Iris
Anytime an individual decides to go into personal therapy with the goal of improving a relationship, they will be wise to keep in mind a few critical factors:
Most people searching for an individual counselor rightfully want someone who will help guide them on a path toward personal growth. But when the client’s goals include improving or saving a committed love relationship, it is crucial to find a therapist who understands the importance of promoting not just individual growth, but individual growth in conjunction with the ability to stay connected to their partner’s reality.
Far too often, individual therapists, wanting to support their clients, unknowingly go overboard in this endeavor and in so doing, end up fostering increased disconnection in the client’s relationship, essentially because no one is seeing things from the partner’s perspective. This unintended outcome can have tragic consequences, not only because it can lead to an unwanted or unnecessary end of an important relationship, but because the individual client has now been cheated out of an opportunity for genuine growth.
Years of working with couples enables Ms. Reichlin to bring to her work with individual clients her deep understanding of how relationships operate. This, in turn, allows her to see a situation through both partner’s eyes, even though only one person is sitting before her. Because of this, she is often able to offer her clients not only genuine support but at the same time, insightful feedback regarding ways in which they themselves may be inadvertently sabotaging, or at least not helping, their relationship.
Genuine growth means reaching greater heights of personal maturity while maintaining the ability to stay empathically connected to another human being – not simply growing despite another’s needs, reality, etc.
In her work with individual clients, Ms. Reichlin integrates Imago Relationship Therapy with Family of Origin, Solution Oriented and Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is additionally fond of employing Voice Dialogue: an amazing psychospiritual approach to consciousness and transformation that facilitates an in-depth awareness and understanding of the many selves that make up our psyche.
Ms. Reichlin routinely sees individuals for these types of issues in individual therapy:
• Relationship Issues: Those who either cannot convince a partner to join them in couples therapy or who choose to not include them, can still find tremendous help through individual counseling. It’s important to know that while one person can single-handedly improve or save a relationship, (it’s true), there are definite “do’s” and “don’ts” that must be learned and followed for success to occur. The reader is encouraged to explore an amazing book on this topic, Divorce Remedy by Michele Weiner-Davis.
• Divorce Adjustment: Those seeking to heal from a divorce or break-up of a comitted love relationship need massive support and guidance to help them navigate through the unknowns of transitioning from a status of being “coupled”, to that of being “single”, once again. If the therapist is someone who is able to not only offer support, but an experienced couples therapist, as well, she/he will be in a unique position to help the client explore the more hidden factors behind the break-up. Achieving an accurate understanding of what happened is a critical step toward eventual healing from an unwanted break-up.
• Therapy for Singles: For single women and men wishing to remove personal barriers to finding and/or keeping a loving relationship in their lives.