Relationship Therapy

Supporting multicultural or expat couples in their quest for deeper belonging in and outside of their relationships

 

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

― Carl Jung

While relationships are an integral part of our lives, they are also often a source of pain and difficulty.

The complexity of romantic relationships is often amplified during big life changes. For couples who are navigating a big change in relocating or simply bringing different cultural perspectives to the relationship, coming together with a skilled therapist can help you find renewed strength in your relationship. 


At Healing Together Therapy & Wellness Center, we understand that couples are multifaceted. We take time to personally know you and we take each person’s cultural background and identity into consideration when working within the nuances of your relationship. Our aim is to help you feel more empowered and develop a greater sense of connection in your relationship together.

Who should seek relationship counseling? 

The many realities of life can bring significant stress into a relationship. Each couple brings with them a personal history and worldview that can sometimes make being together challenging. It is normal for couples to experience conflict from time to time, especially during times of change and embarking on new milestones together. What is most important is how those conflicts are handled and repaired if the relationship has been ruptured. Working with a couples therapist can help partners face their problems in a way that is constructive and takes out any blame.

If you and your partner are experiencing any of the following issues, relationship therapy may be a helpful next step: 

  • Increased or chronic stress

  • Difficulty adjusting to relocation

  • Cultural differences

  • Frequent miscommunication

  • Arguments that don’t have clear resolutions

  • Financial stress

  • Differences in parenting styles

  • Differences in attachment styles

  • Depression and anxiety 

  • Decreased intimacy

  • Infidelity

  • Substance abuse

  • Who Do We Serve?

    We treat couples of many diverse backgrounds. Our relationship counseling is appropriate for English-speaking expats, as well as multicultural, intercultural, and multiethnic couples who speak English.

    Partners who come from different backgrounds will be able to offer a lot of enrichment to their life together, and yet, there are also times when their cultures may clash. Whether it’s differences in how one partner believes finances should be handled, or how one partner communicates their needs, the challenges that a couple faces don’t need to be a constant source of tension in the relationship. Our couples therapists can help partners communicate their needs in ways that foster deeper understanding and connection.

  • How We Can Help

    Couples Counseling can help with resolving conflicts as well as improving communication and understanding in your relationship. Working with a couples therapist can help couples make better decisions together and ultimately feel more connected.

    Our therapists are trained and experienced in working with the specialized issues of intimate relationships, and they will provide personalized interventions for the issues you are currently facing in your relationship.

    Talking about personal problems in your relationship can be uncomfortable and difficult, but our therapists are here to bring a non-judgmental listening ear and offer unbiased perspectives and guidance for the couple to arrive at collaborative solutions.

  • What to Expect

    Working with a couples counselor can help couples understand that their differences are not an indication of incompatibility, but rather they can be an opportunity to learn how to connect in a new way. Couples therapy can help partners navigate these stressors and take the strain off of their relationship.

    Some common benefits of couples counseling are listed below:

    • Improved communication between partners

    • A deeper understanding of oneself and your partner

    • Uncovering root causes of conflicts

    • Increased opportunities to share support

    • New roadmaps for connecting with your partner

    • Restoring intimacy and closeness

    • Increased resiliency and better tools to handle conflict

You can trust our therapists with the most important relationship in your life.

 

Who We Help

couple holding hands

Foreign or Expat Couples

 Do you: 

  • Wonder who you are as a couple in this new culture?

  • Struggle to connect with others besides your partner?

  • Feel like you’ve lost some of your independence or lack motivation to venture outside your relationship to the point that it’s causing strain on your partner?

  • Experience increased social anxiety?

  • Feel mismatched desires for socialization or connection with life “back home”?

  • Recognize that you and your partner feel differently about the acculturation timeline and process?

  • Long to be understood by others in the dominant culture?

  • Feel like an outsider?

Traveling can be a deeply rewarding experience, yet there are times when the loneliness of being immersed in a foreign culture can feel very isolating. It can feel overwhelming and alien at times to live and work in a society that is not native to your own upbringing. 

Finding it difficult to make lasting friendships, longing to be understood, experiencing anxiety from an unstable sense of community, and feeling guilt or loss around missing out on life back home are all common concerns that expats face in daily life.

Couples who are expats may find themselves wanting more community but also may find it difficult to cultivate a feeling of belonging that feels fully satisfying. When couples are finding themselves on the fringe, they may feel that all they have are each other. While this newfound trust can bring them closer, it can also highlight the underlying longing for a sense of personal identity and community outside of their relationship as well.

couple biking together

Multicultural Couples

Do you: 

  • Feel misunderstood by your partner?

  • Feel like your culture isn’t valued by your partner?

  • Feel disconnected from your culture because your partner doesn’t share the same nostalgia, holidays, or traditions?

  • Experience miscommunications that are not easily resolved?

  • Have the sense that your partner doesn’t know the full you?

  • Feel limited by the language barrier between you?

  • Feel threatened by something that is a part of your partner’s culture? (Ex. directness or proximity in conversation)

  • Feel left out of important parts of your partner’s world?

  • Recognize that your partner has differing beliefs about gender roles?

Multicultural couples have a lot they learn from each other. This is a wonderful gift and also can pose some challenges when it comes to navigating life together.

The list of challenges in a multicultural relationship are many. For example, there may be some grief involved when parts of one partner’s culture doesn’t mesh well with the other partner’s. There may also be times when one partner doesn’t feel as much love and appreciation because of how another partner is accustomed to displaying affection. 

Language barriers, the expression of love, celebrating different holidays and traditions, not speaking the native language of your partner’s friends and family, differences in gender roles, moments of miscommunication, or feeling excluded from some conversations. These are all considerations that multicultural couples must learn to accommodate, and it is normal to feel the frustration of these challenges.

same sex couple looking at each other

Is Couples Therapy Effective Online? 

Our services are conducted remotely, through secure video appointments that are created for your specific appointment time with your therapist. A benefit of online therapy means that couples can join from their own home, and oftentimes, clients report that they feel more at ease sharing from the comfort of their own home and it’s easier to reconnect afterwards. Online telehealth appointments also allow our therapists to serve a broad area, making counseling accessible to every client living in Asia.