Relationship Therapy
Learn healthier ways of communicating and alternative ways to manage conflict in your closest relationship
How can I be me with you?
Better communication in itself can offer a sense of relief from recent problems and stuckness. Couples therapy offers you a space to explore your issues, where you will both have the opportunity to be truly heard and validated.
Reconnect with hope
When problems arise with the person you care most about, it's usual to feel disillusioned, isolated, scared and angry. When arguing seems endless and the problems too raw and emotional to resolve, often couples begin to consider ending the relationship. Get in touch and I will help you find ways in which you can both move forward.
Some couples long for a deeper intimacy with their partner. It is usual for our relationships to have endured the birth of children, death of loved ones, empty-nest, financial changes, health changes, sexual differences, infidelity, loss of trust and more.
Therapy can offer you a way of understanding your co-created patterns of relating. Exploring your individual and joint values, beliefs and opinions, you can gain more insight into how these impact your day-to-day relationship.
I highly recommend the Getting The Love You Want couples workshop as an alternative or addition to therapy. This fantastic workshop gives you opportunity to look at "the bigger picture". Throughout the weekend you'll identify what's underpinning the stuckness that's getting in the way of you having a closer, loving connection.
Conflict is growth trying to happen
Harville Hendrix
Sometimes 'later' becomes 'never'
Couples often leave it too long before getting support. The average time couples struggle before seeking help is six years!
This means the conflict, anger and resentment is deeply embedded by the time you arrive in the therapy room. When one partner suggests therapy, listen to them and get the help your relationship deserves. Get in contact today and I will support you in regaining a close loving relationship.
No therapist can magic your relationship better or 'fix' the problems you're having. You will both need to be committed to making the necessary changes you want. That means making time for each other in therapy sessions and during the days in between.
How we'll work together
You may be married, living together, queer, gay, bi, and straight in monogamous or consensually non-monogamous relationship. What's important is having an accepting, safe and confidential space, where partners are equally considered.
I am a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and Transactional Analyst, and use these frameworks to support you in understanding how you relate to your partner. You can read more about Imago here.
We'll begin with an initial 1hr consultation to make sure I have answered all your questions and understood how best I can support you. Should we decide to continue working together, we'll meet for 90 minute appointments either weekly or fortnightly thereafter.
We'll talk about this during our first meeting to make sure you arrange a time that you can both commit to.
Does relationship therapy work?
Relationship therapy works best when each partner uses the space for self reflection to understand the part you play in the relationship dynamic. It's easy to focus on what your partner is doing wrong, are you willing to reflect on your part in the problems your both experiencing?
The outcome of therapy depends on your willingness to become curious about the world of the other. When you better understand where your partner is coming from then you're more likely to behave compassionately towards them.
When partners engage in this deeply connected way of seeing and respecting the other, relationships thrive.
Some common problems couples seek help with are:
- taking the relationship and one another for granted
- reconnection after a life change - children leaving home, birthday milestones, retirement etc.
- desire for a deeper loving connection and fulfillment
- infidelity
- stuckness, boredom, constant arguments and bickering
- loss of or differences in sex and intimacy
- conflict with parenting styles, issues with conceiving, IVF, and early years of parenting
- loss and death, unresolved grief
- unresolved childhood issues
- aggression and anger
- separation and divorce, particularly when children are involved