Life Balance Counseling Peoria offers a 12-Week Empathy Building Work Group every quarter for men who desire to begin to rebuild trust, develop empathy, increase open authentic sharing leading to intimacy.

Based on Carol Juergenson Sheet’s popular book.

Participants Will Learn How To:

• Begin to Rebuild Trust w/ Betrayed Partner Not With Promises, But With Actions

• Learn How to Respond to Triggered Spouse in Healthy Ways that Build Intimacy

• How to Transform Their Own Reactive Anger & Defensiveness to Calm, Validating, & Reassuring Responses

• Develop a deeper Empathy for their Traumatized Partner

Empathy Building for Betrayed Partner Recovery

Help. Hear. Heal. — Rebuilding Trust Through Empathy and Accountability

After sexual betrayal or compulsive sexual behavior, the pain experienced by a betrayed partner runs deep. True healing in a relationship requires more than apologies — it requires understanding the impact of one’s actions, developing empathy, and rebuilding emotional safety through consistent care and accountability.

At Life Balance Counseling Peoria, our therapists offer Empathy-Building Counseling for Betrayed Partner Recovery, drawing on the relational and trauma-informed principles found in empathy restoration models such as Help Her Heal™.

This work is designed to help individuals who have caused harm learn how to see, hear, and respond to their partner’s pain — creating the foundation for genuine healing, trust, and connection.

What Empathy Building Involves

Empathy building is not about fixing the relationship overnight — it’s about learning how to truly understand another person’s emotional world.
Our therapists help clients move from defensiveness and shame to ownership and compassion by teaching:

• How to listen with empathy rather than guilt or avoidance

• How to validate a partner’s feelings without minimizing or explaining them away

• How to take full responsibility for choices and their impact

• How to express remorse in ways that foster trust and safety

• How to rebuild emotional connection one step at a time

This process supports both partners — helping the betraying partner grow in emotional maturity and the betrayed partner feel genuinely seen and cared for.

For the Partner Who Betrayed

You may be carrying guilt, confusion, or fear about the future of your relationship. You may want to make things right but feel unsure how. Empathy building gives you the tools to:

• Understand the trauma your partner is experiencing

• Develop compassion and self-awareness

• Communicate with honesty and care

• Rebuild integrity and reliability

• Create safety through consistency and empathy

This work isn’t about punishment — it’s about learning how to love and show up differently.

For the Betrayed Partner

Empathy from your partner can be deeply healing. It allows your pain to be witnessed, your story to be believed, and your emotions to be validated. Through guided sessions, you’ll begin to see whether your partner is capable of the kind of emotional accountability and empathy that real rebuilding requires.

Our goal is to help you feel emotionally safe, empowered, and respected, regardless of what path your relationship takes.

The Therapeutic Process

Empathy building sessions may include:

• Individual work with each partner to address trauma, guilt, or avoidance

• Structured joint sessions focused on emotional connection and communication

• Education on trauma responses, shame cycles, and emotional regulation

• Assignments and reflective exercises to practice empathy outside sessions

Our therapists are trained in betrayal trauma recovery, addiction-informed care, and relationship repair, allowing for a balanced, compassionate approach for both partners.

Healing Is Possible

Empathy doesn’t erase betrayal — but it opens the door to healing. When both partners commit to growth and emotional honesty, rebuilding becomes possible.