Marriage Counseling At Take Charge, Inc. Offers Communication Tips For Managing Stress

Marriage counseling with Terri Dichiser via teletherapy is available if you find that you and your spouse are struggling with communication and stress during these uncertain times of the coronavirus. Terri is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor at Take Charge, Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas. Here are tips to handle the stress and keep communication open and honest with your spouse.

As we’re all being told to practice social distancing, and even in some cases, being told not to leave the house at all unless for essential purposes, couples are being quarantined together for an indefinite amount of time. If you’re feeling stressed out about the impact of coronavirus on your relationship, know that you’re not alone, and your nervous reaction to being quarantined with your partner is normal.

Communication is key in relationships all the time, but when you are quarantined together 24/7, communication is even more important. Terri uses Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) with marriage counseling as a way to help spouses reconnect. Part of this is learning to fight well — meaning being empathetic, and not engaging in minimizing, name calling, or shaming. We’re all going to lose it for what feels like ‘no reason,’ we’re going to be rude or not the best version of ourselves — and that’s okay. We need to give ourselves and our spouse grace.

EFT is used in therapy and marriage counseling to help couples recognize the patterns they have established in their relationship and offers tools and strategies to break those patterns to create a renewed sense of safety and security with your spouse. Couples recognize these patterns and behaviors are the enemy in the marriage, not each another.

Making time to be alone is important. Everyone needs time by themselves and it can’t just be when you use the bathroom. Take time to be alone whether that is to just breathe, text with a friend, take a nap, read…whatever. The important thing is to take time to be with you, yourself, and just you. Try to coordinate timing with your partner; this way, when you’re having your alone time, your partner can have theirs, too. You both need time apart from each other to recharge.

Many people are struggling to keep a normal schedule right now, which is unfortunate because most of us rely on schedules for a sense of stability and even to combat things like anxiety and depression.

Couples can sit down together and come up with a rough schedule to add some structure and make things feel a little more normal. This is particularly helpful for couples navigating working from home together for the first time or being around each other a lot more than usual. You can also use this time to set some general ground rules about noise or interruptions when working. Marriage counseling can help couples communicate their needs, especially if working from home.

For more information about marriage counseling, call Take Charge, Inc. at (913) 239-8255.