Couples Counseling For Parents

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Washington D.C., DC
Couples Counseling For Parents

Expert knowledge and personal experience to help you and your partner get and stay connected Why Create Your Couple Story? We are strong supporters of therapy.

At Create Your Couple Story we know you are a couple that wants to be well, as individuals, as a couple, and as a family. Research is clear, in order for your individual and family health to thrive your couple relationship needs to thrive…

As a couple you likely know other areas of health are related to your overall couple health and that you need to put in the work for a healthy relationship. Traditionally this has looked like couples going to therapy. Yet, there can be a lot of barriers to going to therapy. Barriers like finding the time to go in the busyness of life, having the financial resources to pay for weekly sessions, and finding a therapist you connect with and can trust. All of these barriers, along with the stress of life, can lead to couples putting their relationship on the back burner. At Create Your Couple Story we don’t want your relationship to be a back burner relationship. That’s why we developed the Create Your Couple Story Course. It’s not therapy; it is therapeutic AND without the barriers of traditional therapy. For the price of one therapy session you can enroll in Create Your Couple Story. It can be done at your and your partner’s own pace and on your own schedule from the comfort of your home. And what you get is 8 research-informed, psychologically sound, modules, that highlight 8 key areas couples we talk to everyday say are vital to the health and wellness of their relationship. Also, this is a course created by a couple for couples. We understand the struggles couples face and the hopes that couples have. So, stop putting your relationship on the back burner and start engaging your couple relationship with the intention and care you know you deserve and as you become healthy watch your personal and family health improve as well.

03/03/2026

Ever feel this?

We hear a version of this all of the time. We have also each felt this way ourselves. It doesnt feel good.
Often times trying to bring this dynamic up, feels like things get defensive and fast. We understand how that happens too-we are talking about our parenting and our partner, these are the most important relationships in our lives!

This is one of the many reasons couples work (especially during major transitions and stressful events/seasons) just makes sense.

No one is their best when stressed. What stresses one partner may or may not stress the other partner and stress almost never impacts each partner in exactly the same way. All of these things contribute of course we both want them to lead to a connective, productive and generative conversation.
Need help addressing this conversation? Check out CouplesCounselingForParents.com for individual and couple session info and for courses to help you at your own pace.
info@couplescounselingforparents.com

We are Stephen Mitchell (licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) and Erin Mitchell (Masters in Counseling Psychology). We have been married 17 years and have 3 kids of our own. Being a parent and having a healthy couple relationship isn’t easy, we want you to know you don’t have to do it alone.

02/10/2026

Do you and your partner know what you want, need and expect from one another during stressful times?

So often they are opposite! And almost always we offer what we want- so our partner not only doesn’t receive/appreciate our ‘help’, it usually makes the whole situation even worse.

If you relate, reach out. Take the quiz, take the course, work with us as an individual or as a couple — this dynamic does not have to stay stuck this way!

02/04/2026

Do we need to be age appropriate? Yes of course! Always!

AND! We cant stay silent and call it age appropriate- our kids will stay silent with us too.

We cant talk about big things in little ways. We do it all the time and we need to be intentional to do it about things happening in our world. They are happening in your kids world, like it or not.

Giving language is such a gift we can give our kids.

Parents do not always agree how to go about this- if this is you and your partner reach out. You’re not alone and we can help you navigate these big topics- together!

What topic is most uncomfortable for you to discuss? What is something that others may feel anxious about but you like how you navigate it?
What about your partner?

02/03/2026

The health of our couple relationships is of paramount importance to the health of our families. And the health of us an individuals is of paramount importance to he health of our couple relationship. And the health of our little family, yes every single one of us, is important to our overall collective heath and healing.

Sometimes the best thing we can do for our relationship is the absolute easiest... just say the thing. Let’s let our kids hear their parents speak gratitude and love to one another.

01/28/2026

Stress ever get between you and your partner?
How so? What does your partner look like stressed? What do you look like stressed?

“I take your stress response personally because I have to pay for it!”
“It would be fine for you to check out if you were on your own but you checking out requires me to have to check in even more!”
You are not the only one impacted by your own stress. Your partner is not the only one impacted by their stress.

We have to do the work to understand what our stress looks like to/how it costs our partner.
We also need to do the work to understand ourselves what our stress looks and feels like to us.

Sometimes we stop at, “I’m stressed” without going further into. What is behind that. What is driving that? What is my current fear stress is trying to help me with? What is my hope stress is trying to help me with?

Get out of stress ruling your relationship and family. Work with us as an individual or a couple. Or take the course- link in stories, on our website, and in bio.

01/26/2026

Have you talked with your kids about what is going on? How old are your kids? How has it gone? What did you find helpful? What are the fears or anxieties you have about conversations like these?

No one knows your kids like you do- no one. So, please, listen to yourself and trust your relationship with them to guide you in these discussions.
Like it or not, our kids are very aware of us- the changes in our own stress (be it we are more anxious, more withdrawn, irritable, preoccupied, etc…).
There is such a thing as oversharing and over burdening our kids with too much (putting our anxiety and fears on them).

And there is such a thing as too little information and over burdening our kids with feeling they are alone to figure out what is happening in the world, with their parents, and with themselves.

And a lot of us had a parents who erred towards the extremes- understandably you would be cautious not to repeat this pattern.

Very often it is deeply confusing to know how to talk to our kids about these sensitive and often very complex issues. We want to have open dialogue with them. We do not want to overwhelm them.

These conversations are not easy but they also don’t need to be complicated!

We hope these simple scripts can be a springboard for you to find language that works for you and your unique situation. To get the conversation started so as they grow the conversation can grow but they have known from before they can remember that this is something we are allowed to talk about and ask questions about.

