Couples counselling provides a place for you to explore your feelings, reflect on your relationship as well as the way you relate to each other. It can also help you resolve past difficulties and look to a brighter future. Couples counselling provides a space to explore and discuss difficulties and work to address them. A couples’ counsellor will help you understand your unhelpful communication styles and support you to change them.

Perhaps you have decided your relationship is over? Couples counselling can help you do his in a way that is least disruptive to yourselves, your children and family.

Some themes that couples bring to couples counselling are:
Communication problems
Ongoing conflict
Issues around trust
Intimacy difficulties
Changes in life-roles
Financial struggles
Family dynamics
Cultural or religious differences
Health concerns
Bereavement and loss
Agreeing on future
Separation and divorce
Maintaining individuality
Infidelity

You can expect your therapist to be impartial, balanced and help you decide what the right action is for both of you; your therapist will not take sides. Your therapist may suggest ‘homework’ for you to do in between sessions. If they do this will be agreed collaboratively with both you both during the sessions.

How do you know if you need to see a counsellor as an individual or a couple?

There is no easier answer to this question. If you think you would spend much of your individual session talking about the problems you have with your partner, then it’s a likely sign you should instead be having couples counselling.