COUPLES THERAPY

How does couples therapy work?

I aim to assist couples navigate the challenges in their relationships and develop better relationship skills.

Together we aim to explore dysfunctional patterns in a safe and caring space.  During the sessions by listening and talking we will improve communication and create a happier and healthier relationship to move forward.

Therapy aims to bring partners closer together or possibly to end a partnership with integrity. By resolving obstacles, partners learn to have compassion for their partner and themselves and learn new ways of constructively managing their own negative feelings whilst rekindling the feelings that originally attracted them to each other. 

Between sessions I invite couples to practice at home, the insights, behaviours and problem- solving skills they gain in therapy.

How I work, my approach in sessions

I work from an Emotion- focused approach and Imago therapy technique. This is a blended approach of restoring the distressed couples physical and emotional bond as the best lever for change in the relationship. This disclosure of vulnerability becomes a powerful means for stirring the responsiveness of a partner. With contact restored, couples have a renewable source of mutual comfort allowing them to jointly solve problems that they face.

Imago therapy comes from the Latin word 'imago' meaning 'image', referring to the "unconscious image of familiar love". What we find is that there is frequently a connection between frustrations in adult relationships and early childhood experiences. As an example, individuals frequently criticized as a child will likely be highly sensitive to their partners criticism. Childhood feelings of abandonment, suppression or neglect will often arise in a committed relationship. When such core issues repeatedly come up with a partner, they can overshadow all that is good in a relationship and leave one to wonder whether he or she has chosen the right mate. 

Through Imago Relationship Therapy, couples can learn to understand each other's feelings and childhood wounds more empathically, allowing them to heal themselves and their relationships so they can move forward as a couple more consciously. 

Through the blended approach of working with both modalities, I hope to foster a space with my couples whereby there is empathetic listening, validation, understanding triggers, safety and trust.

What to expect in your first session?

In our first session together, I want to get to know you and your partner, the reason you are seeking support and what you have done already to try and address your concerns. I will be listening to you and your partner, to understand the dynamics/ patterns in your relationship as well as your concerns. It is completely normal to feel uncomfortable or anxious in your first session, and the session serves as two-way assessment for us to decide if we are a suitable fit moving forward. The session also offers the opportunity for you and your partner to ask me any questions about my approach to working with couples and voice any concerns you may have.