Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Regarding Therapy:
Length of therapy
At the Relationship Institute, specific goals are set at the beginning of therapy, and couples are expected to do homework to establish healthy relationship patterns and practices in their daily lives. Because of this, therapy or counseling is usually time-limited and ends when your relationship goals have been met. Of course there are some more complex situations which require a series of goals and resolutions that take place sequentially over time. All of this can be discussed and clarified during the initial evaluation session with the therapist. Because we have specialized in relationship issues for over twenty years, we have almost certainly dealt with any relationship or couples’ issues you may have.
Choosing a Couples’ Therapist
The unfortunate fact is that many psychotherapists perform Couples’ Therapy who have not been trained to do so. We have found through experience and research that the most effective couples’ therapy combines skill-building with feedback and insight on communication patterns and processes, along with regular homework assignments. Couples’ sessions where the therapists merely referee arguments tends to not produce any long-lasting changes in relationship patterns. So when you’re choosing a couples’ therapist, be sure to ask them how active and directive they are in their sessions. Finally, you should also ask your therapist how many couples’ or marriage counseling sessions they do every week. If it’s less than 5-10, they are doing couples’ therapy as a minor sidelight, not as a main thrust of their practice and they may not be as experienced in working with this modality.
Insurance
Yes we can take almost all insurances. To see if your insurance will cover our services, please call our office staff at (248) 546-0407 during daytime hours. Please do not email or ask “What insurance do you take?” because we take over 18 different types – it’s MUCH more efficient if you can just tell us the one insurance that you have, and we can tell you if we take that one. Thank you.
Individual vs Couples’ Therapy
Frequently people are in a relationship where one person is highly motivated to work on the relationship, and the other person is ambivalent. In this scenario, it’s a good idea for the one person who is motivated to seek individual therapy to work on their relationship situation. Often that will provide a needed perspective on the entire situation; highlight any issues the person attending therapy might have that is affecting the relationship dynamics; and spur the other partner to seek out couples’ therapy at some later date when they realize how serious their partner is about change.
The other situation that occurs is that a couple wants to attend couples’ therapy, but upon the initial evaluation, we discover that one or both people have individual issues that would make couples’ therapy ineffective. In that case we refer those people to an individual therapist to work on their issues, before resuming couples’ therapy.
Issues that We Do NOT Work With
We are open to working with most individuals, children, couples and families. However, because we are a freestanding outpatient counseling center, we cannot work with all issues. We do NOT work with clients who present with any of the following issues:
- Active substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Chronic depression accompanied by suicidal ideation
In these situations, we will refer clients to an appropriate healthcare system which includes a continuum of care that can accommodate these issues.