Marriage & Couples Counseling in Voorhees, NJ
When Your Relationship Needs More Than Another Conversation
Most couples don't come to counseling because they don't care about each other. They come because they've gotten stuck.
You may be having the same arguments over and over. Communication has become tense, defensive, or nonexistent. You may feel more like roommates than partners. Trust may have been damaged. Emotional or physical intimacy may have faded. Or perhaps nothing dramatic has happened—you simply know that your relationship isn't where you want it to be.
At NJTLC, we provide marriage and couples counseling for adults who want to understand what's happening in their relationship and find a more productive way forward.
Sessions are available in person at our Voorhees, New Jersey office and remotely by video or phone.
Marriage Counseling Isn't About Deciding Who Is Right
Couples can spend years trying to settle the same argument.
Who started it? Who doesn't listen? Who isn't affectionate enough? Who works too much? Who spends too much? Who said what five years ago?
Marriage counseling isn't a courtroom, and your therapist isn't there to declare a winner.
Effective couples counseling looks beneath the argument. We work to identify the patterns that keep pulling you back into the same conflict and help both partners understand what is happening emotionally underneath those patterns.
Sometimes the problem is communication. Sometimes it's resentment, trust, intimacy, family pressures, money, parenting, work, or unresolved past experiences.
Often, it's several of these at once.
The goal is not simply to argue better. It is to understand each other differently and develop healthier ways of relating.
Reasons Couples Come to Counseling
Couples seek counseling for many different reasons, including:
Frequent arguments or recurring conflicts
Communication problems
Emotional distance or loneliness
Loss of affection or intimacy
Sexual concerns or differences in desire
Infidelity or betrayal
Trust issues
Pornography, sexting, or online relationships
Jealousy
Financial disagreements
Parenting and family conflicts
Major life transitions
Stress related to work or career
Premarital concerns
Separation or uncertainty about the future of the relationship
You don't need to wait until your relationship is in crisis.
Some couples come to counseling because they recognize a problem early and want to address it before years of resentment accumulate.
What Happens in Couples Counseling?
We begin by understanding the relationship from both partners' perspectives.
That includes what brought you together, what has changed, where conflict tends to occur, and what each of you hopes will be different.
From there, therapy becomes more individualized.
You may work on communication and conflict resolution. You may explore longstanding patterns that developed well before the current problem. There may be issues involving trust, emotional connection, sexuality, expectations, boundaries, or unresolved hurt.
The work should have a purpose.
Couples counseling should not become an expensive weekly appointment where you simply repeat the argument you had at home—with a therapist sitting in the room.
The therapist's role is to help slow the pattern down, understand what is driving it, and help you develop different ways of responding to one another.
Communication Problems Are Often More Than Communication Problems
Couples frequently tell us:
"We just don't communicate."
Sometimes that's true.
But communication problems are often the visible part of something deeper.
One partner may feel criticized while the other feels ignored. One may pursue conversation while the other withdraws. Attempts to resolve problems can quickly turn into defensiveness, anger, silence, or blame.
Over time, couples can become remarkably good at pushing exactly the buttons they wish the other person didn't have.
Counseling helps identify these patterns so that you can begin responding to what is actually happening rather than automatically repeating the same cycle.
Intimacy and Sexual Concerns
Emotional and sexual intimacy can change considerably over the course of a long-term relationship.
Differences in sexual desire, lack of affection, performance concerns, resentment, stress, health changes, pornography use, sexual avoidance, or difficulty talking openly about sex can create considerable distance between partners.
These subjects can be difficult to discuss—even between people who have been together for decades.
Our approach provides a private, professional setting where couples can discuss intimacy and sexual concerns openly and without judgment.
Infidelity, Betrayal and Rebuilding Trust
An affair or other significant betrayal can fundamentally disrupt a relationship.
The immediate questions are often overwhelming:
Can I trust my partner again?
Why did this happen?
Do we stay together?
Can our relationship ever feel normal again?
There isn't one answer that is right for every couple.
Counseling can provide a structured environment for understanding what happened, addressing the emotional consequences, establishing appropriate boundaries, and determining what each partner needs in order to move forward.
When both partners want to rebuild the relationship, restoring trust is usually a process rather than a single conversation or promise.
Do Both Partners Have to Want Counseling?
Ideally, both partners come in willing to participate.
They don't necessarily have to arrive with the same level of enthusiasm.
It is common for one person to initiate counseling while the other is skeptical, uncomfortable, or simply unsure whether therapy will help.
That's okay.
You don't need to know exactly where counseling will lead before you begin. You do need enough willingness from both partners to have an honest conversation about the relationship and what is happening within it.
Our Approach to Marriage & Couples Counseling
At NJTLC, we don't believe every couple needs the same formula.
Our therapists draw from established psychotherapy approaches while adapting treatment to the particular couple sitting in front of us.
The work may involve communication and behavioral strategies, exploration of emotional patterns, cognitive-behavioral techniques, insight-oriented therapy, and attention to the individual experiences each partner brings into the relationship.
We work with adults 18 and older.
Counseling is available for married and unmarried couples, couples in long-term relationships, and individuals who want help understanding relationship concerns even when their partner is not participating in therapy.
In-Person Marriage Counseling in Voorhees, NJ
Our office is located in Voorhees, New Jersey, convenient to communities throughout South Jersey, including Marlton, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Haddonfield, Mount Laurel, Medford, Moorestown, and surrounding areas.
For clients who prefer not to travel to the office, we also offer remote sessions by video and phone when appropriate.
Meet Dr. Larry Cohen
Dr. Larry Cohen is a psychotherapist, couples therapist, and life coach, with more than 30 years of clinical experience working with adults.
His approach to therapy is direct, collaborative, and highly individualized. Rather than forcing every client or couple into a particular treatment model, Dr. Cohen integrates person-centered therapy, cognitive-behavioral approaches, psychodynamic understanding, and other clinical methods based on the needs of the people he is working with.
Dr. Cohen works with expert associates so clients can be matched with a clinician whose experience and approach fit their needs.
Is It Time to Talk to Someone?
You don't have to decide today what your relationship will look like five years from now.
You can start by figuring out what is happening right now.
If you and your partner are struggling with communication, conflict, trust, intimacy, or simply feeling disconnected, marriage and couples counseling can give you a place to begin addressing it.
New Jersey Therapy & Life Coaching
Voorhees, New Jersey
In-Person • Video • Phone