Hi everyone!
As a soon-to-be Wurzweiler graduate, I decided to start this bog so that I can share ideas in couple’s counseling. Over the course of the last 8 months, I interned at IOTSS (Intensive Outpatient Treatment Support and Services). While there, I had the opportunity to work with many clients and had the opportunity to facilitate group-therapy. I also was able to work with a couple and help them enhance their relationship. Because my direction was always facing towards specializing in couple’s therapy, working with this couple helped me get started. As I exit my internship, I am beginning to accumulate resources so that I can put together a marriage counseling curriculum. I hope to take Gottman training [although I am Jewish, so I’m waiting for it go on sale :)], and work my way through books, podcasts, and other helpful resources and cull the ideas that seem most relevant. I am gearing the curriculum towards Orthodox Jews, with a particular focus on the Ultra Orthodox community (Lakewood). I hope that readers can benefit from the ideas that will be presented, as well as share anything that they feel may be helpful for this project.
I will share one idea here so that I can jump right in and gets started. One of my earliest mentors, Shimmy Feintuch (who is a Nefesh member as well), explained the following. When a client comes in, it is very clear who the client is. But, who is the client when working with a couple? Well, maybe it’s the two of them. Maybe it’s the one talking at the moment. Perhaps there is no client. All of these are incorrect, although the last option is close. There is no human client; instead, the client is “the relationship”. The therapist is being tasked with empowering the couple to repair their relationship! To do that, the therapist needs to be impartial and not favor one partner over the other. By keeping this in mind, the therapist can put him/herself in the right frame of mind. He/she is not working for either partner, instead, he/she is working for the relationship!