Having difficulty as a couple?  Therapy can help with arguments, infidelity, avoidance of closeness and more.

Is your relationship under strain?

Are you and your partner constantly bickering or arguing without resolution?  Maybe your communication has completely broken down?  Perhaps you don’t trust each other or are struggling with intimacy after an affair has been exposed?  Or has one of you been concealing debts or an addiction from the other?

When a relationship is at breaking point it can seem as if separation or divorce is your only option, but talking through your problems together with a trained relationship therapist can help you to get to the heart of your conflicts and come to value each other’s beliefs and feelings.

Here at the Wharfedale Practice we have two experienced relationship therapists who would work with you together to help you rebuild your relationship, or if you wish to separate or divorce to do so as maturely as possible.

Your therapist’s aim will be to offer a secure base in which to explore your issues and to develop your skills so you can resolve your issues independently.  They will encourage you to talk openly about difficult topics and explore your childhood and family history.  By analysing your behavioural pattern and the ways in which you communicate with each other, they will also help you see discrepancies in your and your partner’s behaviour and teach you techniques to improve your communication.

We are trained in the Tavistock attachment model of couples therapy, exploring the separate attachment styles that each person brings with them into the relationship and then the subsequent attachment pattern a couple develops in its own right – this informs our thinking and analysis.

Some couples like to see a therapist individually/separately before meeting up as a couple, this can be arranged and others choose to come together.

During the assessment your therapist will take a brief history from you which covers the issues that you are bringing to therapy, as well as a general history of your relationship.

They may ask questions such as:

• What issues have you been experiencing in your relationship?

• How long have these issues been a problem in your relationship?

• Have you been in relationship counselling before?

• What have you and your partner done to try and resolve these issues?

• What are your expectations of couples counselling?

Above all our aim is to give you a safe environment in which to talk about your relationship issues so you can improve your communication and gain confidence in self-expression as a couple.  We can help you discover how to negotiate and compromise with one another so you can discover ways of moving forward – either together or apart.