Couples Therapy

Counselling for couples who:

• Wanting to start a (new) relationship well

• Couples seeking deepening and

• Partners facing serious issues.

Is it still fun in a relationship with lots of discussions, conflicts or arguments? Or is it cosy when there is icy silence, you live alongside each other? No, of course not.

Every couple wants a nice and cordial contact, everyone will agree. So why is it that things go wrong and mutual tensions arise? A relationship faces periods of relationship problems from time to time, and every relationship crisis is preceded by a period when one or both partners felt less happy in the relationship. The challenge for any relationship is to keep the contact good and committed.

Enlisting professional help through couples therapy can be seen as entering into a period of deepening together.

If the relationship is basically good, many problems can be solved by discussing them openly. You might argue that you could therefore solve it together. In principle, this is true; the tricky thing, however, is that openness is often far away. Over time, all sorts of interpretations and assumptions have built up on both sides, which clouds an open attitude. Conversations proceed in exactly the same order and nothing changes. What we do is make the interpretations and assumptions visible, so that an open attitude towards each other can emerge again. In those moments, a change is possible that brings you closer together again.

Together with us, you will work on strengthening the foundations of your relationship. It may well be that the foundation is already solid and we can quickly build on it. Should it turn out that the foundation needs strengthening, we can focus on that. In essence, we ensure that a safe setting is created to discuss things constructively, in which you learn to resolve the conflict situation together.

It is not just about resolving specific problems or disputes, but also about identifying and addressing underlying patterns that contribute to your relationship problems. We clarify emotional needs and clarify differences in communication styles. This gives you tools to discuss future challenges in a way that strengthens rather than undermines your relationship.

• Creating mutual understanding so that pain points can be discussed in safety

• Providing clarity about the slippage in the relationship

• Defusing the ‘minefield’ between you

• Restoring the connection between you

• You learn to deal with feelings and vulnerability in a constructive way

• Highlighting and strengthening the positive things in your lives

• Confirm a secure attachment between the two of you

What it will look like:

The most important thing is a good click between you and us as a counsellor, which is why you start your relationship therapy with an intake session. During this session, we will clarify your request for help together. We also want to get a good impression of you and hear from each of you what you have experienced in your lives. When there is sufficient ground to proceed together, we make a follow-up appointment. If you wish, you can sleep over it before you decide to start the therapy.

• You start with an introductory conversation with one of us, in which we clarify together what you want to achieve. We make an overview of the experiences you have gone through and which could possibly be the cause of the imbalance. Sometimes couples choose to talk to us together, which is possible for a small additional fee.

• 1 to 2 weeks later, your first Relationship Therapy session of 1¼ hours follows, during which we will get to the heart of your imbalance.

• The number of sessions varies from couple to couple. For some couples, 5 in-depth sessions are enough and for others, 15 is a good start. It all depends on the experiences you have been through and your desire to really want to change.

• We discuss the frequency of the Relationship Therapy sessions by mutual agreement, see the explanation in the frequently asked questions. Over time, more time can be scheduled between sessions. There is also the possibility of doing a follow-up session over a few months, so that there is still a moment's back chat.

• Organic coffee or tea is available free of charge.

• Telephone consultations under 10 minutes are included free of charge.