Understanding The Process

• Finding yourself in personality clashes with your partner, including not seeing eye to eye about money, sex, in-laws, or child-rearing?
• Tired of the same hurtful patterns such that you experience your partner as needy, distant, critical, or defensive?
• Reeling from an emotional or physical affair that has left you and your partner at a loss about how to heal and move forward?
• Struggling to adjust to a new life transition, such as bringing home baby, career changes, or empty nest?
• Missing that old spark that used to bring you such passion and joy?

Nothing can be more distressing than when our marriage or partnership has become a constant source of conflict and loneliness rather than the safe haven we anticipated enjoying for a lifetime. We all long to be seen and loved by our partners for who we really are, and need to know we can count on each other through the ups and downs of life.

 Wade Counseling of Frisco, PLLC assists couples in navigating these difficult “stuck” moments by guiding couples through new experiences of connection in the therapy room. With both compassion and direction, we help couples move deeper than basic communication skills into a place where each partner is seen and felt.

Osiris enjoys helping couples break out of painful patterns of conflict and disconnection and create deeply secure bonds of lasting love. Osiris also has extensive training in The Gottman Method to help couples.

As LGBTQIA+-affirming therapist, Wade Counseling of Frisco, PLLC has a special passion for helping couples from diverse communities create and enjoy love and affection in their relationships. We welcome the chance to be your guide in strengthening the foundation of one of the most important relationships in your life.

Couples seek counseling for a myriad of reasons, ranging from setting a good
foundation with premarital counseling to repair a relationship in crisis, and anything in between. Oftentimes, I have experienced couples have come in for treatment, seeking more than a referee; they are seeking guidance, a new way of solving old conflicts, and additional tools to add to their toolbox.

Osiris guides couples with what is called the Gottman Method™. Developed by Drs. John and Julie Gottman, this method of intervention is based on four decades of research. John Gottman is the bestselling author of numerous books, including The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.

Gottman Method™ Couples Therapy guides the Practitioner in assessing the unique strengths and stressors that impact the bond between two people. By extensively studying the interactions between couples, John Gottman has been able to determine what behaviors are associated with relationships that last and those that end in divorce.

From this research, the Gottmans have developed a wide range of effective interventions, including:

• Re-ignite the flames of fading romance and friendship
• Bridging the chasm of emotional distance and building a culture of appreciation
• De-escalating volatile arguments and gridlocked fights
• Eradicating criticism, defensiveness, contempt and stonewalling
• Healing from affairs and other breaches of trust
• Building shared meaning, values and symbols for long term connection

By utilizing this intervention, I hope to assist couples in moving closer together and healing relationship wounds.

Weekly couples counseling and marathon/intensive therapy, all begin with an in-depth assessment process that includes several phases:

• Phase 1 – An initial joint session where the couple has an opportunity to share the history of their relationship, highlighting the seminal moments that led to the current state of distress.
• Phase 2 – Confidential online assessment created by the Gottman Institute that identifies the couples strengths and challenges.
• Phase 3 – Individual sessions with each partner, allowing them to share their personal history and perspectives with the therapist.
• Phase 4 – A feedback session in which I share my observations of their relationship struggles, as well as the development of goals for couples counseling.

Once the assessment phase has been completed, the couple dives into the therapeutic process and begins working on the intentions they set out to achieve.

Research has shown that it usually takes six years from the first sign of trouble in a relationship to the commencement of couples counseling. While help is available at any stage of the relationship, it is wise to intervene early.