Personalized Therapy Options for Couples and Families
Relationship Therapy
Building and maintaining healthy relationships is essential for our well-being, but life's challenges can sometimes strain connections with the people we love most. At our practice, we offer compassionate and evidence-based therapy options grounded in Gottman principles and specifically tailored to support couples and families, including:
Couples Counseling (Married and Unmarried Partners):
Navigating a romantic relationship requires effective communication, empathy, and often a sense of humor. Whether you are married or in a committed partnership, relatively new to each other or decades into marriage, couples counseling can help you strengthen your bond and build a happier life together. We can help with issues including:
Communication difficulties: Struggling to express needs, set boundaries, or resolve conflicts constructively. Navigating differences in communication style, and better understanding your own and your partner’s love languages.
Life transitions: Adjusting to major life changes such as moving in together, whether to marry, having children, career changes, or financial strains.
Coparenting: Finding a fair balance of parenting responsibilities, coming together to develop a shared set of parenting values or family rules - especially if you have a blended family, are co-parenting through divorce, or grew up with differing styles.
Intimacy and sexual issues: Addressing challenges with physical or emotional intimacy, including differences in desire or difficulty communicating around sex and affection.
Differing values and expectations: Finding common ground when values or cultural backgrounds differ.
Family Therapy with Adult Members - Parents & Adult Children; Adult Sibling Groups; Blended Families:
(for information on parent/minor child support, please click here)
Family dynamics are complex, and it can be hard to break from old roles and patterns even as people and needs change. Our family therapy services are designed to support families through various challenges, including:
Intergenerational conflict: Addressing communication gaps and emotional tensions between parents and adult children or adult siblings.
Healing old wounds: Helping interested families to explore and heal from long-standing conflicts, and to move towards loving current relationships.
Boundary setting: Developing healthy boundaries between adult children and parents while maintaining loving connections.
Grief and loss: Providing support during difficult times like the illness or loss of a loved one, or navigating hard feelings over the settlement of an estate.
Cultural differences: Helping navigate communication, expectations and values within multicultural families, particularly immigrant parents who were raised in a different culture than their American-raised children/third-culture kids.
Elder care: Helping families to collaboratively plan for medical care, day-to-day support, and the financial needs of aging parents or relatives.
What Does Treatment Look Like?
Our approach is collaborative and solution-focused. We create a safe space for open communication, allowing all members to be heard and understood. We utilize a variety of techniques depending on your specific needs, which may include:
Communication skills training: Learning effective communication tools like active listening, "I" statements, and conflict resolution techniques.
Family systems exploration: Examining how family dynamics, roles, and past experiences impact current interactions.
Emotional processing: Providing support for expressing and managing difficult emotions in a healthy way.
Goal setting and problem-solving: Working collaboratively to define desired outcomes and developing strategies to address specific challenges.
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Our services are designed to support both couples and families grappling with a variety of issues. We understand that family members may have varying feelings about therapy and different levels of commitment, and work to help everyone find common ground.
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Through therapy, you can expect to experience:
Enhanced communication: Developing healthy communication tools to express yourself clearly and listen actively to others.
Stronger relationships: Building deeper understanding, empathy, and trust among partners or family members.
Improved conflict resolution: Learning to manage conflicts constructively and find solutions that work for everyone.
More effective parenting or caregiving: Gaining tools to navigate challenging situations in raising children, relationships with adult children or with aging parents.
Reduced stress and anxiety: Developing coping mechanisms to manage difficult family dynamics.
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The length of therapy varies depending on your unique needs and goals. Some families or couples find significant improvement within a few sessions, while others may benefit from longer-term therapy. We work with you to establish a treatment plan that aligns with your needs.
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We understand that scheduling can be challenging. To accommodate busy lifestyles, we offer convenient in-person sessions at our centrally located Downtown DC office. Additionally, we provide virtual therapy options for clients residing in Washington DC, Virginia, and Georgia. Please note: For virtual sessions, all participants must be physically located in a state where the clinician is licensed at the time of the session.
A Commitment to Diversity
Our practice is welcoming to clients of all cultures, faiths and identities. We understand that cultural norms and expectations are an important influence on family culture and the expectations of different family members. Our goal is to help you navigate these differences, foster understanding and build stronger, happier relationships.
Take the First Steps with Relationship Therapy in Washington, D.C.
Research shows that our relationships have a significant impact on our happiness, and investing in your relationships is one of the most important investments you can make. We understand that reaching out for help can be daunting. We offer free consultations to discuss your needs, answer your questions and help you gauge whether our services might be the right fit for you.
Contact Dr. Dawn Johnson & Associates today to start your journey towards a life with less conflict and more connection. Take the first step towards a balanced and fulfilling life by following these three simple steps:
Schedule a free 20-minute consultation to see if Relationship Therapy is right for you.
Begin meeting with one of our skilled relationship therapists.
Start building and enjoying deeper connections!
Other Services Offered at Dr. Dawn Johnson & Associates in Washington D.C. & Virginia
At Dr. Dawn Johnson & Associates, we want to help you thrive. In addition to our relationship therapy service, we offer services for those struggling with depression, infertility, navigating parenthood, academic or work concerns, disordered eating, and more.