Couples Counseling

COUPLES COUNSELING IN AUSTIN

Overcome Relationship Problems with Relationship Counseling

WHEN ALL YOU NEED IS ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

Relationships are complicated. After all, you spend a lot of time with your loved one who knows all of your faults and loves you anyways. Still, sometimes your loved one is battling his or her own problems stemming from childhood, addiction, or other past emotional wounds. Dr. Lara Dye is a couples therapist in Austin. Contact her today!

BENEFITS OF COUPLES COUNSELING

Clarify feelings about your relationship
Resolve roadblocks in your relationship
Renew intimacy and foster reconnection
Can help with personal growth
Can help resolve past emotional trauma
Learn conflict management skills
Learn communication skills

Many people think relationships are as easy as learning to walk. You practice and practice until you can do it effortlessly. However, marriage and relationships aren’t a skill you can learn and do repetitively. It’s a dynamic relationship with a human being who can change and often does. Relationships are unpredictable and far from repetitive. Every day is different, and every interaction can be different. To put it succinctly, marriage and relationships are hard work, challenging, and often frustrating.

Sometimes you just need an outside perspective to help you gain skills and knowledge on human interactions in order to function better in your existing relationship. A marriage counselor or a couples counselor can help. Dr. Lara Dye in Austin specializes in helping couples work through the challenges they face, whether it’s a communication issue, or it’s a childhood trauma one partner is trying to deal with. There are many benefits to couples counseling. Continue reading to learn more, and contact Dr. Lara Dye today!

BENEFITS OF COUPLES COUNSELING

Outside perspective and mediator. Having a safe place to voice your feelings and concerns about your relationship with your significant other can be just the thing you need to reestablish communication with your spouse or partner, especially if lately the only communication you have with your spouse seems to be yelling. A marriage counselor can guide the conversation and mediate the conversation, so your feelings can be heard.
Gain clarity on your relationship feelings. Speaking your thoughts out loud can help you to organize them and lead you to new connections you otherwise wouldn’t make. Furthermore, a professional relationship counselor who is trained in conversation techniques can help guide you to new connections. You’ve spent a lot of time in a relationship with your significant other; you don’t want to throw that away on a whim. Take the time to sort through your feelings. Oftentimes, your love is still there; it’s just covered by superficial concerns.
Foster a new communication pattern. If you’re constantly squabbling over little things, often there is a deeper, underlying issue. After all, who takes the dog out is not a cause to not speak to someone for hours on end. Oftentimes, you’ll discover you have an underlying hurt that has not been resolved from years ago that you are unknowingly harboring resentment over. If you’re struggling with major decisions, such as having kids or not or moving across the country, your couples counselor can professionally help you to come to a compromise peacefully.
Reinvigorate passion. As time drags on, you may settle into a daily routine that is comforting yet has completely cut you off from your spouse or loved one. You spend the majority of your day taking care of the kids, working, planning meals, shopping, running kids to and fro, and having coffee with friends or watching football with the guys. Pretty soon, your loved one has all but been cut out of your life. With no time or energy left at the end of the day, your relationship has fizzled, and you wonder if you’re still in love with that person. Sometimes just having a set time each week to come together with your partner is all it takes to flip the switch on intimacy again, and enjoy one another’s company like you did at the beginning of the relationship before life interfered.

Dr. Lara Dye is a CSAT in Austin as well as a specialist in couples counseling, especially when dealing with childhood trauma, addiction, or hurt. If a betrayal has destroyed your trust or there’s a chronic conflict that festers without ever addressing underlying emotional wounds, your relationship with your significant other can be affected. When one or both partners struggle with an addiction or have a background of childhood trauma, blame and guilt can compound feelings of anger, hurt, and confusion that creates even more distance between the partners. This kind of personal history or shared experience as a couple makes you feel too vulnerable to let down defenses long enough to gain true and lasting emotional intimacy.

Couples counseling gives you a safe and confidential place to be vulnerable, to express your innermost feelings, and to find healing where you need it. You can experience reconnection with your loved one and in effect begin your relationship all over again. Dr. Lara Dye is an expert in relationship counseling, and she’d be privileged to help you find happiness once again. Contact her today!

PREMARITAL COUNSELING SERVICES

Getting married is an exciting time in your life. You’re in love, and you’re ready to commit your life to someone. You can’t wait. However, we all know the grim divorce statistics in this country that over half of all marriages will end in divorce. Those whose marriages ended in divorce had the same hopes and dreams that you do. So how can you beat the odds?

Premarital counseling is a service that helps couples beat the odds. It’s a chance for you and your significant other to sit down with a licensed professional to iron out important issues that could eventually be reason for divorce down the line. Dr. Lara Dye offers marriage counseling services, including premarital counseling. Below, we’ll detail some of the major benefits of premarital counseling. Contact Dr. Lara today!