We are Dr. Stephen Mitchell, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and professor and Erin Mitchell (Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology) and author. We are married and have 3 kids of our own. We are passionate about bringing our education and our experiences to you in accessible and practical ways to help you strengthen your couple relationship and family.

01/22/2026

Anyone out there have a partner like this? Maybe you are this partner?

If you relate, you are not alone!

Many times partners know this is one of the factors contributing to the current state of their relationship and we know our partner doesn’t need us to add guilt and shame about it. But, this info without any work to make change in this area is sometimes almost worse!

Even when we can know these things for our partner, they may not know this for themselves. Even the idea that they had a parent who violated their boundaries may sound completely wrong! But when- with kindness and compassion!- you can show how they had to always be self-sufficient or ‘the good one’ or the one who keeps it together or the one who the parent needed to make them feel better about themselves, etc…

Sometimes showing empathy can make us worry we will keep getting missed in our experience of how painful this dynamic is right now for us! And if you are in this cycle of feeling missed, or discouraged, or defeated that anything could ever really change this can be a good way to begin to break out of old cycles.

Sometimes you need more help than you can get from a simple post (if so, reach out) but sometimes, these little things really can stack up into meaningful change!

Do you and your partner get stuck feeling missed?
Where does your conversation get derailed?

01/21/2026

Ever felt this way?

Did you grow up seeing this modeled?

Do you ever feel like your partner (more often than not) may be physically present but still emotionally disengaged?

This is what we discuss on the podcast this week (will be released on Jan 22).

01/20/2026

Of course we all want to be seen, known, loved. This is what it means to be human. But so many of us feel neglected in our relationships. We may not use such a big word (and lets be clear- neglect is a big word) but when we describe what we dont feel and what we want to feel, its usually pretty simple. We want to feel like our partner cares about us. Cares for us. Sees us. Knows us. Loves us.

And when we become parents, life not only gets busy, but there is a new person we want to make sure feels seen, known, and loved. And that changes us- of course it does and that does not have to be bad! But the changes it brings do need to be processed, addressed, named, and then from there we can choose how to proceed.

Do you ever feel like you want to be more seen, known, and loved by your partner?

We would be honored to step into these places with you, as an individual or couple to couple. Honored.
And, our course- Attachment Theory- why it matters to your relationship can serve as your guide if you would rather do this work alone or just with just your partner.
You can start today, you dont have to resign yourself to feeling perpetually unknown, unseen, and unloved.

11/04/2025

What was postpartum like for you?

What dynamics were established that are working for you? What dynamics were established that do not work and need to be revisited and reworked?
Sometimes this is about the kid but really most of the time this is just about hurt, miscommunication, mischaracterization, stress, grief, and not understanding what all everyone went through in that really important period of time called postpartum (its not just those first few weeks either- its longer than we think!)

What would you add?
Have you noticed that postpartum dynamics (for better and worse) keep showing up even long after postpartum?
This is when patterns really can so easily get thrown off but they do not have to stay that way!
Never too late for real repair.

10/28/2025

Do you relate? Ever felt this way?

There are so many dynamics wrapped up in these few sentences. So many stories. So many hurts, protective strategies, so much hope and desire, so much. What the specifics of how those came to be are unique to each couple.

What message each partner hears here depends very much on their own life story.
Sometimes a partner hears, “You have always been alone and you always will be, it was foolish of you to think you would have a partner in this life.”
Other partners hear, “You are working your hardest but your hardest has never been enough, you’re still not doing enough not even for your family.”
But then our protective places turn us on our partners too to try to keep us safe and lessen the mpact of future hurt and disappointment. “You can’t depend on them, they keep letting you down anc always will”- then you keep looking for the ways they do let you down.
Or you hear, “Stop even wanting them. Close yourself off, care less if they are present or engaged.
If you stop caring about them, it won’t hurt so much.”
On and on.

The reality is, this happens to many many parenting partners. No one wants it to, but the fact that is has or is happening to you doesn’t mean something is wrong! It juts means something important is happening and needs to be addressed.
These things are not always easy to talk about but when approached from an open posture of each partner wanting to share about themselves and learn something about their partner’s experience these conversations can be connective and just the understanding everyone needs to feel connected even in life’s stressful moments.

*Find yourselves stuck having these in a way that’s productive? Schedule a free consultation to see if we would be a good fit for working together; it’s our honor to walk couples through conversations just like this one.

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10/27/2025

Sometimes in the stress of partnering in parenting we can easily make a list of 6 things I wish you would help me with today. (That is actually a good list too!)

We are Stephen and Erin Mitchell, follow along with Stephen and Erin .counseling.for.parents for simple tips to strengthen your family by strengthening your couple relationship.

And also, in the fog of all the stress, we can forget to affirm and give voice to the things we actually do love about our partner as a parent.

This is not about not asking for more. This is not about making stuff up to bolster your partner’s ego.

This is about doing ourselves, our partners, and our family the service of balance. Let’s do talk about where we need help, where we need a rest, where our feelings have been hurt. And let’s do talk about what we love about our partner as a parent- none of us can hear too much about this thing we are pouring our beings into.

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Washington D.C., DC

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http://CouplesCounselingForParents.com/

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When we got married Erin was in her masters program in Counseling Psychology. Stephen had already completed a Masters in Counseling and 5 years into marriage Stephen went back to school and worked really really really hard to earn a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy from Saint Louis University's School of Medicine. We use our education, our life stories of each growing up in houses without good examples of the marriage we hoped to have, and our own 11.5 years of marriage to connect with couples right where they are and to get them to where they would like to be. And honestly, wouldn't we all like to feel more connected to ourselves and in our relationships? We sure would. Please reach out to us and lets talk about how we can work with you on your goals.