Couples Therapy in 10 Sessions or Less
10/10 Recommend 10 Sessions
At Empower Family Therapy we aim to keep couples therapy to ten sessions or less. We have found that in just about 2 months we can help couples reach their goals and learn tools to manage conflict in the future.
100% of Empower Family Therapy’s couples who participate in identifying goals, report reaching them in 6-10 sessions.
the 4 Reasons why we recommend 10 couples therapy sessions:
1. Therapy is not forever
Most people that are new to therapy aren’t sure what to expect when it comes to the timeline. Am I committing to Thursdays at 4pm for the rest of my life? For a year? Or 3 months? This seems to be a major factor in why people put off therapy until things get, “really bad.” Commiting to a 10 session goal keeps all parties clear about what the time expectation will be from the start.
2. The Doubtful Partner
Let me tell you- the reluctant partner, you know the one who’s kinda sorta being dragged to therapy REALLLLLLY like this model. Even the most skeptical partner is willing to try therapy for 10 sessions or less. Getting both partners to fully commit to therapy is key in seeing success, and agreeing to an end goal seems to work wonders in helping the unsure one turn the corner.
3. It’s Bad for Business
It’s not lost on us that trying to limit sessions to 10 or less is not the best business model. Most therapists aren’t eager to discharge clients, as more sessions = more income. But, Empower Family Therapy’s goal is to help our clients make desired change and get back to living their lives! We’ll take a bad business model in exchange for happy healthy couples anyday!
4. Staying Focused on Change
There are lots of different styles of therapy, that tend towards different expectations of a timeline. Empower Family Therapy uses solution-focused approaches to help clients transition from focusing on problem areas to problem solving. Plus, our clients leave therapy with tools they feel confident in using to address situations that may arise in the future. Maintaining a limited number of sessions keeps couples focused and empowered to make changes and reach goals, and then get back to using that hour a week to spend on living their life.
Session Eleven
You didn’t think we kicked couples out after session 10 did you?! No way! Empower Family Therapy does have couples that stay longer than 10 sessions. These couples prefer to work at a slower pace, practice their skills longer, or are working on more long-term goals. Also, 10 sessions is not best for some presenting problems, the timeline will discussed in the first few sessions to set realistic expectations for all involved.
But, the large majority of couples notice a serious confidence boost by session 10, after reaching their goals. They realize they are capable of making change and choose to go one of two ways:
Some couples choose to discharge from therapy and use the skills they’ve learned to manage possible conflicts going forward. These couples now know what to expect from therapy, and feel comfortable in reaching out to their therapist for check in’s or ‘tune up’s’ as needed. These ‘tune ups’ may only be a few sessions. We keep a few slots in our schedule open for returning clients, to be sure they can be seen within a few weeks.
Some couples decide they’d like to continue in therapy and identify new goals to work towards, either individually or as a couple. After a successful experience in couples therapy, one of the members of the couple may report they’d like to continue therapy individually to work on issues related to stress management, emotional regulation, or coping skills.