IN-PERSON COUPLES THERAPY IN GREENVILLE, SC
Serving parents who want to make their home a happier place.
〰️ Sue Johnson
"When we love our partner well, we offer a blueprint for a loving relationship to our children and their partners.”
〰️ Sue Johnson "When we love our partner well, we offer a blueprint for a loving relationship to our children and their partners.”
Welcome to Abby Wilhelm Therapy | Greenville, SC
I’m Abby Wilhelm, MA, LMFT-A (license no. 10257)—a licensed couples therapist in Greenville.
If you’re looking for a therapist who is direct yet compassionate, professional yet warm, and one that specializes in couples work, you’re in the right place.
My goal is to help you connect in a deep, healing way and experience more love in your relationship. I want your home life to move from a source of stress and pain to a safe haven for you and your children. Yes, it is absolutely possible.
Everything is exhausting for you two. Every day is a fight or laden with tension. When you talk, you often feel more alone and hopeless afterward. You feel like you’re living the same day or same argument over and over again. You don’t understand how even when you try to do something different, you both get sucked back into the same exhausting interactions in the end.
Your children are watching and maybe you’re scared they’ll end up in a relationship like this one day. Or maybe you’re worried that the tension at home will taint the beauty and innocence of childhood.
Maybe your partner keeps coming at you with big emotions (anger, hurt, sadness) and you just don’t even understand what they want from you. All you want is for them to be as appreciative and excited to see you as they were when you were first together. Their words and actions leave you feelings worthless, incapable, and disrespected.
You find yourself spending less time with your spouse and more time at places and with people that make you feel confident, respected, loved, or important— with friends, at your job, in hobbies, or with the kids.
If you’re here and you relate to any of the above statements, you’ve probably wondered “is my relationship supposed to be this hard?”…
Well, I do know it’s not easy. Therapy with me will be hard. But unlike the difficulty you’re experiencing right now, the hard conversations you will have in therapy (and for the rest of your lives together) will be ones that lead to greater love and connection. Yes, relationships are hard. But if you’re both committed, it doesn’t have to be miserable.
Emotionally Focused Therapy
I use a model of therapy called Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Here are a few of the reasons I use this model with my parents.
It has a low relapse rate.
According to studies, EFT results have been shown to be stable over time. In other words, couples who do EFT compared to other models of couples therapy will enjoy the benefits for longer. Several studies even showed continued improvement after therapy ended. I won’t just give you tools for the unique arguments you’re having right now. I don’t want you to come back the second a new difficulty arises in your lives. I want to help you and your spouse connect at a deep emotional level and learn to repair when you don’t feel connected so that you can get through every challenging thing that will happen in your future together.
It’s relatively brief.
EFT is considered a brief approach. While I can’t guarantee how long you’ll need to make lasting progress, my goal is to get you to a point where you no longer need me as quickly as possible. Six months to a year is average. We will uncover the underlying emotions fueling your conflict and map your couple pattern in the first few sessions.
It creates loving partnerships.
Parenting can bring up a lot of trauma and fears, and the exhaustion often brings out every one of our imperfections. You don’t just need less conflict at home. You need a partner who you are deeply bonded with and you can run to when things are hard, knowing they’ll be there for you. You need someone who is a safe space for you, someone who gets you and is open to keep learning about and loving you. EFT goes beyond communication skills. Through deep vulnerability, EFT enhances feelings of safety, acceptance, admiration, understanding, and connection between partners.
Get in Touch!
Request a free 20 minute phone call to determine if I’m the therapist for you.
FAQs
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I see clients from 3 pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays. Some couples just go ahead and make it their date night since they already have childcare!
We can discuss exact days and times I currently have available in our 20 minute phone call. Or you can email or text me so you know if our availability matches before you schedule the call!
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My schedule is not very flexible right now. I have a part time office space and may not be able to fit you in if you can’t make our usual time that week. I work with clients who can keep the same appointment time week to week.
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I charge $200 for the initial 90 minute intake session and $150 for subsequent 50 minute sessions. See the investment section at the top of the page for more information.
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No, I do not take insurance. Taking insurance reduces client privacy and therapists’ freedom to serve their clients how they need. I am self-pay and payment is due at time of service.
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A therapy “hour” is 50 minutes.
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No, I do not.
From personal experience, couples therapy is very difficult to do virtually. I do not believe it is as effective.
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Weekly sessions are ideal for making excellent progress in therapy. Every other week is the minimum I would agree to see clients. If we’re meeting every other week, it is extra important that you don’t miss sessions. We need some time in between sessions for you to apply what we’re working on, but we need to meet often enough so that we don’t lose momentum and end up staying in the stuck place you’re in.
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As long as you both want and need to be. Most couples spend 6 months to a year. This varies depending on many factors including your specific concerns, the amount of work you do within and outside of sessions, how open and honest you are, and how consistently you make it to sessions.
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You can stop therapy at any point. I just ask that you have a conversation with me about why, whether it’s financial, something I’ve said or done, a mismatch in style or personality, etc. I can’t help or improve (whether for you or other clients) if you don’t offer feedback. Also, while you can stop at any point, EFT is most effective when all of the steps have been completed. We can have conversations throughout the course of therapy about the progress you’re making and what there is left to accomplish.