Couples Therapy
A good relationship provides an enormous opportunity for enriching our lives.
Equally, every couple’s relationship requires work and will bring challenges that must be managed. Simple, everyday stresses can strain a relationship, and major sources of stress may threaten the stability of the relationship. Once each partner is willing to address the issues and participate in developing a solution, most relationship problems are manageable. However, when challenges are left unaddressed, tensions can mount, poor habits develop, and the health and longevity of the relationship can be in jeopardy.
Many relationships can reach a stage where one or both partners are finding it difficult to see a way forward. The relationship may no longer seem to be providing what the person is looking for and they may now be wondering if it is possible to bring in changes that can help improve the situation or whether the couple can remain together.
Couple’s therapy is a collaborative approach to emotional and psychological problems that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture healthy change and
development. It sees a change in terms of the interaction between couples and family members and it emphasises healthy relations as an important factor in psychological well-being.
The skills of the couples therapist includes the ability to guide conversations in a way that catalyses the strengths and support of the wider system.
How Does Couple Therapy Work?
The counsellor will generally work with the couple together but may also do some separate individual sessions with one or both partners if this is identified and agreed upon as an important part of the process. In circumstances where one of the partners does not wish to enter into couple therapy, the other may be encouraged to proceed into individual therapy.
What Types of Couples Attend Relationship Therapy ?
The Couple Counsellors at Fairview Therapy Centre have experience of working with many different issues which present for couples and their relationship. Couples in therapy are not necessarily married, and in many cases, they are not. We also work with couples who are in the process of separating or have separated. The couple may have some other form of status or be in another form of partnership or civil union. Our counsellors also have experience of working with different types of relationships including gay and lesbian couples, couples with and without children, couples of other nationalities, inter-racial couples, and couples in either long-term or newly formed relationships. The additional help and support of an experienced counsellor can be very beneficial in facilitating the couple to clarify the issues of difficulty and see if these may be improved together.
