I have been providing relationship counselling-therapy for over 23 years. I trained, practiced and received supervision in the prestigious CairnMiller Institute in Camberwell, Melbourne. My training includes, evidence based Gottman Method, Emotion Focussed Couples Therapy, Imago Therapy, and Psychosexual Therapy.
Helping a couple navigate the challenges of building a life together is a specialised skill. While there are many great counselors, coaches, psychologists, and support groups out there they aren’t all specialised in relationships. Sometimes, going to a well intentioned but inexperienced practitioner for couple’s counselling can do more harm than good.
Often professionals such as counsellors or psychologists will say that he/she does couples counseling but that does not necessarily mean that they are best qualified for the task. Much like your physical health, there are many clinicians who can help but when it’s time to have open-heart surgery you probably aren’t going to see your general practitioner or dermatologist.
My extensive experience and training in relationship therapy has ed me to understand relationships; what goes wrong and what goes right. I work with couples of all sexual orientations, lifestyles and cultural backgrounds.
Whether you are married, living together, in a conventional or post-conventional relationship deciding to engage in co-joint counselling is a positive step towards achieving and maintaining a healthy balanced relationship.
The Relationship Counselling process will allow meaningful communication to develop in a controlled environment, enabling both partners to have their concerns heard without interruption. Relationship Counselling will help you to handle conflict, anger and resentment in a more productive way, break negative patterns of behaviour and examine how past relationships with your family of origin can affect your relationship with your partner.
Family Therapy aims to enable family members resolve issues and conflicts which can arise within a family. The family is assisted by the therapist to express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions in a safe space. Family therapy is helpful when relationship between family members is strained, the family seem stuck or cut off from each other.
I assist all types of families and families in different stages of development. Some are rainbow families, others, heterosexual families with young or adolescent children. Or it may be a blended family or a family of adult offspring who no longer Iive together.
The family therapy approach aims to implement change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members. It focuses on family relations as an important factor in psychological well-being.
The scheduling of sessions and who participate will depend on many factors according to the needs of the family at any particular time. Some sessions may be with individual family members, whilst others may be with all family members or some family members, as appropriate. I have been assisting families for over 20 years in reaching greater understanding each other’s experiences and views. As well as developing empathy and appreciation of each other’s needs, build on family strengths and make useful changes in their relationships and lives. I assist families in exploring ways forward that work for all members.
