CONJOINT PSYCHOTHERAPY

I enjoy working with couples and it often seems the benefits of the work extend into the world in exciting ways.

We never outgrow our need for warm, loving relationships, and the space two individuals in a couple potentially hold between them is enormously creative. I am attempting to use the idea of ‘a couple’ in the broadest sense and not restricting it to a heterosexual union, but rather any committed long term relationship where the intention is to be emotionally available to each other whilst respecting each other’s individuality.

Most of us live out our lives in the context of an intimate relationship. These intimate relationships frequently challenge us at the core of our being, activating our need to love and be loved, our need to hate and be hated, and our need to know and be known. There is no such thing, outside the realms of imagination, as a relationship free from conflict, and how a relationship deals with conflict may be the best barometer of its success or failure.

The “psychological work” that we engage with our partners in life may be the longest term work we engage ever. Sometimes it can appear we have chosen our partner for the very difficulties they cause us, but understanding this as an opportunity to learn about ourselves, and grow as individuals, is liberating. We choose our partners for reasons both conscious and unconscious, but the strongest bond is likely to be the unconscious mutual harmony of exchanged parts of ourselves. I am not wanting to suggest one should sacrifice oneself for one’s relationship, the whole matter is delicate.

This work offers an opportunity to work through individual difficulties in the context of your relationship and so become freer to live more fulfilling lives together and apart.


Group          Individual          Supervision