BENEFITS OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING

Learn to communicate effectively. When you sit down with a clinical psychologist, you’ll learn how to communicate more effectively. Odds are your therapist has dozens of tools in her tool belt to help you iron out differences and have discussions rather than arguments.
You’ll discover your partner’s weaknesses. Having a third party is a great way to discuss your weaknesses in a safe environment. Your partner might be more apt to open up and discuss events from their past that you may not know about that are affecting them now.
You’ll gain perspective. It can be easy to get caught up in the romance of being in love and the busyness of planning a wedding that you forget to actually sit down and go over what truly matters to each other. A professional therapist will most likely bring up pertinent questions you need to consider, such as how you’ll handle arguments, that you’ll need to work through before you tie the knot.
You’ll figure out your roles, which impacts many of the roles you’ll fill in a marriage. When you go from being two people to being a functioning unit, your roles change. It’s important to discuss how this will impact your marriage. For example, careers is a big topic. Are both of you working? Will one stay home with the kids? What about if one of you loses your job? If there is a big wage disparity, is the other one okay about that?
You’ll figure out kids. Many couples decide to have kids. Will one be a stay-at-home parent? What is your spouse wants you to be a stay-at-home parent and you don’t want to? These are big lifestyle choices that can lead to divorce. However, some people don’t want kids. If you want kids and your partner doesn’t, this can be a deal breaker for some marriages.
You’ll figure out extended family. Extended family can play a big role in your marriage, especially if you have kids. How involved will you be with your extended family and their lives? What happens if your parents need care as they age? What can you discuss with your extended family? What about step-kids?
What about your sex life? This is the most avoided topic amongst engaged couples, yet it is a huge part of marriage. Hashing out what your sex life looks like after marriage and kids is important. Some people stray from the marriage due to lack of sex so this one is a biggie. Discuss desires and other wishes ahead of time to avoid potential conflicts. Dr. Lara Dye in Austin specializes in sex addiction and love addiction. She is the perfect mediator for this difficult discussion.
How to handle conflict. You may never have had a major fight yet with your fiance, which is great. However, you will have fights in your marriage, and knowing how to handle conflict can go a long way for a healthy marriage.
How to handle finances. One of the biggest sources of conflict in a marriage is finances, especially if you’re not used to pooling resources. You’ll need to sit down with your couples therapist and hash out how you’re going to budget, spend money, make big purchases, invest your money, and save. You’ll need to go over any debt each one is carrying, what loans you have, and if you owe money to others such as child support.
You’ll figure out how to still be your own person. While marriage is a union of two people, you still have a life outside of your spouse that is your own. This includes your job, your hobbies, and just how you spend your free time. If you’re one who likes to veg out in front of the TV for a bit after a long day at work without being bothered, you’ll need to communicate that. If you’ll need a girls weekend away, talk about that as well. A couples counselor can help you understand how your life will look like married and help you still be a separate person.

If couples put as much effort into planning for their marriage as they do for their wedding, there would be fewer divorces. Thinking about issues before they arise will help with future problems. At the very least, you’ll have the experience to work through the issues.

HOW DR. LARA DYE CAN HELP IN AUSTIN, DALLAS, FORT WORTH, SAN ANTONIO, AND HOUSTON

Couples counseling can be challenging. After all, you’ll be diving into deeply personal issues that can be hard to talk about in general, but you can feel especially awkward sharing this with the one you love. However, you’ll emerge from premarital counseling with a stronger bond than before having had the tough discussions, and you’ll be better prepared when you do enter your married life. In addition, having the experience of your couples counselor can be invaluable to your marriage. Dr. Lara Dye is full of wisdom from her many years of counseling couples. She’s seen it all and can share tips in all aspects of marriage.

Dr. Lara Dye is a clinical psychologist in Austin, TX, who offers marriage counseling and premarital counseling services. She serves a wider area, including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio as well through her telehealth or online counseling services. Telehealth services has many benefits, including the convenience of not having to leave your home for therapy. Your information is always kept in complete confidentiality with Dr. Lara. Furthermore, when your premarital counseling sessions end, Dr. Lara offers individual counseling services as well so if there is something you want to work on, childhood trauma, for example, she’s more than happy to help. With many years of experience, Dr. Lara is someone you can trust to give you the tools you need to be a better person. Contact her today!

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PARTNERS OF SEX ADDICTS GROUP

In this group, you will find support and understanding while learning about how sex addiction affects you emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Expert group facilitation will help you heal and make critical decisions about yourself in a non-judgmental atmosphere.

This group is for adults of all ages and is now forming. To find out more about joining, please contact Dr. Dye today.

If you are struggling with sex addiction,
there is hope! Let’s talk.

SEX ADDICTION THERAPY GROUP

The goal and intent of this psychotherapy group is to solidify recovery and delve into ‘deeper’ psychological structures that may contribute to or maintain addictive thoughts and behaviors. Group time will be spent working in Patrick Carnes’ Facing the Shadows, working the ‘Tasks of Recovery’ as his is a Task Based Model. We will also be discussing issues coming up for each group member in terms of their recovery, conflicts or difficulties in relationships, work, etc. Group members will benefit from learning to identify and appropriately express emotion, ask for and be open to group support.