Welcome to the Maine Relationship Institute

Individual & couples therapy in Maine and beyond

Creating connections for individuals and couples through counseling

Experience the profound impact of individual, marriage, and couples counseling. Experience growth.

Parenting

Do you and your partner want to get on the same page parenting your kids, but it’s not working?

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Connection

Do you feel disconnected from your partner?

Do you feel like you’ve tried everything to reignite the spark, but aren’t experiencing success?

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Sex/Intimacy

Are you seeking more fulfilling sex with your partner?

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About Maine Relationship Institute

Explore Collaborative Couples Therapy

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Create deeper connection

Couples Therapy

“Positive Moments of meeting,” coined initially by Dr. David Schnarch, is the concept that lays the foundation for counseling at The Maine Relationship Institute.

Often, the drift between a couple in any stage of your relationship is a lack of connection. You can feel, see, or hear the distance physically or verbally.

Ben Borkan, founder of The Maine Relationship Institute, uses the Crucible ® Marital & Sex Therapy approach. He can work with you to revive your connection and deepen your intimate relationship.

Beyond repair, this work can help lead you to the next growth stage as a couple.

Investigate the Self with Individuals Counseling

See your place in relationships

Individual Therapy

Navigate relationship challenges or delve into complex issues stemming from your family of origin that affect your life today.

Get personal guidance from Ben Borkan, founder of the Maine Relationship Institute.

Discover your emotions, express your needs, and understand yourself and your relationships.

Expect to address communication breakdowns, unravel patterns from childhood, or find ways to foster healthier connections for healing.

All sessions are in a secure and encouraging environment.

About Ben Borkan, MRI Founder & Therapist

Ben Borkan, couples therapist and founder of The Maine Relationship Institute

Your Guide

About the Founder

Ben Borkan, The Maine Relationship founder, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who focuses his practice on couples therapy and individual counseling.

His goal is to improve relationships and develop interpersonal connections. 

Using the Gestalt Therapy and Crucible Therapy ®, Ben guides his patients through the process of taking personal responsibility and deepening connection.

He helps his clients develop more intimate and fulfilling relationships through his practice.

Begin counseling in-person or from your home.

The Maine Relationship Institute Approach

Contact is experiential.  An individual's contact with others, or the contact between partners, is about the experience of allowing oneself to be seen and, in turn, seeing the other. 

In your individual therapy, marriage counseling, or couples therapy, the goal is to see the inner workings, actions, thoughts, and beliefs that may have internalized over a lifetime. These internalizations can interfere with and break contact and deteriorate relationships.

The Maine Relationship Institute can help individuals recognize the impact of broken connections and how to rebuild. We can improve communication when we are honest with ourselves, others, and partners. This honesty requires profound trust and vulnerability but can improve contact and connection.

Such a realignment typically happens when one is grounded and feeling open.

In relationship therapy or individual counseling, we can explore how and why we shut ourselves off from our partners or the world.

In therapy sessions, we can discuss why we may act out or avoid others and investigate how to reverse this behavior.

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    Couples Therapy Online or In Person

    The Maine Relationship Institute offers couples therapy online and in person for couples seeking to resolve conflicts. If you are interested in an in-person session, we are located in beautiful Belfast, Maine.

    For any couples therapy session, you can schedule an online or in-person appointment. You will find directions to our location on our Contact page.

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    Individual Therapy Online or In Person

    The Maine Relationship Institute offers therapy to individuals online and in person. If you are interested in booking an in-person session, we are located in Belfast, Maine.

    You can schedule an online or in-person appointment and find directions to our location via our Contact page.

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    Insurance Policy

    The Maine Relationship Institute currently does not accept insurance. We recommend contacting your insurance company to learn about their reimbursement policy with out-of-network licensed therapist providers. MRI can provide receipts of payment for your health insurance carrier upon request. If you want to learn more, you can visit our Fees & Insurance Policy page. Thank you.