Relationship Counselling

It is common for one or two family members to initiate the counselling process, with other family members joining in if and when they are ready. We also provide individual family counselling if you need a non-judgmental, confidential space to explore and address your own family issues. Family counselling is suitable for both small and larger family groups– there are no prerequisites that the entire family needs to be present.

In fact, family counselling can be incredibly effective even if certain family members choose not to participate. Your Life Supports relationship counsellor or psychologist will collaborate with your family to build on relational strengths and encourage change and interpersonal growth opportunities.

Life Supports relationship counselling helps families to:

• Clearly identify issues affecting each family member
• Foster inclusiveness and consideration of every family member’s needs
• Develop clear family goals (e.g. reducing the frequency of conflict)
• Practice safe, effective ways to address family challenges and grievances
• Cease engaging in blaming behaviour, by taking responsibility for the family’s welfare as a group
• Use effective, respectful communication when discussing distressing or challenging issues
• Break the cycle of family conflict by encouraging new ways of relating
• Recognise setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning
• Focus on and celebrate the family’s unique strengths
• Review progress and maintain improvements

Often couples that are new to the counselling experience are worried that relationship therapy may be biased towards one partner, emotionally confrontational, or that it simply won’t work. To ensure this is not the case, each session is:

• Tailored to be inclusive of both partners
• A discreet, nonjudgmental space to unpack your relationship concerns
• Focused upon giving you an insightful understanding of your individual situation
• Designed to give you practical tools to address problems and create long-lasting, positive changes
• Couples and relationship counselling often involves a blend of joint and solo counselling sessions, depending on your personal therapeutic needs. This flexibility allows your counsellor to accurately assess your communication styles, patterns of behaviour and relationship needs as individuals, and as a couple. Our team of relationship counsellors are compassionate, competent and capable of helping you to achieve your relationship goals.

We frequently see clients for individual relationship counselling. Sometimes one partner is reluctant to seek help, or simply unable to attend counselling due to work commitments or geographical distance.

The great news is that individual counselling is just as effective as joint couple counselling when it comes to improving relationship quality. Recent research by clinical psychologist Dr Howard Markman studied 300 married and unmarried couples who attended relationship skills counselling together or individually: results from the study indicated that those who attended counselling individually showed a marked improvement in the quality of their relationships, on par with those who attended counselling with their partner. 

You may be struggling with conflicting thoughts and feelings about your relationship; you might be having difficulty balancing your own needs with the demands of your partner or family. In some cases, you may be experiencing the feelings of depression, anger, anxiety or grief associated with separation or divorce.

Whatever you bring to counselling, your Life Supports relationship specialist will work alongside you to help make sense of your experience, and support you moving forward in a constructive and positive way. For some clients, simply talking through issues can be a helpful process, while others may be looking for specific guidance or strategies to enhance their relationships. Together we will identify the most constructive and useful way that we can support you to make sense of your relationship and bring about positive change in your life.

According to the American Psychological Association, marriage counselling using up-to-date techniques has a roughly 75% success rate, but success varies depending on the practitioner and the types of issues the relationship is tackling. One of the most important factors determining the success of marriage counselling is a willingness to change, so attitude is particularly important.

Evidence suggests about 44% of all couples who get married today attend couples therapy before they’ve actually wed. Marriage counselling is extremely common and can be sought at all different stages in a relationship. Your relationship doesn’t need to be on its last legs for you to seek counselling – in fact, counselling can be a great way to identify issues before they become unmanageable. Conversely, no matter how bad things seem counselling may still be able to help you repair – or rebuild – your marriage. 

Pre-marital counselling is all about preparing a couple for marriage; helping establish each other’s boundaries, values and ideas about the future of your relationships. It can be a really powerful way to ensure the stability of your marriage, and field against any uncomfortable surprises or frictions. 

There is no set point beyond which your marriage is ‘troubled’ enough to warrant counselling. In reality, marriage counselling can be just as effective as a preventative measure – to keep your marriage strong and healthy before issues arise – as it can be to help heal existing problems. Some signs you may benefit from marriage counselling, however, include: 

• You rarely talk 
• Or, you talk a lot but it’s often highly confrontational 
• You keep the peace because it’s easier than getting into an argument 
• Your relationship is lacking affection or intimacy
• There has been a sudden change in the nature or quality of your relationship
• When a partner is having an affair (or contemplating one)
• When similar arguments and issues keep coming up without resolution.

While infidelity can be an extremely destructive force in a marriage, there is powerful evidence that marriage counselling can help couples come together again even after a betrayal. A 2000 study by Dr. Shirley Glass, for example, found that 71% of couples seen in therapy after an infidelity stayed together. 

Counselling can be particularly helpful after infidelity because it opens up a safe, mediated space for couples to talk honestly about the reasons behind the affair, and to address issues affecting both partners. This can help both partners to process the infidelity and move on in a healthy way.

Yes. Even if the relationship is over, counselling can help both partners navigate the separation in a way that reduces harm to each other, and to any children or family members involved. Divorce counselling focuses on communication, practical co-operation, and managing the emotional weight of letting go, so both people can move forward with as much goodwill and stability as possible.

Couples often come to their first session in the middle of a crisis — but that crisis is usually the result of longer-standing patterns rather than a single event. Your counsellor helps you both step back from the immediate conflict, understand what's actually driving it, and start working on the relationship together rather than against each other.