Couples Therapy
When couples come to counselling, comforting feelings of connection, security and happiness have often been replaced with pain, conflict and a sense of isolation. Couples therapy provides a safe and supportive space to think about and explore the roots of this disconnection. Couples therapy is not about appointing blame but to help both parties reconnect emotionally, to listen to their partner differently and learn to communicate more effectively.
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Who is couples or relationship counselling for?
This type of therapy is for those who want to make a difference in their relationship and within themselves. It can offer a couple, or an individual, space to explore their feelings and reflect on their relationship and patterns of interaction.
Couples bring a wide range of issues to counselling, from lack of intimacy and communication breakdown to trust, jealousy and infidelity issues. Family conflicts and difficult life transitions can cause problems within a relationship, as can work-related stress or financial problems.
It can be for couples of all ages, genders and sexual orientation as well as parent and child or friendship relationships.
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What can it achieve?
It can help you resolve past relationship trauma and loss, and offer a way to understand why you behave as you do within your relationship. It can also be a good way to maintain a healthy relationship - you don't have to be in crisis to 'check in' and 'service' your relationship - much like you would regularly with your car!
​A therapist can support you to understand how to communicate differently, to see each other again through different lenses, and can give you tools to better express yourself and your needs, place boundaries and create healthier relationships.
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What couples or relationship counselling can't do
​This type of therapy is not a magic bullet that will solve relationship problems. The expectation of therapy fixing a relationship, bring back the passion or 'changing' a partner is misguided. Gaining a better understanding of self and others, and committing to putting in effort, is the only way to create a happy, healthy and secure relationship. It is also worth considering that it might be that the best solution for a couple is to separate and counselling can be an important part of the process.