The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

 By: Brian Murray, LMHC, NCC Couples go to relationship or marriage counseling to resolve problems to improve their relationship with each other. A host of problems can arise during a marriage anywhere from poor communication to infidelity. Marriage and a committed relationship require dedication and at times can be hard work for the relationship to feel good. However, sometimes relationships can be painful leading to a sense of dissatisfaction. Counseling can be helpful for clients who are facing divorce. But helpful does not always equal success. If the counseling office is the last-ditch effort to save the marriage, then counseling can feel like it’s already at a loss before it even begins. This can put a lot of pressure on the counselor who is faced with a difficult position to help save a failing marriage. If counseling does not work, then it’s divorce.    Couples who went to counseling on the way to divorce court frequently feel like counseling was a failu...

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC Divorcing a narcissist is grueling because they refuse to be on the receiving end of someone leaving them. Their superior narcissistic ego will not allow the possibility that there might be something wrong with them. So they try numerous push away abusive tactics followed by pull closer romantic methods to keep the spouse from separating. But, in contrast, if the narcissist decides to go then there is no stopping them. Due to the exhausting nature of divorce, it takes careful planning on how a spouse goes about the divorce. Done well, the process will be much easier and met with far less resistance. Follow these steps before confronting a narcissist. 1.        Recognize ending. There will be a point where enough is enough. Decide ahead of time what the boundary is and then have the courage to stick to it. For instance, a limitation could be multiple affairs. Once the second affair is discovered, consider this the poin...

  By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   If you’ve read enough of my blogs, you probably will find a common thread among them that starts with “if I had a buck for every time…I’d be writing this from _____” (fill in the blank with some exotic location).   So in an effort to maintain continuity, here you go: if I had a buck for every time I heard someone give a misguided reason for not going for counseling at a time when he/she really needs it, I’d be writing this blog from the sunny beaches of Australia . Here are three of the top reasons I have heard:   Myth 1:   Counseling is too expensive .     Truth 1 :   Divorce is more expensive. Medications are often more expensive.   Losing relationships are more expensive (emotionally).   Losing your ability to experience joy is more expensive.   Times are tough for many people right now.   When people are living paycheck to paycheck or are between jobs, it can ...

By Matt W. Sandford, LMHC Loneliness can show up just about anywhere. There are the places that we expect it and we feel for those who are there. When it’s us we are comforted by the expectation; that is, that it seems about right to be feeling what we are feeling, given the particular circumstances. But then there are times when we really don’t expect it and we don’t know what to make of it. It flies in the face of our expectations, even after we have been married for some time. And what if it’s your marriage? What if your expectations for your marriage have not been met? What if you fell in love and felt the thrill of finding the person that you could spend the rest of your life with? What if you went into this with your whole heart, ready to become one with someone, walk through life with them and “ never be alone again ”? Life is hard. It’s even harder to do alone and many feel a longing in them to find someone to walk with, to have their back, through thick and thin. S...

By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   When we think of or speak of divorce, most often we are talking in terms of firing a spouse.   The dissolution of a marriage is heartbreaking, as assumingly former best friends are choosing to walk away from a life commitment to each other.   As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I could write a lengthy blog describing the ripple effect of divorce and the fact that it changes the fabric of that person’s life forever.   But you could read that same type of blog in many places on the Internet.   I want to challenge you to consider a different kind of divorce…when a long term, close friendship ends.    Of course, a friendship divorce is not a legal act, in the way that a divorce ends a legal marriage contract.   But an emotional divorce is a parting of ways between two people who were once very bonded and the feeling of loss can be profound.   If we accept the statistics as true, that 50% of...