Couples & relationship counselling 

Why counselling?

Counselling as a couple can be a positive experience at any stage of a relationship, indeed as relationships pass through various stages new challenges and possibilities arise where counselling can facilitate growth, change and alleviate conflict. Very often it is helpful when one or both of you are feeling misunderstood or isolated, or when you identify negative and destructive patterns. Communication may have broken down and you may be finding it difficult to see a way forward. Couples counselling, otherwise referred to as relationship counselling or, marriage counselling  is an opportunity to air hurt and angry feelings in a safe, private and controlled setting. It can offer new insights into the ways you are communicating and experiencing each other, help clarify thoughts and feelings, and can help free you to find new, more positive, ways of relating.

When to come for counselling?      

Couples very often come for counselling at moments of crisis and change; exploring these difficulties with your partner in a therapy setting can increase your understanding of each other's experience and your awareness of how you are relating together. It may be a good time for you to come if you are finding it hard to understand each other, or are not finding the time to sit and talk, have reached a stalemate over an issue or issues, or if there is a sense that something needs talking about but that neither of you can somehow find the opportunity or the right time.    

What to expect from counselling sessions

As a couples counsellor I provide a warm, supportive and non-judgmental environment, and I do not take sides. Couples counsellors do not come to the sessions with an agenda; I am not there to tell you what to do or to manipulate you into staying together. I am there simply to facilitate you in finding your own way forward; for some couples this will mean finding a more creative and positive future for the relationship, while for others it may mean helping you to accept and manage the end of a relationship. In our assessment session we will seek to clarify the issues on which we can seek to address in the therapy. For many clients a brief therapy model will be appropriate, this usually involves an initial commitment to ten sessions either on a weekly or fortnightly basis. However where there are multiple issues or where significant issues arise during the therapy a longer term model will be appropriate.

Who comes for counselling?

My clients come with a variety of concerns including breakdowns in communication, parenting, fertility, sexual relations, infidelity, financial pressures, loss or bereavements, work issues, transitions including preparing for marriage or managing a break up, cultural differences and age differential. I have experience of working with heterosexual and same sex couples, couples from mixed cultural backgrounds and couples from early twenties through to sixties.