Couples Counseling

Are you newly engaged or thinking about getting married?

Have you been able to explore your expectations and beliefs about marriage?

Is planning a wedding (and ultimately a life together) starting to cause some stress?

Engaging in virtual premarital counseling (a specialized form of couples counseling) with a certified SYMBIS facilitator offers invaluable benefits for couples preparing for marriage. 

Laura provides a structured space to openly discuss important topics such as communication styles, financial expectations, family dynamics, and personal values. Through guided conversations, couples can identify potential areas of conflict and develop effective conflict resolution strategies before they arise. 

This proactive approach not only strengthens a couple's bond, but also fosters a deeper understanding of each other’s perspectives. Each partner brings a unique worldview into the relationship, and differences can sometimes cause tension. Learning to not only understand, but to also respect and accept one another's differences can help minimize conflict later down the road. 

Ultimately, premarital counseling equips couples with the tools and insights needed to build a strong, lasting partnership, setting the foundation for a healthy and fulfilling marriage.

This is a short-term, structured type of couples counseling that is highly personalized for each couple based on individual assessments. 

Each couple will take their own SYMBIS assessment and Laura compiles the results and presents the information in an easy-to-understand format.

There is a one-time fee of $35 per couple in order to create a profile and take the assessment, which consists of 300 questions and takes approximately 30 minutes. 

SYMBIS - Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) is a proven, research-based approach that helps couples build stronger, more secure emotional bonds. EFCT is considered the gold-standard in couples counseling and has a success rate of 70-75%.

Rooted in attachment theory, EFCT focuses on understanding and transforming the emotional dynamics that drive conflict and distance within relationships. 

By exploring the underlying emotions and unmet needs beneath surface-level disagreements, couples can break negative patterns and create deeper, more meaningful connections. 

EFCT benefits couples by fostering greater empathy, improving communication, and promoting emotional responsiveness, ultimately strengthening the relationship. 

Through this process, couples learn to support and comfort each other in new ways, building a lasting foundation of trust, intimacy, and love.

What happens during EFCT?

Couples are able to identify and understand unhelpful patterns of interaction and its negative impact on the relationship. 

Couples can become more aware of one another's emotions and triggers, gaining greater understanding and empathy.

Couples listen, understand, and react more openly to one another's expression of emotions, pain, or needs.

Couples are able to feel and be more accessible, responsive, receptive, engaged, and connected to one another - learning to turn towards one another, rather than away.

Laura is fully trained in EFCT and is actively pursuing certification through the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT). She regularly attends advanced EFCT training, consultation, and supervision with the Southwest

 Idaho Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy (SWIEFT).

You're exhausted with the cycle of arguing. 

You and your partner seem to fight about the same things over and over again.

You try to talk about it, but

conversations quickly turn into arguments and are filled with defensiveness, criticism, and blaming. You wish you could have productive conversations where you both feel heard, understood, and validated. 

Imagine feeling safe enough to share vulnerable feelings, without being pushed away.

To feel deeply understood and cherished.  

The Gottman Method is a type of couples counseling that applies decades of research by Drs John & Julie Gottman to help couples build a strong foundation of friendship, foster deeper intimacy, and improve communication skills. 

During this type of couples counseling, Laura empowers couples with practical tools to strengthen their bond and create a fulfilling partnership that can withstand the test of time.

It's more than just basic conversation skills. While important and a good starting point, 

it's not enough. 

Laura takes couples deeper into their communication styles, helping each partner to not only understand their own love language, but to start speaking their partner's love language as well. 

You deserve to be loved in a way that feels good for you. 

Laura frequently uses a book called "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" throughout couples counseling. Although not necessary, interested couples are encouraged to obtain a copy to help enrich the couples counseling experience. 

Laura has completed Level 1 and Level 2 of the Gottman Training Method.