Couples' Therapy

Couples' therapy is a form of therapy with the focus on the relationship and connection between people. In couples' therapy the relationship is usually the main client, and the trained clinician helps the couple understand the underlying reasons for their struggles and how to overcome them.  

It is usual for the clinician to complete an assessment with the couple over four initial sessions - one session together, one separate session for each partner, then another session together.

During this fourth session, the clinician agrees with the couple whether they will continue to work together on the relationship, or whether there are better options for the couple using other methods. If therapy continues, the couple will usually only meet the clinician together from that point forward.

People attend couples' therapy for a variety of reasons, including to make sense of and adjust to the beautiful and bewildering experience of becoming parents for the first time, dealing with a health diagnosis or unexpected family changes, coping with separation and blending families, experiencing grief and loss or uncertainty about future, dealing with infidelity and a desire to improve the quality of the relationship and the connection between partners.

Sometimes couples attend therapy in order to work out how to end the relationship amicably and make suitable arrangements for the children, or to work out healthy ways to deal with conflict and reduce arguments.