Strengthen Your Relationship with Marriage & Couples Counseling in Bethesda, Maryland

In that moment, you knew this was the person you wanted to share your life with. You had a vision of the life and love you would nurture and grow together.

Yet maintaining that deep, intimate connection can be difficult.

You both knew that even strong relationships have ups and downs and can take work.

But daily demands, life stress, work, and other commitments can get in the way. Additionally, past arguments and misunderstandings may linger between you, making it hard to talk through problems or express your feelings.

As a result, you and your partner may:

• Feel stretched thin by multiple life demands—work, family, obligations—making it hard to find time for each other
• Struggle with talking to each other about how you feel, your concerns, and disappointments
• Feel disconnected, lonely, and worried that your relationship won’t last
• Avoid discussing difficult topics because you don’t want to argue or you feel it won’t help
• Be struggling with events that broke your trust in your relationship, such as infidelity

Fortunately, if you’re both willing to work on your relationship, you can rebuild and strengthen your connection. And you don’t have to do this alone. 

I’m Mikela Hallmark, a professional counselor. As the founder of Rise Counseling in Bethesda, Maryland, I’m passionate about helping you and your partner reconnect and create the relationship you desire.

I work with you and your partner to create a safe, judgment-free place for you to examine and work on your relationship.

Together, we will identify your goals for therapy and create a therapeutic plan that’s personalized to your relationship’s needs.

I use various evidence-based therapy approaches to help you and your partner work through your relationship problems, strengthen your communication, and work toward your therapy goals.

Additionally, I’m trained in the Gottman Method approach (Level 3). This marriage counseling approach helps couples improve their communication, increase respect, intimacy, and affection for each other, and remove barriers that may leave you feeling stuck in your relationship.

We will meet together weekly for virtual 50-minute sessions.

During the first session, we’ll define the therapeutic relationship and discuss the therapy contract. We’ll also focus on gathering information about you, your partner, and your relationship history. We’ll also discuss your goals for your relationship and therapy.

During week two, you each will have a separate, individual session. In this session, we’ll explore your view on the roles and communication in your relationship, your family histories, and explore your thoughts and feelings about the relationship.

The remaining therapy sessions will be joint sessions where we work together on your relationship and work towards your specific relationship goals.

Couples and marriage therapy is a process.

Counseling isn’t a quick fix.

The problems in your marriage or relationship took time to build up. But if you and your partner are willing to commit to showing up, you can create a close, loving relationship.

We’ll work together to help you and your partner address the problems you’re facing, strengthen your communication with each other, manage conflict, and create a shared purpose. During this process, you’ll learn how to work through past hurts, understand each other better, and explore ways to work together that enhance your love and relationship.