5 Ways Couples Therapy Can Strengthen Your Relationship

 
Therapy session focused on building trust and communication in Austin couple

Maintaining a healthy relationship requires ongoing effort and commitment. All relationships can go through challenges, making it difficult to stay connected. During times of stress and disconnection, seeking guidance from couples therapy can offer a structured space to explore and work to strengthen your relationship. A common misconception of starting couples therapy is that therapy is only for relationships that are in disarray.

While couples therapy can be incredibly beneficial for times of stress to help regulate and de-escalate tension, it can also be used as a valuable tool for gaining a deeper understanding of yourself and your partner.

Couples therapy session in Austin focused on communication and connection

Here are just 5 ways that couples therapy can strengthen your relationship: 

  1. Gain a Deeper Understanding of Yourself and Your Partner

    One of the most impactful aspects of couples therapy is the opportunity to slow down and tune in to one another. In our busy lives, it’s easy to fall into autopilot and miss the chance for genuine connection. Couples therapy can help provide communication skills and an environment to help attune and learn to understand one another better. 

  2. Improve Communication in Your Relationship

    When we’re hurt or frustrated, it can be challenging to communicate effectively. Effective communication is at the heart of any strong relationship. In therapy, you acquire tools to express your feelings and needs clearly, even when emotions run high. Better communication not only leads to a deeper understanding of one another but also helps keep your emotional responses regulated, creating a calmer, more supportive interaction even during conflicts.

  3. Build Conflict Resolution Skills that Last

    Conflict is a natural part of every relationship. Sometimes, couples can feel stuck in repetitive patterns of distress, where even though the content changes, the same pattern reemerges, leading to increased tension. Couples therapy can help you break these patterns by equipping you with the tools and skills necessary to resolve and repair conflicts before they escalate to burnout or disconnection.

    For a deep dive into identifying and shifting unhelpful cycles, check out our post on Understanding Your Negative Pattern: What is Emotionally Focused Therapy.

  4. Deepen Trust and Emotional Safety with Your Partner

    In our relationships, we look to one another to understand whether we are available, responsive, and emotionally engaged. In couples therapy, you can learn how to create a safe and secure way of relating to one another, which helps foster trust and emotional safety within the relationship.

    Check out Unlock the Secret to a Stronger Marriage with the A.R.E. of EFT and Attachment Theory to explore using the A.R.E. framework (Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Engagement).

  5. Learn to Identify and Express Relationship Needs

    Expressing our needs in a relationship is essential to connection. However, articulating what we need and ensuring our partner understands can be challenging. Therapy can help you practice communicating your needs more effectively, ensuring that both partners are understood and heard, which can foster a more empathetic and responsive relationship.

Austin couples working on strengthening their relationship through therapy
Experienced couples therapist in Austin supporting relationship growth
 

Unlock the Secret to a Stronger Marriage with the A.R.E. of EFT and Attachment Theory

 

What is EFT?

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) utilizes attachment theory, which looks at the bonds one makes throughout life and the patterns of beliefs one holds about oneself and others. A secure bond fosters safety and connection, but experiences of disconnection can cause distressing patterns that challenge our ability to stay connected. 

EFT helps couples and individuals foster secure bonds with one another. At the heart of EFT lies the concept of A.R.E. — an acronym for Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Engagement.

Let's explore what A.R.E. means and ways it can enhance your relationship or marriage with the help of an EFT therapist.

Accessibility in EFT

Accessibility refers to availability and approachability. When you and your partner are accessible to one another, you are physically and emotionally available. This signals that you are a safe space to process challenges, fostering trust and deeper connection.

How to practice Accessibility: 

  • Set up daily time(s) to check in with one another, asking how the other is doing and offering emotional or physical support

  • When having check-ins, try to avoid multitasking 

  • When your partner is sharing vulnerabilities, use active listening skills through body language (i.e., maintaining eye contact, having an open posture, leaning in to listen)

Responsiveness in EFT

Have you ever experienced sharing something important with someone and felt they didn’t hear you or respond? This can be a pain point, and repeated unresponsiveness can create feelings of loneliness and disconnection. Responsiveness not only means actively listening to your partner but also validating their needs with empathy.

How to practice Responsiveness: 

  • Ask questions to gain clarity about your partner's needs (i.e., “What might be important for me to further understand?”)

  • Let your partner know that you acknowledge their emotions without judgment

  • Remain curious (i.e., “Can you tell me more about that?”)

Engagement in EFT

When partners are “engaged” with one another, they appear involved in each other's emotional lives and maintain a close connection. Secure partners seek to mutually understand the other person’s world and know them on a deeper level. Engagement fosters depth and mutual purpose. 

How to practice Engagement:

  • Express appreciation for your partner

  • Engage in activities you enjoy together regularly

Whether you are seeking to grow in your relationship with your partner, a family member, or a friend, A.R.E. is an actionable way to begin to transform your relationship or marriage into a deeper and more secure connection.

Reach out to Austin Relational Wellness to begin individual or couples therapy in Austin with an EFT therapist. Our EFT therapists can help you foster accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement and ultimately enhance your relationships.

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Meet Austin Couples Therapist Lauren Little

 

Tell us a little about your background as a therapist…

Hello there! My name is Lauren Little, and I am an Austin, TX-based Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) Associate seeing individuals, couples, and other relational units. As an Austin couples therapist, I work with a variety of clients and draw on my training in several therapeutic models, including Attachment Theory, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Additionally, I have received specific training in grief and loss, spiritual harm and religious trauma, and sex therapy. 

Why did you choose to become a therapist?

For the past decade, I have worked as a pediatric nurse caring for patients and their families facing chronic and terminal illnesses. My passion has always been to offer compassionate, holistic care. Over time, I found myself especially drawn to the mental health side of caring for others. My own experience in therapy has had a profound impact on me and ultimately inspired me to pursue graduate school. I went on to complete my Master’s in Counseling at Texas State University and pursued additional counseling training for couples therapy and other populations, further deepening my commitment to helping others on their healing journey.

What are you passionate about in the therapy room?

My training reflects the many passions that led me to become a therapist. As an Austin couples therapist, I am especially passionate about working with couples and individuals who seek deeper intimacy within their relationships and wish to overcome challenges in emotional and physical connection. I enjoy working with clients who desire a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships with others.

Additionally, I am deeply committed to supporting clients who have experienced grief or loss, addressing the many aspects of life that can be impacted by these experiences. I am also particularly passionate about working with individuals who have experienced spiritual harm or religious abuse, helping them heal and rebuild a healthy sense of self.

In my work with individuals, I am dedicated to supporting those navigating life transitions, managing anxiety and depression, and those who may have experienced trauma or have developmental trauma histories.

Beyond the therapy space, what do you enjoy?

Outside of sessions, I cherish time with my husband and our baby girl. Together we love exploring Austin and find joy in the food and coffee scene. Catching live music or sitting down to a meal with family and friends are other favorite activities. If I’m not doing these things, I enjoy a good yoga flow, getting lost in a book, or finishing a sewing project. I am currently working on a quilt and learning how to two-step!

Looking for an Austin couples therapist or individual therapist? Reach out to Lauren to schedule a free 15-minute phone consult!