Our counsellors provide a caring, supportive and non-judgmental environment to help you find a way through any difficulties you may be facing in your relationship/s.

Together we will first help you to identify and clarify the issues or problems you are facing in your relationship/s.

If couple counselling is the best way forward for both of you, you will embark on a series of counselling sessions – anything between six and twelve sessions is usual, but it will depend on the issues that you want to address.

Both partners don’t always have the same goals and for counselling to be helpful we need to establish an agreed focus for the therapy.

Our primary concern is that you get the best possible, appropriate source of help and it may not always be Relate. In such cases we will always try to help you to find the support that you need from another agency.

For some couples, counselling is the start of a longer process of discovery while for others, a few sessions of counselling may be all they need to get through a rough patch. You will be able to discuss your expectations with your counsellor.

Counselling is not a ‘magic’ solution, it requires commitment, engagement and hard work. Many individuals and couples find the process leads to an improvement in their relationships; sometimes this involves separation and moving on apart/independently. If this is the case for you it is likely that the two of you may experience different feelings and it may not be the outcome that one of you wanted.

If you do decide to separate we can help you to manage that process as painlessly as possible and, in particular can offer support to either or both of you with the grieving process and with issues around what and when to tell children about what is happening.

What will happen when I contact relate to arrange counselling?

When you contact our office our experienced team of appointment secretaries will guide you through a registration process where they will offer you an “Initial Consultation”. The team will work with you to offer you this appointment as soon as possible, it could be as soon as on the day you call, or there may be a short wait dependant on which of our locations or services you wish to access.

What is an Initial Consultation?

The initial consultation will take place with a counsellor, and is a fact finding exercise where the counsellor will find out about you and your reason for seeking help. You will be asked questions and talk through how we might be able to help. If you attend as a couple the counsellor will see you for a short time together, each will then be offered individual time, and finally the counsellor will meet with you once again as a couple at the end of the consultation. Once complete the counsellor will speak with you to recommend a Relate service if it is appropriate. Clients say that they appreciate this individual time to give them space to share their own thoughts on their relationship.

Some people find this initial consultation is all the need to clear their thinking, to help them decide what to do and make a decision as to whether they require further counselling with relate. If your counsellor does not think we are the best placed service, they may suggest other organisations that you may be interested in accessing for support.

The counsellor will work with you to explain how progress can be made through the counselling process. After this initial session it is then for you to decide whether you would like to undertake ongoing counselling with us.

If you would like more information on our Relationship Counselling service please telephone 024 7622 5863 or fill in the form on our Contact Us page.