Communicati0n
and Connection

Many couples fail to achieve the level of emotional connection that one or both imagined for their marriage. Or they lose that closeness when life stressors arise, and their coping strategies prove insufficient. The approach to counseling couples that Dr. Figley practices and teaches to his interns utilizes an attachment-based lens: Helping partners build self-awareness of how one’s self-protective default tendencies hinder emotional closeness. And it equips couples to learn how to co-construct a safe context for emotional intimacy. Whatever issues bring a couple to counseling, gaining the skills to communicate vulnerably rather than defensively makes problem resolution so much easier to accomplish.