OVERVIEW OF GOTTMAN METHOD COUPLES THERAPY

The future of relationship assessment is here. Created by Drs. John and Julie Gottman, The Gottman Relationship Checkup automatically scores a relationship’s strengths and challenges and provides specific recommendations for intervention.
The Gottman Method Couples Therapy is based on Dr. John Gottman’s research that began in the 1970’s and continues to this day. The research has focused on what makes marriages succeed or fail. From this research, Drs. John and Julie Gottman have created a method of therapy that emphasizes a nuts-and-bolts approach to improving clients’ relationships. This method is designed to help teach specific tools to deepen friendship and intimacy in your relationship. To help you productively manage conflicts, you will be given methods to manage resolvable problems and dialogue about gridlocked (or perpetual) issues.
We will also work together to help you appreciate your relationship’s strengths and to gently navigate through its vulnerabilities.

 

Gottman Method Couples Therapy Consists of Five Parts

  • Assessment (Enhanced Relationship Check-up or The Love Lab)
  • Treatment
  • Phase-Out of Therapy
  • Termination
  • Outcome Evaluation

THE ENHANCED RELATIONSHIP CHECK-UP

We begin the therapy with a careful assessment of your current relationship.

There are several steps in this assessment process;

 
Couples First Session: The initial meeting with your counsellor will be both of you together for a 1.5 hour couple’s session. You will discuss your current situation and your history as a couple.

 

Questionnaire: In the week that follows, you will each complete a series of questions (online at home) that help the counsellor understand your relationship satisfaction. The Enhanced Gottman Relationship Checkup will be sent to you via an email from the Gottman Connect website where you will create an account. Provide answers to all of the items in the questionnaire as best you can. It is important that each person completes the questions independently; you will not review one another’s responses. Some of the questions provide a space for adding notes to the answers. The counsellor will read all of your notes, so make use of this feature when appropriate.

 

Individual Sessions: You will each have a 1-hour one on one session individually with your counsellor. 

 

Couples Feedback Session: After you have both completed your questionnaire, and generally a week after the final individual session you will come in together for second couples session.  This completes the assessment portion of your counselling.  All of the information you have shared is brought together in a 10-page report that you get to keep that will help bring a new understanding about the relationship and help set the goals for the therapy. This evaluation is helpful in understanding your relationship and charting the way forward for an improved future.

 

 

Certified Gottman Therapist

THE LOVE LAB

Currently this method of assessment is only available with Darren Wilk and Lawrence Stoyanowski.

 

The Love Lab adds to the Enhanced Relationship Check-Up and will pinpoint the areas within your communication style, in which you can achieve the greatest growth so you can move forward to a place of strength, reconnection, and hope. According to the Gottman research, they discovered by watching couples for 10 minutes interacting about a conflict area, they can predict with 90% accuracy if a couple will stay together or divorce, without intervention.

 

We begin the therapy with a careful assessment of your current relationship.
There are several steps in this assessment process;

 

Couples First Session: The initial meeting with your counsellor will be both of you together for a 1.5 hour couple’s session. You will discuss your current situation and your history as a couple. 

 

Gottman Connect Login: You will each be sent a separate invite to the Relationship Checkup questionnaire.  Begin by setting yourselves up with a user name and password on the Gottman Connect website (please remember your password since you will need to log into this account again).  We ask you to log in prior to your first session so that no time is wasted setting it up during your session.  You do not need to complete the questionnaires at this point, unless you choose to do so.

 

Questionnaire: The Relationship Check-up questionnaire is a series of questions that help the counsellor understand your relationship satisfaction. Provide answers to all of the items in the questionnaire as best you can. It is important that each person completes the questions independently; you will not review one another’s responses. Some of the questions provide a space for adding notes to the answers. The counsellor will read all of your notes, so make use of this feature when appropriate.

 
Individual Sessions: After you have both completed your questionnaires, you will each have a one on one session with your counsellor. Both questionnaires should be complete before the first person comes in for their individual session.

 

Video Recording: You will make two 10-minute videos of your interactions. These videos will be put through a software program that (after 40 years of Gottman research) can analyze your relationship.

• Log into your account (the same as you used for the questionnaires).
• Events Conversation: The first video is a recording of a 10-minute conversation about the events of the past week.   This will analyze your friendship.
• Conflict Conversation: The second video is a recording of a 10-minute conversation about an actual area of conflict or disagreement between you.  This will analyze your communication/conflict style.
 
Video Rating: You will each then be asked to give a rating of how you were feeling as the two conversations progressed. The results of the “rating dial” provides a powerful tool in understanding your relationship and that information will be included for you in a report.
• Log into your account.
• The videos will be available to you. Click on the button to rate the video.
• You will see a series of buttons below the video, labeled 1 to 10.
As you watch the video, you will select numbers between one and ten using the buttons below the video. These numbers represent your feelings at that moment in the conversation as it occurred. If your feelings were negative, you would select a low number and if they were positive you would select a higher number. Your selection must change during the rating as your feelings changed during the original conversation.
 
Couples Feedback Session: After the video recording and ratings are complete you will come in together for a second couples session.  This completes the assessment portion of your counselling.  All of the information you have shared is brought together in a 10-page report that you get to keep that will help bring a new understanding about the relationship and help set the goals for the therapy. This evaluation is helpful in understanding your relationship and charting the way forward for an improved future.

PRICING

All session have an hourly rate of $185 per hour plus GST.

Couples’ sessions are 1.5 hours ($277.50 plus GST) and an individual session is 1 hour ($185 plus GST).

          *Please note that sessions with Lawrence Stoyanowski, Darren Wilk and LaVerna Wilk are billed at a rate of $200 per hour plus GST.

 

We charge per session and you do not need to pay in advance, or commit to any number of sessions, though we hope you will at least complete the assessment process, as we find this is very beneficial for clients.

 

The fee for the Enhanced Relationship Check-Up is $80 plus tax per couple
The fee for the Gottman Love Lab is $160 plus tax per couple