My approach to couples work

I take a thorough, whole-of-person approach that assumes that the deeper causes of unhelpful behaviours and unnecessary conflict come from reactions and patterns we learned from our own family environment as we grew up. It is not always obvious to clients what these patterns are or where they come from.

For this reason I strongly prefer to have at least one individual session with each person before beginning working together with you both as a couple.

Couples sometimes assume there is just a need to learn better communication skills, but if that were the case there are many tools and tips for this online.

By staging it this way - solo sessions followed by couple sessions - you will make the best use of your time, emotional energy and money.

Couples sessions are for 60 minutes (rather than the 50 minutes for individuals), but there is also an option for longer 90 minute sessions, which are especially useful to kick-start a deeper understanding of one-another, or to allow time for processes that are more intensive.