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Counselling & Psychotherapy is a way to have private and confidential conversations with a therapist who has been specifically trained to listen, understand and help you with a variety of life’s difficulties and worries. Some of these worries may include behaviours you would like to change, strong and difficult emotions, patterns of relating to others that you feel are not working for you in some way, beliefs about yourself that you feel you need to challenge, or ways of thinking that are holding you back or making you unhappy. Alternatively, things in your life may usually be pretty good, but sometimes something happens, and you feel you need extra support and a place to sort through what this event means for you.

Counselling and Psychotherapy might involve exploring your emotions, thought patterns, relationships, life events and any other challenges you may face, with the support and acceptance of the therapist. At times this may feel challenging and at other times empowering and liberating. However, the goal of counselling and psychotherapy is always to help you gain insight, find different ways to think about, approach and manage the difficulties you experience, and to find more helpful and satisfying ways to relate to yourself and others.

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Couple counselling and psychotherapy, is a supportive place to explore any difficulties you may be experiencing in your relationship, or life circumstances that may be impacting the quality of your relationship.

The goal of the work in couple counselling and psychotherapy, is to bring about positive change in your relationship. This may be achieved by helping you to have calmer and more satisfying communication, working through hurt or resentment, addressing difficulties with intimacy and feelings of connectedness or developing ways to support each other through stressful times and events.

While working with you as a couple I may at times speak more to one partner, another time the other partner may be the focus. Sometimes I may challenge either or both of you to look at your particular behaviour, way of thinking or belief. This can at times feel confronting however, these interactions never come from a place of blaming or the suggestion that one partner is the ‘problem’. My firm belief, and the place that I come from when working with couples, is that both of you have ownership over the health of your relationship and both of you therefore have the opportunity to make changes that will benefit the way you work as a couple.

So, this means that even if sometimes you feel I am siding with one of you or the other, my side is actually both of you and your relationship.

Below are just some of the difficulties and life events couples can experience that may impact their relationship-

• Communication difficulties
• Infidelity
• Addictions – alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping etc
• Arguing
• Boundaries
• Life Transitions ie., Getting married, Starting a family, Children leaving home etc
• FIFO work
• Stress
• Extended Family
• Difficult events such as – Job Loss, Separation, divorce
• Illness, Physical and Mental
• Loss of connection
• Lack of intimacy (sexual and non-sexual)
• Hurt and resentment
• Grief and Loss

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Individual counselling and psychotherapy is a place just for you. A comfortable and confidential space to share and explore whatever you need to with my support. My aim is to help you to reach the goal that you set for yourself, this may be getting to know yourself better, reducing and managing symptoms of anxiety or depression, challenging unhelpful ways of seeing yourself or, you may need support while experiencing a difficult event.

Below are some of the difficulties or worries that you might be helped with by engaging in individual counselling and psychotherapy. There will of course be other events or issues that impact you, these are just a few.

• Communication difficulties
• Infidelity
• Addictions – alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping etc
• Arguing
• Boundaries
• Life Transitions ie., Getting married, Starting a family, Children leaving home etc
• Work problems
• Goal setting and attainment
• Self-esteem/confidence
• FIFO work
• Stress
• Anxiety – panic attacks
• Depression
• Issues with family
• Difficult events such as – Job Loss, Separation, divorce
• Illness, Physical and Mental
• Loss of connection
• Lack of intimacy (sexual and non-sexual)
• Hurt and resentment
• Grief and Loss

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It is very easy to believe, especially during the excitement of moving in together, becoming engaged, planning your wedding, or simply deciding that you want to be together long-term, that nothing can affect the love you have for each other or the strength of your relationship. But the truth is that in Australia we have a divorce rate that is close to 50%. There are many challenges that may affect even the most solid of couples and substantial research shows that engaging in a relationship education program can markedly reduce the chance of these challenges leading to the end of your relationship.

Engaging in relationship education can be an exciting, interesting and connecting experience for couples. Getting to deeply know and understand each other, your expectations and beliefs around intimate relationships and what these might mean, and how they might impact your relationship. Also, how to handle any differences you may have in the way you see the world and how to support each other when things feel difficult.

I use a well-established and recognised relationship tool when working with couples who want to learn more about each-other and their relationship. This tool is called-

Prepare-Enrich Prepare-Enrich is a tool used with couples to explore, develop understanding and strengthen their relationship. The couple are taken through the program by the therapist, this usually takes 4 sessions. An online questionnaire is completed as a first step, by each partner responding to questions about themselves and their relationship. Prepare-Enrich helps the couple understand where the strength and growth areas are in their relationship. Prepare-Enrich looks at family of origin, personality, financial management, intimacy, and interpersonal areas such as communication and conflict resolution. Prepare-Enrich is suitable for any couple as it is customised to the unique relationship of each couple. Prepare-Enrich is a non-religious relationship tool however, a couple’s faith can be factored into the program if they feel it is relevant to them. Prepare-Enrich is an internationally recognised and used program, which has been in use in Australia since 1980.