We specialize in marriage counseling, couples counseling and relationship issues in San Antonio, TX.

Our counselors have advanced training in the scientifically validated methods of Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy that will provide you with the tools and understanding you need to improve your communication, strengthen your friendship, heal from hurt, manage conflict and learn to connect and love your partner the very best possible!

Invest in one of life's most important possessions ...YOUR RELATIONSHIP!

Did you know that the average couple waits six years after they know they are having issues before they ask for help? Many never do and just give up when maybe ... they could have made it.

Don't wait until it's too late!

Or... maybe you are basically happy in your relationship but just wish it could be ...better, more fulfilling, FANTASTIC! IT CAN!!

At the Center for Personal & Relationship Growth you will learn to LIVE the HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP LIFESTYLE, becoming the best friends, lovers and partners possible.

Marriage/Relationship Counseling teaches couples:

• Better, more effective communication- How to recognize and accept difference.

• Conflict regulation.

• How to deal with and repair any trust issues or infidelity.

• How to grow together instead of apart.

• How to be better FRIENDS, LOVERS & PARTNERS. 

* Below is a further explanation of the theoretical basis we use in our marriage and couples counseling. These are the two most scientifically validated approaches to helping marriages and couples. Our couples therapists have advanced education in these two approaches and they are used by each of our therapists along with their own personal styles to ensure the greatest opportunity for lasting change.

Gottman Method Couple's Therapy combines the knowledge and wisdom of more than three decades of Gottman research and clinical practice. Through research-based interventions and exercises, it helps couples break through barriers to achieve greater understanding, connection and intimacy in their relationships. Gottman Method Couples Therapy is a structured, goal-oriented, scientifically-based therapy. Intervention strategies are based upon empirical data from Dr. Gottman’s three decades of research with more than 3,000 couples.This research shows us what actually works to help couples achieve a long-term healthy relationship. Gottman Method Couples Therapy was developed out of this research to help couples:

• Increase respect, affection, and closeness
• Break through and resolve conflict when they feel stuck
• Generate greater understanding between partners
• Keep conflict discussions calm

Research shows that to make a relationship last, couples must become better friends, learn to manage conflict, and create ways to support each other's hopes for the future. Drs. John and Julie Gottman have shown how couples can accomplish this by paying attention to what they call the Sound Relationship House, or the seven components of healthy couples relationships.

The Gottman Theory For Making Relationships Work

• Build Love Maps: How well do you know your partner’s inner psychological world, his or her history, worries, stresses, joys, and hopes?
• Share Fondness and Admiration: The antidote for contempt, this level focuses on the amount of affection and respect within a relationship. (To strengthen fondness and admiration, express appreciation and respect.)
• Turn Towards: State your needs, be aware of bids for connection and turn towards them. The small moments of everyday life are actually the building blocks of relationship.
• The Positive Perspective: The presence of a positive approach to problem-solving and the success of repair attempts.
• Manage Conflict: We say “manage” conflict rather than “resolve” conflict, because relationship conflict is natural and has functional, positive aspects. Understand that there is a critical difference in handling perpetual problems and solvable problems.
• Make Life Dreams Come True: Create an atmosphere that encourages each person to talk honestly about his or her hopes, values, convictions and aspirations.
• Create Shared Meaning: Understand important visions, narratives, myths, and metaphors about your relationship.

      Courtesy of the Gottman Relationship Institute

Developed by leading Canadian psychologists Dr. Susan Johnson and Dr. Leslie Greenberg, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is a process that guides couples as they break old destructive communication patterns and rebuild their connection with one another.EFT is a well-researched, effective model of treatment increasing in popularity because of the positive results it achieves including:

• The rapid resolution of issues (counselling is short term, lasting 10- 20 sessions)
• An unparalleled success rate (70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery while 90% show significant improvement). This compared favorably to the next leading model of therapy, which has a success rate of 35%
• Continued improvement of 70 % after therapy. A two-year follow-up of extremely distressed couples with depression and parental distress showed stable results
• Proven effective for treating couples with histories of sexual abuse, depression, grief, chronic illness, eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic childhood backgrounds, low sexual desire, or extramarital affairs
• The extent of distress at the beginning of therapy is a very low predictor (4%) of successful outcomes
• An improvement in overall health and a lessening of stress related to increased marital satisfaction

Collaborative and respectful, Emotionally Focused Therapy works by developing a strong therapeutic alliance with both individuals. It increases a couple’s ability to deal with conflict, helps them resolve old problems, and creates a deeper sense of emotional, physical and sexual intimacy and safety.Emotionally Focused Therapy is not a quick fix for relationship problems but offers consistent and lasting positive change. It is one of only two theories of couples therapy approved by the American Psychological Association and is a method practiced throughout the world.

The EFT Process 

Stage 1: Tracking Your Communication Patterns

At this stage the therapist helps clients identify the negative patterns and underlying emotions that are causing havoc in their relationship. Conflict will lessen as compassion, understanding and trust begin to grow.

Stage 2: Developing Healthy Communication  

 This stage is where true growth begins to occur. Clients work through old negative beliefs and insecurities that have kept them stuck in dysfunctional patterns. Clients develop an awareness of deeper feelings and learn how to ask to get their needs met in the relationship. Clients begin to feel safe, cared for, and supported as their relationship helps to heal old wounds and becomes a safe haven for emotional support.

Stage 3: Solidifying Changes

Clients will be able to use new healthy communication techniques to address old challenges and unresolved issues. They will become connected emotionally and physically as a couple and will embrace a new found level of intimacy.