Has the communication broken down in your relationship? Couples often start with finishing each other’s sentences and end feeling like they aren’t even speaking the same language.
One of the most common things we hear in couple counselling is ‘they just don’t hear me’ – that one partner or both feel completely unacknowledged by their partner. They feel like everything that’s being said is misunderstood, taken out of context, or turned around in defensiveness.
Communication is vital to a healthy relationship. We need to be able to express ourselves to get our needs met. But what happens when we can speak, but our partner just isn’t listening? Nothing gets solved if we aren’t tuning into our partners. We can’t both be great speakers, and terrible listeners.
Listening is one of the most undervalued, yet highly prized skills in great relationships. Listening is how we learn, understand and demonstrate to our partner that we are indeed there for them – that they are heard and understood. Most people just want their partner to acknowledge them, they don’t need agreement, they just want their side of the story to be heard and to feel seen.
In couple counselling we can support you and your partner to feel heard and seen by each other. We can give you the tools to create positive communication practices that stick. You deserve to be validated by the person you love, your feelings, thoughts and beliefs deserve to be heard.
Comments