Couples Counseling in Portland and throughout Oregon and Washington
Catherine Palmer Counseling – Phone: 503-807-3917 – Email: cpalmerpdx@gmail.com
CATHERINE PALMER
Professional Couples Counseling in Portland
and throughout Oregon and Washington
Whether Your Relationship Is Struggling,
Or You Just Want To Make It Better...
I Can Help.
Couples Counseling Can Help You Rebuild The Ties That Brought You Together
~Catherine Palmer, MS, LPC, LMHC, MFT
Availability as of 11 April, 2024: I currently have openings. To schedule directly, please visit my online calendar HERE, or email me at cpalmerpdx@gmail.com and I will help you get on the schedule.
If you don’t see a time on my schedule that works for you, please email me and we’ll find a time, or add your name to my waitlist by clicking HERE
HOW CAN COUPLES COUNSELING HELP MY RELATIONSHIP?
Improve your communication and how you feel about each other.
Hello, my name is Catherine Palmer. I’m a professional counselor licensed in the states of Oregon and Washington. Although I work with both individuals and couples, I’m considered a relationship specialist. One of my goals as a couples counselor is to help people experience deeper connections with themselves and others.
As humans, we are hard-wired to want (and need) to connect. When this connection is severed or threatened, our nervous systems become stressed. Healthy relationships help us maintain emotional, mental, and physical health. When we are struggling in our close relationships, the stress seeps into all avenues of our lives, and our well-being is compromised. If you are struggling, couples counseling can help you and your partner heal, grow, and change your way of interacting.
Couples often find themselves repeating the same negative cycles that they can’t seem to escape. If you are experiencing repetitive fights, tension, communication issues, or betrayal in your relationship, it may leave you feeling rejected, abandoned, disappointed, hopeless, helpless, angry, worn out and disconnected. Over time, the underlying stress of a broken relationship may eventually lead to depression, anxiety, addictions, and/or health problems.
If you have children, the tension in your relationship can have long lasting impacts on them. I started out my training as a family therapist, but switched to a speciality in couples counseling because the couple is the foundation of the entire system. Once you and your partner feel safe and secure once again, the whole family starts to function better.
Whatever pulled you out of synch with your partner, couples counseling can bring you back together.
Please contact me if you feel that you need help restoring your relationship. I’m skilled at helping couples come back together and heal what is underlying their problems so that they can break free of unhealthy patterns and create a more joyful, satisfying relationship.
Does Couples Counseling Work?
Yes! Couples counseling can have a significantly positive impact on your relationship as long as you are willing to do the work.
Change can be hard, especially if you have been entrenched in the same negative patterns for years.
Some people come into my office thinking “good, now I can get this therapist to fix my partner!” But, it doesn’t work that way.
To get long lasting, positive change, I’ll ask each of you to reflect on how you are contributing to the problem and to focus on your own ‘stuff’, while also trying to develop compassionate understanding for your partner (who is working on his/her own ‘stuff’).
Couples counseling requires that you explore and try new ways of being together.
Gaining new insights, experiencing emotions more fully, and practicing new behaviors is difficult, but important, work.
I tend to be a directive couples therapist, rather than a ‘touchy feely’ one. I have a very open and honest approach, I voice what I see in the room and provide feedback.
Despite my directness, I’m very compassionate and work hard to foster an emotionally safe environment. This safety is in place to help you both become open, vulnerable, and willing to be accessible and responsive to your partner.
This will help you break free of your negative cycles, and will foster deeper intimacy and understanding.
How Do I Find a Good Couples Counselor?
I may not be the best fit for you (due to location, scheduling, cost, gender preference, whatever) and that’s okay.
However, I’d like to help you find a therapist who is qualified to do relationship work.
You shouldn’t pay someone to watch you fight – you can do that at home for free.
You want a couples counselor who will provide structure, who has the experience and training needed to understand your problem, and who doesn’t get flustered or lose focus when/if things get heated. You want a couples counselor who will require that you try new ways of behaving and interacting outside of therapy, and who won’t give up on your relationship.
I was shocked when I first discovered that anyone who receives a counseling degree can go into practice and offer couples counseling as a service, even if they have NO formal training in it.
Individual therapy and couples therapy are very different!
A therapist who does not know how to provide the structure and who is not prepared for the sometimes fast-paced, intense, directive work required to keep a couple from blowing apart can end up doing more harm than good.
Please be proactive and ask your prospective therapist about their training, experience, and approach.
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Questions to Ask a Perspective Therapist
Which Method of Therapy Do You Use?
For a description of some of the common therapies used in couple counseling please click on the 'Approach' page above. There may be other methods not listed that would be more appropriate for your unique situation.
Have You Worked With Couples Like Us?
Do they understand your specific problem and have experience with it?
What Kind of Training Do You Have?
You should know that most degree programs provide very little specific training in couples counseling. This is true even for Marriage, Couple, and Family programs, so be sure to ask about post-degree training.
If you’re ready to explore couples counseling with me, please schedule directly via my online calendar, call, or email to make an appointment.
Catherine Palmer Counseling
Individual and Couples Counseling in Portland, Oregon 97209
and Throughout the States of Oregon and Washington
email: cpalmerpdx@gmail.com
Hours:
Mon, Tue, Wed 11:00 am – 6:30pm