Counsellors support people breaking up around Christmas to get their own ‘Peace on Earth’ and goodwill, or help them stay together through a time of social and financial demands.
Relationships face challenges around Christmas for lots of reasons, including heightened stress, unmet expectations or underlying issues that come to the surface during holiday gatherings. Encouraging open and honest communication within the therapeutic relationship and, by extension, the romantic relationship is often key to helping them express their needs, concerns and expectations.
Better communication results in improved understanding between partners, so helping them to develop effective skills for getting their thoughts and feelings across can lead to healthier interactions, potentially preventing seismic or cumulative misunderstandings and snaps that lead to breakups.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be employed to address negative thought patterns and reshape maladaptive behaviours that contribute to relationship difficulties. Therapists can work with individuals to identify and challenge unrealistic expectations associated with the holiday season, promoting a more balanced and rational approach. This empowers couples and throuples to navigate challenges more effectively to make informed decisions about the future of their relationship.
Engaging in couples and throuples therapy during the Christmas period gives partners the means to explore and address their issues in a supportive environment. Therapists guide discussions on shared goals, communication strategies and conflict resolution. This helps build resilience and enhances intimacy, supporting the development of coping mechanisms to weather seasonal stresses, reducing the risk of breakup.
The key to making best use of therapy in order to enhance self-awareness and improve relationship skills is found in empowering individuals to make decisions that align with their wellbeing, whether that involves navigating challenges together or making the difficult choice to go their separate ways.
xph therapy offers integrative counselling, which means working with multiple therapy types, including CBT, psychotherapeutic and person-centred to develop a therapeutic pathway just for you, whatever outcome you’re hoping to achieve. Get in touch in a variety of ways. See the contact page for more info.