THERAPEUTIC COUNSELING & CONSULTING
Relational Therapy
What is Relational Therapy?
It is a cognitive-behavioral approach to therapy that explores what lived experiences have led to one’s patterns of thinking and behaviors within their relationships. Relational therapy aims to use self exploration and the processing of relationship experiences to learn how to build strong, harmonious connections with others. Relational therapy is valuable because the quality of our relationships guides us in living a fulfilling and satiated life.
Who could benefit and should consider engaging in relational therapy?
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Those struggling with interpersonal challenges with family, friends, roommates, coworkers, etc
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People who have been wounded within their closest relationships
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Individuals coping with divorced, and/or blended families
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Those experiencing complex and generational trauma wounds
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People struggling with building and maintaining trusting connections with others
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Individuals who are struggling with attachment related issues
How can Relational Therapy help?
Relational therapy supports the process of reflecting on your relationship experiences and engaging in self-exploration to better understand how your relationships are impacting the way in which you connect with others. This approach to therapy, with a focus on attachment theory, can be helpful in learning more about the roles, behaviors and patterns you contribute to your relationship dynamics. Relational therapy helps build effective interpersonal skills including skills related to communication, conflict resolution, boundary setting and more. Learning to work through these unresolved wounds can promote improvements with connection, intimacy, mood, self-esteem and self-worth so that you may hold positive and hopeful beliefs about yourself, others and the world that we share with one another.
Early Life Experiences and Attachment Styles
The experiences you had with your caregivers and early, influential relationships were fundamental in the forming of your attachment style. The consistency, predictability and reliability of these relationships were the basis to your understanding of how your needs would be observed and met by others. These early life relationships can leave lasting impressions, painting an image of how you anticipate you will be treated and considered by others in your daily life.
There are four identified attachment styles that present from childhood into adulthood: Secure, Anxious, Avoidant, and Disorganized. To learn more about how these attachment styles are formed to lessen unwanted impacts on your present life, consider working with one of our identified therapists that enjoy supporting clients through this kind of process!