Our Services
Couples Therapy in Gainesville, Florida
“Working briefly on your marriage every day will do more for your health and longevity than working out at a health club.”
John & Julie Gottman
“There’s no intimacy without two essential ingredients: conflict and vulnerability.”
Lisa Wolcott
Do you feel like you and your partner have become roommates? Do you wonder where the romance and sweetness in your relationship went? Is negativity overwhelming your conversations to the point where hard issues can’t be discussed, let alone explored or healed? Do you question your choice of partner, yet still long for the positive times you remember?
You’re not alone. Many relationships struggle, because we’re taught almost nothing about relationships. (We get more training on how to drive a car!)
And too often, we often unconsciously replicate the dysfunctional patterns we grew up with – unless we invest a little time to learn what it actually takes to create a happy, healthy, and thriving relationship.
The good news: what makes relationships work is surprisingly simple. Happy couples have a dynamic that keeps their negative thoughts and feelings about each other (which all couples have) from overwhelming positive thoughts and feelings.
And this kind of emotional intelligence can be learned!
Wolcott Counseling & Wellness therapists can help you improve your relationship and support your relational healing in a secure, objective and confidential environment. We provide a safe place for couples to examine conflict, disappointment, trust, communication, intimacy, health, finances, health and life transitions. Great relationships take some work, but the investment is worth it!
You don’t have to wait for a crisis. Being proactive can help you and your partner avoid pain, and avoid damage to your love relationship.
Our therapists are highly trained in relationship work, and use evidence-based methods such as the Gottman Method, to teach skills that yield positive results when couples are engaged. We are an affirming and kink positive practice.
Who benefits from group therapy?
Anyone who wants to develop awareness of how they function in relation to others. At Wolcott Counseling & Wellness, we see couples at every stage of relationships. Whether you’re newly dating, considering commitment, partnered or married for years, hoping to deepen intimacy, wanting to change patterns, considering divorce, considering differing relationship structures, or just feel you need a tune-up, we can help. We’ll help you clarify your expectations, learn effective communication strategies, de-mystify healthy relationships, heal old wounds, and regain playfulness, intimacy and connection.
Couples come to therapy to get support for many reasons such as:
- Communication difficulty or breakdowns
- Learning how to manage and resolve conflict
- Difficulty parenting or navigating struggles around in-laws/extended family
- Rebuilding trust and intimacy
- Exploring roles and identity within the relationship
- Money conflicts
- Moving forward after infidelity
All of the Wolcott Counseling & Wellness therapists are highly experienced in group work. Lisa Wolcott is a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP), on the editorial board for the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, and considered an expert in the field of group work. For more information on how group can help you, click here.
How We Work With You
At Wolcott Counseling & Wellness, we work carefully with you and your partner to understand the story of your relationship. We learn what each person’s level of investment and goals are for the relationship, and what patterns have developed that get in the way of having the relationship you desire. We use evidence-based methodologies (Gottman, IFS, Narrative, CBT, EFT) to help you identify specifically what can change, how to enact that change, and what each person in the relationship can do to improve the relationship. We believe this is the most respectful, thoughtful and efficient way to move through counseling with your partner. We understand that your resources of time, energy and money are valuable.
Couples Counseling is a collaborative effort between you, your partner and your therapist. It requires time, effort, good will, honestly, difficult conversations, and the desire to learn. The rewards are significant: clarity about your path forward, ease, love and passion in your intimate connections. As the couple’s relationship improves, so do all the relationships in your life.
We look forward to traveling on this journey with you.