The ideal – The ordeal – The real deal
We fall in love and our world is filled with colour, intimacy, and excitement. Inevitably, 12-18 months later, as the honeymoon period draws to a close, what were once the calm, romantic shores of coupledom dark storm clouds of old patterns may appear.
We find ourselves seeking shelter from the driving rain of negative emotions our partners project onto us; it is uncomfortable yet familiar as the ghosts from the past blow through our souls.
When old patterns re-emerge a once easy communication between us can become fraught with incorrect mindreading and defensive responses.
We plea, "Where did my best friend go? How can we find each other again and face the challenges that life throws at us together?"
Therapy can provide a safe place to really understand the emotional processes playing out in your relationship, explore repeated patterns, improve communication, view things in a different light, be more empathic to your partner, discover healing and forgiveness after major transgressions, or simply manage the influences of external factors more effectively.
Wherever you and your partner find yourselves be it battered by the tornado of conflict, on the cold shores of stonewalling, or simply lacking the romance and lust of the early days, relationship therapy can help you attain more loving, supportive and deeply satisfying relationships.
Individual or Couples work
Individuals can find themselves benefiting from relationship therapy too in order to explore sexuality, work through relationship patterns, heal after break ups, work out what is the best way forward, and above all to strengthen their intimacy with themselves which is vital in creating the healthy balance of togetherness and separateness within couples.
An Integrated Approach
The type of Relationship therapy that I offer is an integrated approach. Imago theory forms the core, and other approaches such as CBT, Systemic and Psychodynamic are employed as appropriate. Psychosexual therapy can be woven in if required.
Sessions
If you attend with your partner you will have opportunities to talk separately and in complete confidence. Longer sessions of several hours can be arranged to cover more ground or for added convenience if you are travelling to attend. Daytime, evening and Saturday appointments are available to suit.
“For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”
Stephanie Perkins: Anna and the French Kiss
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”
Kahil Gibran: The Prophet