As Laura and Steve were progressing in couples therapy, Laura began our next session saying, “I was proud of us. We had a conversation.” This is the essence of couples counseling—teaching couples to have conversations with each other. Many of their previous discussions escalated or stopped happening. This time Laura didn’t poke holes in what Steve was saying, and Steve wasn’t dismissive—their typical pattern.

Laura and Steve were having effective conversations in the couples counseling, but now they were able to transfer that ability to home. Laura and Steve had something to be proud of.