Home / Couples & partners / Big life hardships
Couples therapy through infertility, relocation, and major life changes
Infertility, a move across the world, illness, job loss, grief. Hard seasons test even strong relationships, and partners often cope in very different ways.
Couples & partners · Secure video across Illinois · Gottman-informed & EFT
What this can look like
Fertility treatment or pregnancy loss
Relocating, immigrating, or a long-distance stretch
Illness or disability for one partner
Job loss or a major career change
Grief after losing someone close
Caring for aging parents
Why it happens
Partners cope differently
One partner may want to talk it through while the other wants to fix it or stay busy. Each can read the other’s way of coping as not caring.
Shared stress needs shared coping
Research on dyadic coping shows that facing stress as a team, not just side by side, is closely tied to how satisfied couples feel.
Fertility challenges affect both partners
A review of systematic reviews found that couples with lower stress, or who received stress-reducing support during fertility treatment, adjusted better and reported better relationship functioning.
How couples therapy can help
01
Make room for both experiences
Each of you gets space to grieve, worry, or hope in your own way, without having to match.
02
Cope as a team
Find ways of supporting each other that actually feel supportive to the person receiving them.
03
Make decisions together
Treatment choices, moves, and caregiving decisions made with both voices in the room.
WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
Support helps couples in fertility treatment
Lower stress and stress-reducing interventions were linked to better adjustment and relationship functioning.
Teamwork under stress
Couples who cope together report higher satisfaction across nations, ages, and relationship lengths.
Questions
-
Yes. We can work on the stress, grief, and decisions that come with it, as a couple or individually.
-
Yes. Relocation and life between countries is a core part of our work. You need to be located in Illinois during sessions.
-
Often, yes. Grief changes a relationship, and therapy can help you support each other. More on grief counseling →
Start with one conversation, together.
A free, no-pressure 15-minute phone call. Ask about fees, insurance, or how we work.
Book a free 15-min consult Join the waitlistSOURCES
Paraskevi, L., Antigoni, S., & Kleanthi, G. (2021). Stress and anxiety levels in couples who undergo fertility treatment: A review of systematic reviews. Materia Socio-Medica, 33(1), 60–64.
Falconier, M. K., Jackson, J. B., Hilpert, P., & Bodenmann, G. (2015). Dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 42, 28–46. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2015.07.002
This page is general information, not a substitute for therapy.