Upper Valley Counselor on Managing Relationships

Managing relationships can be difficult. That’s why there are so many breakups, employees leaving jobs and friends drifting apart. In some cases, quitting a relationship (romantic, professional or even a friendship) is the right thing to do, but what if you’re in a strained relationship that you want to survive? Today, our Upper Valley counselors discuss some ways that talk therapy can help.

Decoding Communication

It would be amazing if everyone said exactly what they meant all the time, but for a variety of reasons, people don’t always say what they mean. Maybe they are trying not to hurt someone’s feelings. Maybe they are avoiding conflict. Maybe they aren’t sure how they feel about something. For whatever reason, many people say one thing, but mean something else. Your time with an Upper Valley counselor is a perfect place to decode a stressful interaction with a partner, a friend or a coworker. You can use the time in your talk therapy sessions to explore what that person said, how you reacted and where the conversation goes from there.

Self Reflection

After you get a handle on what the other person is communicating to you, you can also discuss your role in the relationship using your talk therapy sessions. If you’re feeling anxious or unsettled about a particular relationship, why is that? Is the person being aggressive? Are they manipulating you? Are you comfortable with how you’re interacting with them? Maybe there is something you’d like to say to them but can’t quite get your point across. Discussing a future interaction with your Upper Valley counselor is a great way to use a talk therapy session. You can explore that interaction any way you’d like before you’re in front of the person in real life. You’re in control of the setting and everything that happens in it.

Conflict Resolution

If a relationship has recently suffered a major setback (maybe an argument or a period of disconnection) you can explore ways to mend that relationship with some help from your therapist. Working through the history of that relationship and deciding how you’d like to proceed can help a future reconciliation go more smoothly. You can discuss where the faults lie. You can discuss how to deescalate a situation…how to find common ground or how to redraw the boundaries of that relationship.

Integrating Therapy with Life

In our experience, Upper Valley talk therapy is used for many things including: private healing, self-discovery and problem solving. There are many ways your sessions can provide strategies you can take into the real world. How you use your time in talk therapy is completely up to you. Your Upper Valley counselor is there to help you succeed, no matter how you define success.

We’ve seen time and again how talk therapy can provide time to reflect, a safe space to process real-life interactions and a testing ground to explore a new approach to the relationships in your life. If you’re curious about how Upper Valley talk therapy works or see if it might be a good fit for you, get in touch. We’re ready to start the conversation with you.