Posts tagged: couples counselling

Therapy for Relationship Problems

Many people seek help for relationship and marital challenges and there are many reasons couples find themselves constantly disagreeing and in conflict.  Therapy can be particularly helpful to a couple since it focuses on the ‘relationship’ dynamics as well as the individual differences and perceptions of what is going on and what each person wants their life and relationship to be about.

Couples seeking counselling help ask typical questions wondering what happens in a couples sessions.  Therapy or Counselling involves regular sessions in which a skilled psychologist or counsellor sets a framework within which each person can share with their partner how they see the relationship.  The psychologist or counsellor facilitates them communicating clearly and provides them with skills to communicate their perspective more clearly as well as ask questions of each other to clarify understanding.
Each relationship is different and over time as each person grows, misunderstandings can develop and new ways must be found to accommodate individual changes into the relationship. Therapy and counselling provide the environment in which this can be done effectively.

Tags: ,

categories Relationships | Clare | datetime May 26, 2010 12:06 pm | comments Comments (6)

What happens in a counselling session?

‘What happens in a counselling session?’  This is a major question facing anyone considering counselling.  Many people think that the psychologist or counsellor will have superior knowledge or ability to advise them  on how to live their life.  Others think that advice or direction will be offered which is preferable and superior to what they think.

The reality is that counsellors are trained to skillfully facilitate people to become more aware of what is happening in their lives, to see how they are creating their experiences, to evaluate the options they face and to anticipate the consequences of their actions.  It is through their actual relationship, that the counsellor guides the client to experience doing things differently and test out things that seem threatening or difficult to face with other people.  Skills and the ability to handle the anxiety of change can be tested out in counselling sessions and used with greater confidence with others in everyday life.

Tags: ,

categories counselling | clare | datetime April 5, 2010 10:55 am | comments Comments (1)

Relationship Troubles – Where do you start?

Relationship troubles often leave a couple floundering for ways to work through the inevitable mis-communication that results once troubles begin. Sometimes it is obvious to both partners what the problems are – an event may have happened which becomes the reason for the tension; other times a pattern has developed which triggers responses in either or both partners, resulting in conflict.

When communication is at an all time low, where do you start? Firstly, become clear in your own mind what your feelings and thoughts are about the situation. What has happened that has caused you or your partner to react negatively? Examine what you think your part is in causing or exacerbating the issue. Approach your partner with a request to find way to tackle the problem – at this stage, avoid blaming or getting into the problem. Agreement about how you will tackle the issue is helpful in ‘taking the heat’ out of a potential impasse. Blaming or criticism always results in defensiveness; getting agreement about wanting to resolve the problem, together with ways to approach it, are constructive and reinforce the commitment both of you need to have to examine the inevitable challenges before you.

Tags: , ,

categories Relationships | Clare | datetime February 4, 2010 2:41 pm | comments Comments (0)

Switch to our mobile site