Couples Counselling - Marriage Counselling

Love brought you together but as life's stressors continually press, your relationship may suffer. Having children, losing a job, moving house, emptying the nest, extra family relationships and health issues can be a catalyst for relationship breakdown. It's rare that a partner is blind sided completely by their partner (though this does happen to some) but rather a gradual drifting apart that is the greatest threat to relationship satisfaction.

As it is often difficult to percieve a slowly drifting separation, here are some signs that you and your partner should seek couples counselling:

• You remember and dwell on the negative aspects of the relationship more than the positive
• Conflict rarely gets resolved
• There is violence or abuse (physical, emotional, drug or alcohol)
• You rarely laugh together
• You feel you or your partner are having or in danger of having an affair
• You avoid sharing your true feelings with your partner to minimise conflict
• Depression or other health problems are recurring
• There seems to be secrets and trust is missing
• Loss of desire for sexual intimacy

In couples counselling, you and your partner meet together with the therapist where the relationship, rather than the two individuals, is the "client". Sometimes couples counselling works best along side individual counselling and your therapist can advise and arrange for this as well.