open door therapy
Betrayal
Infidelity is a relationship betrayal that occurs when a married person or someone in a committed relationship secretly engages emotionally or sexually with someone outside the primary relationship. Betrayal can range from subtle flirtations kept secret to living a double life.
Breakthrough
Therapeutic breakthroughs occur as couples begin to engage in open, honest dialogue. When feelings and fears can empathetically be expressed and received, forward movement occurs. As emotions soften, barriers fade Laughter and lightness begin to return, signaling healing, hope, and renewal.
Restoration
Repairing a relationship after infidelity requires the restoration of trust and emotional safety. Couples that confront the underlying issues that led to the betrayal tend to fair best. With professional care, couples can strengthen their bond, renew their commitment, and move forward.
Discovering infidelity catapults a couple into turmoil, destabilizing the relationship as everything comes into question. Couples step onto an emotional roller coaster, and daily tasks like eating and sleeping become challenging. The upheaval overwhelming. We provide trusted, competent, and experienced counseling to help you restore trust and feel good again. You don’t have to navigate this path alone — relief begins with the first session.
Get Support →
Discovering infidelity catapults a couple into turmoil, destabilizing the relationship as everything comes into question. Couples step onto an emotional roller coaster, and daily tasks like eating and sleeping become challenging. The upheaval is too overwhelming to face alone. We provide trusted, competent, and experienced counseling for affair recovery at Open Door Therapy. You don’t have to navigate this path alone — relief begins with the first session. Let’s begin.
I want to start healing →
Phase l: Unpacking the Betrayal
The initial goal of affair recovery is to conclude the outside relationship and unpack what happened during the affair. In a safe counseling environment, couples explore the betrayal. With the therapist’s compassionate care, the partner who had the affair shares previously hidden aspects of their actions. Slowly and with great care and sensitivity to both parties, hidden aspects of the infidelity are revealed.
Phase ll: Relationship History
As recovery proceeds, the couple examines their relationship history with a particular focus on the state of their relationship immediately preceding the affair. With professional guidance, couples begin to connect the dots as the vulnerabilities in their relationship come into view. Clarity and insight into the infidelity begin to emerge. These insights help the couple identify those elements in their relationship that need repair.
Phase lll: Re-establishing Trust
In this stage, the couple is encouraged to open up and share their painful, challenging, and more vulnerable feelings. Compassion and empathy for their partner's painful, challenging, and vulnerable feelings are encouraged. This phase typically leads to the couple feeling closer and more connected as new insights, deeper understanding, and great compassion for the other emerge. Healing and recovery begin here.
Phase lll: Restoring Intimacy
In the final stage of affair recovery, the couple moves past the affair drama toward relationship restoration. Re-establishing trust and safety helps the couple turn toward one another for soothing comfort and loving reassurance. At this stage, the couple becomes increasingly comfortable as trust strengthens. Glimpses of their prior selves return. They learn ways to depend upon one another when challenging feelings surface.