Counselling for Couples

Is the lack of intimacy or communication impacting on the harmony of your relationship and sense of well-being?  Are you finding you are spending more and more time apart?  Or have certain events changed the way you relate to each other?  Our counselling services are dedicated to helping you remove the block that is preventing you from experiencing a happy and fulfilling relationship.

 

Treatment and Process

Being in a nurturing relationship can have a have a huge impact on your sense of well-being and quality of life.  It can often be the determining factor of your happiness.  A relationship that is positive and harmonious can help both individuals grow, heal and deepen the understanding of themselves and each other.  However, when power struggles begin, the scales can become tipped toward negative feelings. Constant arguing and miscommunication can leave individuals feeling hurt, isolated, betrayed and angry.  The built-up resentment can lead to a lack of communication and subsequently to a lack of intimacy.  Unfortunately, Individuals can be left wondering what happened and where did the love go.

A lot of positivist and growth can come from mending the rift and bridging the gap when power struggles arise.  Couples can be become closer and the relationship stronger.  Here at Harmony Counselling Services we see conflicts within relationships as opportunities for growth and healing for both the individuals and the relationship moving forward. How couples manage conflict and deal with the challenges they face determines whether the relationship endures and becomes stronger or whether the relationship falls apart. Couples can see real progress and experience positive change with just a few counselling sessions.

 

Relationship Counselling

If you are wanting to give your relationship a real chance and believe there is something worth holding onto, then we are here to help and support you.  We will help you understand each other more deeply and provide you with better ways to communicate and overcome the obstacles you are facing.  If you and your partner are seeking to improve the quality of your relationship, then call us today for a confidential, no-obligation discussion about how counselling may be beneficial for you.

 

Couples Counselling

Couples counselling is also called relationship counselling, relationship therapy, marriage counselling, relationship coaching or couples coaching.

 

Why Couples Seek Relationship Counselling?

• Communication – Partners in relationships sometimes feel like they cannot voice what they really want to express. They often feel like their partner is not listening to them and are often missing the points that are important to them.

• Conflict resolution – Disagreements are inevitable and are a natural part of relationships. They can actually be a healthy means of reaching a deeper understanding of one another if they are managed effectively.  However, without the necessary and correct skills for navigating disagreements, they can easily turn into shouting, arguments or silence.  Sometimes genuine attempt to resolves issues can result in further conflict subsequently leaving couples feeling frustrated and more afraid for the future of their relationship.

• A Partner Has Had an Affair – This occurs when one partner seeks intimacy with someone else. When this happens, both partners are encouraged to participate in the healing process and restoration of trust.  While this may be challenging, require courage and a willingness to take risks, it can be achieved.

• Lack of Intimacy – A build-up of resentment and lack of communication can cause the gap within a couple to widen further. As a result, there may be a lack of affection, warmth and intimate connection between a couple.  Sex may become absent altogether.

• Sexual Issues – By addressing any underlying intimacy or trust issues, sexual problems are often overcome and resolved. Partners can often experience deeper feelings of intimacy thereby strengthening the relationship.

• Personal Issues that Affect Both Partners – When one person in the relationship is suffering from depression, grief, addiction, trauma or other deep-seated issues, it can affect both partners and the relationship. Once these issues are addressed and healed, the relationship can be allowed to blossom and move forward.

• Recovery from a relationship break down – Individuals often seek counselling at the end of a relationship.  They want to know what happened or what went wrong so they can learn and grow from it and then let go of it and move on.  They want to understand their own behavioral patterns and emotional triggers and how they can create a different future for themselves.  Relationship counselling supports the individual to understand, recover and heal from the pain of a broken relationship so they can move forward.

• Support to leave an abusive or dysfunctional relationship – Abusive and dysfunctional relationships can corrode one or both individuals self-worth and confidence, especially the person on the receiving end of abuse. As a result the self-doubt created in individuals can lead one or both partners to become stuck in a cycle of guilt, shame, denial and despair.  It can be difficult to remember what a healthy, loving relationship feels like when you have been in this form of relationship for some time.  This cycle can be what makes it difficult to leave an abusive and dysfunctional relationship.  Relationship counselling supports individuals to feel empowered so they can make positive decisions for their future and well-being.  Counselling is effective in helping individuals to establish healthy boundaries, clarify their values and to reconnect to what is important in life.

• Support making a decision of whether to continue the relationship – Not all relationships are meant to continue on. Couples counselling can provide understanding, support and closure for both partners deciding whether to continue a relationship.  However, if two individuals are willing to openly explore the issues that have brought them to this point, reconciliation is always possible.

• Partners love each other but are not in love anymore – After many years together, partners may feel that the relationship has lost its spark or there is a lack of chemistry. When a couple becomes bored in a relationship, they can begin to take each other for granted.  Consequently, partners within the relationship may begin to drift apart, feel stuck or lonely.  There may be no conflict or arguing, simply the absence of intimacy and a connection that was once there.  The relationship feels empty and partners may feel like good friends rather than intimate partners.

 

What is Couples Counselling?

Effective couples counselling enables couples to:

• Communicate better
• Understand each other more deeply
• Reconnect to themselves and each
• Negotiate differences and problem solve
• Argue or manage disagreements in a healthier way
• Sometimes couples counselling is about supporting a couple to work out whether they should stay together or separate

 

Who is Relationship Counselling for?

• Couples and Individuals who want a better relationship with their partners and with themselves.
• Couples who are in conflict and want to move out of the power struggles.
• Counselling or therapy is about personal growth through gaining insight and increasing self-awareness.

 

Benefits of Relationship Counselling –

• Reconnection and healing for both partners and the relationship
• Re-establishing of safety, trust and connection within the relationship
• A safe, non-judgemental environment to explore the issues that brought you to counselling
• The ability to communicate with each other more effectively
• Renewed passion and chemistry and a rekindling of romance
• Personal growth and development
• An increased sense of well-being, happiness and contentedness
• Increased goodwill towards each other
• Improvement in other relationships
• Renewed enthusiasm and zest for life
• Increased motivation and a more positive outlook for life