RELATIONSHIP COUNSELING
Singles and Couples
If you are in a relationship or single, maintaining a deeper understanding of your own self is not only the first step, but it is paramount to progress. At Relationship Institute of Palm Beach, we implement Imago relationship therapy to begin the transformational process. After years of successfully exercising this method in our practice, we have recognized the positive effects of gaining a deeper understanding of core issues and healing with your partner. Simply put, it can bring your relationship (marriage or companionship) to another deeper, more meaningful level.
IMAGO THERAPY — developed 25 years ago by Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt — is a highly effective form of couples therapy that takes a relationship approach rather than an individual approach to problem-solving. Although a large part of Imago therapy is centered around couples, there is an equally important aspect of Imago that relates to families and individuals. Couples are able to build empathy and gain an even greater understanding of their loved one’s core issues. By gaining this empathy and understanding, couples then learn to communicate and react differently to conflict. Similarly, this approach is also effective in family therapy. With the Imago dialogue, a safe environment is created so all participants feel fully heard and understood.
In our work with singles, we integrate the Imago concepts while addressing the needs of the individual, to better understand the patterns of their relationships, as they relate to their quest for love and acceptance. Within each relationship—the joys and the losses, from the past to the present—lie the answers to healing.
Self-medicating
Many people often go through life with unresolved relational issues which lead them to cope—often even subconsciously—in unhealthy and self-destructive ways. While the issues and emotional triggers may be widely varied, they often include the following: dysfunctional family dynamics, the aftermath of childhood trauma, abuse, unresolved personal grief, death of a parent or sibling, personal abandonment, neglect, divorce, or family patterns of taking medications to self soothe. Identifying these triggers and connecting to them, creates awareness and a larger understanding of how our behaviors are operating from this wounded place. It is the first integral step to overcoming dependencies.
Self Medicating, in all its forms, comes from a place of need to sooth and an inability to truly process and feel emotions. However, it can also stem from an unloving relationship with one’s self. At Relationship Institute of Palm Beach, we take an approach that looks at the full picture. Self Medicating can involve intense trauma work, couples work, and case management. Each person that comes to us, has their own individualized treatment plan that is unique to their needs.
We are supportive of support meetings along with customized treatment. In addition to weekly substance abuse support groups, we also offer additional services.
CODEPENDENCY & TRAUMA THERAPY
Codependency is an emotional disorder that causes sufferers to ignore their own needs while constantly fulfilling the needs of others. Oftentimes, codependency stems from unmet needs from childhood that are still trying to be satisfied in adulthood. The negative effects that this disorder has on one’s self esteem can result in inappropriate—and more importantly, ineffective—coping mechanisms.
For the treatment of codependency, we implement the Pia Mellody (a respected authority, lecturer, and educator in the fields of addiction and relationships) approach, which works on underlying relational trauma from childhood. This approach looks at specific events that happened in childhood and revisits them from the place of a healthy adult. By introspectively reflecting back, one is able to validate emotional experiences that had since been left unresolved. Often this leads to a deep inner connection within, leaving the client feeling more integrated and at peace.
Relationship Institute of Palm Beach provides clients with the individualized trauma support that they need. Although we use several different models to approach trauma, one of the treatments we commonly implement is EMDR.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. EMDR therapy proves the incomparable power of the mind and its ability to actually heal itself from psychological trauma. Similar to the ways in which the body recoups following physical trauma, EMDR therapy attests to the fact that a similar process occurs in a mental capacity, as well. Intuitively and naturally, the brain’s information processing system moves toward mental health. Should the system be blocked or imbalanced as a result of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. By implementing the protocols learned during EMDR therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.
PARENTING & FAMILY-SYSTEMS WORK
At Relationship Institute of Palm Beach, we are committed to helping individuals and families discover more joy and meaning in their lives through strengthened family connections.
Many parents struggle with the challenges associated with parenting which can vary from boundary setting, feeling like they’re not connecting, co-parenting issues, and basic communication skills. We help nurture healthy communication between you and your child that supports you to foster the best relationship possible leading to both compassion and resilience.
Our treatment approach is supported by the latest brain and attachment research that effectively impacts positive change. We are trained in parenting approaches and also apply Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help children cope more effectively with daily stressors. Moreover, our specialized training in helping children and adolescents learn to effectively manage and communicate their feelings strengthens connections that help families get back to growth and ease.