Communication worksheets for couples
Download the free communication worksheets for couples
Download free resource
Enter your email below to access this resource.
By entering your email address, you are opting-in to receive emails from SimplePractice on its various products, solutions, and/or offerings. Unsubscribe anytime.
Therapists play a crucial role in supporting clients in improving their communication skills, and communication worksheets for couples can be a key part of couples' work.
This guide to communication worksheets for couples gives mental health therapists a brief overview of effective communication strategies, including communication exercises for couples worksheets and other communication tips for couples therapy.
You can also download free communication exercises for couples worksheets to save to your electronic health record (EHR) for repeated use with clients.
Effective communication for couples
Effective communication plays a central role in healthy relationships. Healthy communication fosters trust, intimacy, respect, and mutual understanding.
At the same time, poor communication between couples leads to dissatisfaction and deterioration in relationships, such as marital burnout—making communication worksheets for couples important tools for couples in therapy.
Relationship communication worksheets focus on these core elements of effective communication:
Active listening
Active listening involves mindfully listening and giving full attention to each other, without interrupting, to give each person the time to express their thoughts, feelings, and needs.
Assertive communication
Whether providing constructive feedback or expressing a need, assertive communication is a healthy and effective way to communicate. When communicating assertively, you express thoughts and feelings directly without aggression or passivity but with directness, empathy, and mutual respect.
Emotional validation
Another key communication skill addressed in communication worksheets for couples is acknowledging the other person’s feelings without defensiveness, like minimizing or dismissing their point of view.
Conflict resolution skills
Conflict is a normal part of relationships. However, repairing conflict requires willingness, accountability, and practice, and it is a crucial part of healthy relationship functioning.
Mutual respect
Mutual respect means valuing each other's thoughts, feelings, and points of view, even during conflict.
Patience
Patience means allowing each partner to express themselves and process their feelings in their own time.
It can be challenging if one partner is an external processor, always ready to talk, and the other person processes internally and needs time and space to reflect before discussing an issue. Giving each other their respective time is crucial to effective communication.
Constructive feedback
Offering and being open to feedback is part of healthy couples' communication. Through constructive feedback, couples can focus on open dialogue rather than blame, and work towards problem-solving rather than rupture.
Showing appreciation
Each person in a relationship plays a vital role. Acknowledging and showing appreciation for a partner’s qualities provides positive reinforcement and strengthens the emotional bond between the couple.
Taking responsibility
Owning up to your mistakes matters. By acknowledging and taking responsibility for their actions, words, or behaviors, couples deepen the trust and respect in the relationship and strengthen their emotional connection.
Exercises in the communication worksheets for couples
A key challenge for many couples is communication. That might mean having a different communication style, such as one partner needing more detail than the other or feeling unheard.
Communication exercises for couples worksheets can be helpful to help couples understand their communication style and reflect on their relationship.
Some helpful couple communication exercises to explore in therapy may include:
“I” statement exercise
Using “I”statements, couples take turns expressing their feelings about a particular situation that has upset them.
For example, “I feel upset when you change your plans at the last minute and don’t tell me.”
Utilize fair fighting rules
Couples agree to communicate with each other within the parameters of their fair fighting rules, which include avoiding making assumptions, not interrupting, active listening, and the right to a time out.
Set aside time to talk
Regularly scheduled communication meetings are vital, especially if the couple lives together.
The couple might call this check-in a team meeting or admin meeting, and its purpose is to discuss things that the couple feels need attention, like discussing the division of household responsibilities, planning family trips, getting on the same page about health-related issues, and other important topics.
When suggesting this exercise, you may emphasize the importance of scheduling the activity in their calendar at the same time each week to ensure they stay consistent and don’t double-book themselves.
Five-minute check-ins
Outside of regular meetings, couples may find it helpful to take a few minutes to check with each other to see if they are OK, how their day was, or to discuss a challenge they’re experiencing.
Appreciation exercise
Appreciation exercises, which are included in the communication worksheets for couples, involve reflecting on the positive aspects or qualities of one's partner. Each person may keep a journal or share their appreciation with their partner.
Date night
The purpose of date night is to connect without distraction. Like team meetings, couples may deepen their connection and emotional intimacy by regularly setting aside time to connect.
You’ll find these exercises in our printable couples therapy worksheets that you can download at the top of this article.
Other communication tips for couples therapy
Some other communication tips for couples that are included in the communication worksheets for couples include:
- Don’t make assumptions
- Avoid mind-reading the other person
- Focus on the issues, not the person
- Check your tone and posture
- Be assertive, not passive or aggressive
- Validate other's feelings, even if you disagree with them
Refer to our couples therapy worksheets for communication for a full guide to these exercises and a handout on effective communication strategies.
You can share and review the communication exercises for couples worksheets in session with clients, or print them for clients to take home and complete on their own time.
Sources
- Jafari, A., Alami, A., Charoghchian, E. et al. (2021). The impact of effective communication skills training on the status of marital burnout among married women. BMC Women's Health.
- Johnson, M. D., Lavner, J. A., Mund, M., Zemp, M., Stanley, S. M., et al. (2022). Within-Couple Associations Between Communication and Relationship Satisfaction Over Time. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin.
- Lavner, J. A., Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (2016). Does Couples' Communication Predict Marital Satisfaction, or Does Marital Satisfaction Predict Communication?. Journal of Marriage and the Family.
- Pennelle, O. (2024) Couples Therapy Exercises. Pollen.
How SimplePractice streamlines running your practice
SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.
If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to streamline appointment bookings, reminders, and rescheduling and simplify the billing and coding process—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.
Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.