Couples Therapy

Is your relationship in trouble?

Dr. Amy Fuller specializes in helping troubled marriages with extensive training and experience in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy. Marriage therapy with Dr. Fuller is a lot more than communication training, through powerful techniques and strategies, couples find both the strength to rebuild the loving relationship they once had and to grow as individuals in the process.  Most couples who find their marriages on the rocks carry around a lot of hurt which can be resolved and healed in the right therapeutic environment.

What will Couples Therapy with Dr. Amy Fuller be like?

Dr. Fuller meets with the couple together for an initial 85-minute session.  The most change is experienced through conjoint couples sessions as each partner begins to grow in front of their partner increasing closeness, healing and connection.

Usually, the initial session is followed by a series of weekly 80 or 50 minute sessions.  However, some couples choose a more intensive therapeutic approach with longer sessions occurring over a shorter period of time.

What is Dr. Fuller’s therapeutic approach?

Dr. Fuller is a differentiation-based systemic therapist.  Dr. Fuller combines compassion with honesty creating a direct, no-nonsense approach to couples work.  Together Dr. Fuller and the couple will explore relationship patterns, noticing what works and what has not worked over the years.  Each person is asked to evaluate his/her own role in the relational conflict that has led to feeling stuck, or unable to achieve the desired relationship through other means.

With specific tools and techniques, Dr. Fuller helps clients learn self-soothing techniques to greater withstand difficult conversations, intimacy and ultimately make different choices in the relationship.  Instead of seeking to simply change behavior or basic communication skills, therapy encourages couples to deepen their curiosity about themselves and each other, thus allowing each to grow in their ability to confront themselves and have compassion for their partner, building lasting and truly intimate relationships.

How long do Marriage Sessions last?

The initial couples session will be 80 minutes, but the standard session is 80 or 50 minutes.  See information about fees, scheduling and insurance here.

Dr. Fuller highly recommends Couples Intensive Treatment for couples wanting to improve more quickly, those not living in the Houston area, or when other treatment methods have not been successful.  Read more about COUPLES INTENSIVE TREATMENT.  If you are interested in a more intense approach, please let Dr. Fuller’s office know when scheduling.

Why choose Dr. Amy Fuller for marriage therapy?

Holding both a Masters and a Doctorate Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy as well as a License in Marriage and Family Therapy, Dr Fuller is an expert in human relationships. Dr. Fuller’s professional training has been specifically focused on family and marital relationships, unlike professionals with other degrees in the mental health field.  She is a Certified Sex Therapist Candidate from the Texas Sex Therapy Institute.  She regularly attends conferences and workshops to keep her skills fresh and knowledge of the field current.

Her work in couples therapy is heavily influenced by the Crucible Therapy Approach, a differentiation-based integration of marital and sex therapy.  Dr. Fuller has attended multiple trainings with the founders of the approach, Dr. David Schnarch and Dr. Ruth Morehouse including: Intimacy and Desire Clinical Training, Sexual dysfunction, Sexual Desire, Treating Intimacy problems, Couples Enrichment Weekend, Treating Extra-marital Affairs Clinical Workshop, several 5-day Intensive Practicums in the Crucible Approach and ongoing case consultation with Dr. Morehouse and webinars with Dr. Schnarch.

In addition, she constantly devours resources online related to relationships and actively posts, tweets and shares great online resources for relational, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Scoop It and through her professional blog.  She also provides ongoing supervision to Marriage and Family Therapy trainees through Fuller Life Family Therapy.

See Dr. Fuller’s LISTMANIA on Amazon for Great Relationships

If you do choose Dr. Fuller as your marriage therapist, please know she will care more about helping you create the change your desire in your relationship than in than making you feel good about yourself or creating a safe space for the relationship. She will be kind but honest and help you be honest with each other, even if it means you may not come back. Marriage therapy is not for the weak of heart. It requires great courage, strength and tenacity to address difficult issues in the relationship and that doesn’t usually make people feel safe…the point is to help you get stronger.