You may be in a couple relationship that is:

-filled with loneliness and silence
-full of arguing, blaming, withdrawing, and distancing
-in constant conflict that never gets resolved
-discouraging and hopeless
-lacking affection and touch
-leaving you feeling like you and your partners are strangers
-seems like you can't talk to each other anymore
-lacking the spark that once brought you together
-lacking sexual intimacy
-longing for closeness with one another again

Gina Smith, M.Div., LISW-CP, specializes in couple therapy. Gina is drawn to helping couples repair from the brokenness of this most important relationship. She will work with you to get to the heart of the matter, to the place where you each long to feel connected and fully accepted by one another.  Because she is passionate about the love and security that is sought with one’s most significant partner, Gina has completed over 100 hours in training towards completion of certification in emotionally focused therapy (EFT) since June 2015, training with the highest qualified experts in Atlanta, Greensboro, and Charlotte. The EFT approach has been vigorously researched and found to be one of the most effective approaches to address the issues that couples experience.

If you are feeling lonely, depressed or anxious because of your relationship problems, you are not alone.  If your relationship is stuck in a rut of conflict, sadness, distancing, and frustration, you know how heavily this weighs on your entire life.  You many see how this darkens your mood, damages your physical and emotional health, and upsets your children and other family members and friends.

The important thing is that your relationship doesn’t have to stay that way.  Through marital or couple therapy you can save your relationship and:

-be number one for each other again
-make up quickly after arguments
-communicate more so that you both feel valued and cared for
-trust each other again
-hug, kiss, and cuddle frequently
-have fun and comfort each other
-look forward to being together
-have a stronger sexual connection
-ask for and receive the support you need
-value and appreciate your differences and what they bring to your relationship

From Gina:

In couple therapy, I connect with the worth, dignity and goodness of you and your partner. I seek to discover the potential you have to develop a nurturing and caring relationship. I look for the tender hearts behind the rigid and negative patterns that may have developed in your relationship. 

I believe relationships are the core of human experience and that your relationship, regardless of how severe your problems are, has potential to become a safe and supportive base. Like most people who seek couple's counseling, your troubled relationship is the result of a broken bond. Couples in distress are like two people lost without a sense of knowing how to find the other's loving heart, all the while believing that the other no longer cares or understands them. You need to rediscover the love and trust that used to hold you together.

What you can expect in couple counseling:

• Expect to attend one-two sessions initially together with your partner during which your therapist will gain an understanding of what it is like for each of you in your relationship.  
• You will be asked to notice your relationship in between sessions and when you become “stuck”.
• In sessions, each of you will be supported by the therapist.
• After a few initial sessions jointly, you will have an individual session before returning to joint sessions.
• Expect to have moments of deeper sharing and more connection in your sessions that will help your relationship.