specific treatment plan depends on the situation.

Some couples seek marriage counseling to strengthen their partnership and gain a better understanding of each other. Marriage counseling can also help couples who plan to get married. Premarital counseling can help couples achieve a deeper understanding of each other and iron out differences before marriage.

In other cases, couples seek marriage counseling to improve a troubled relationship and resolve specific issues, such as role changes, life transitions or infidelity. An affair is one of the biggest betrayals we can experience. But if you are willing to work on the relationship, the journey can be one of transformation, changing both of you for the better regardless of the path you choose.

We can each learn from our partners; these lessons can help us from repeating our mistakes in our current or future relationships and life journey.

I may also recommend that each spouse have an individual therapist, who can take their side unconditionally. I explain that as a marriage counselor, I am on the side of the marriage going forward, and both partners will be able to voice their needs in therapy.