At Positive Wellbeing Clinic we honour and respect all relationships and are committed to helping couples establish more rewarding, trusting and committed relationships with one another.  We work with heterosexual, gay and lesbian couples of all ages to strengthen the bond that you have with your partner and address any issues that are getting in the way of you having a fulfilling and satisfied relationship.

Relationship Counselling is suitable for all couples at any stage of their relationship including couples that have only been dating for a short period, newlyweds or those preparing for marriage and those that have been in a relationship for a long time.

We are relationship advocates, which means we view the “relationship” as the primary client in the therapy process.  This is very different to Individual Counselling, where the individual is the client and the focus is on addressing specific difficulties that are occurring for that person.

In order to work on the relationship, we need to have the relationship in the therapy room.  Our approach is non-blaming, in that we are not interested in finding fault in either partner.  We are interested in understanding what happens between two people to cause distress, rather than what each person is doing to the other.

At times, it may become evident that individual issues such as depression, trauma or anxiety are preventing the relationship from improving.  In these situations, an individual may be referred for Individual Counselling to get assistance with these difficulties.

During the first session, the Couples Therapist will invite each partner to talk about what has brought them in for Relationship Counselling and what they would like to achieve through the process.  The assessment process may take a number of sessions in order to fully understand the hopes and dreams of each partner and common patterns in the relationship dynamics.  At times, it is often useful to explore the attachment history of each person to assist in understanding how this may be impacting on the current relationship dynamics.

We draw on a number of therapeutic approaches in our couples work including Attachment Theory, Emotion Focused Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy and the Gottman Method.  Dr John Gottman is world renowned for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction.  He has conducted 40 years of breakthrough research with thousands of couples and his model has been shown to help couples break through barriers to achieve greater understanding, connection and intimacy in their relationships.

To help in understanding your relationship difficulties, your Couples Therapist may invite you to complete the Gottman Relationship Checkup either prior to, or just after your first session.  This is fabulous new clinical tool that automatically scores a couple’s strengths and challenges.  It is comprised of 480 questions which are completed separately and confidentially by each partner.  The results provide your Couples Therapist with immediate clinical feedback and specific recommendations about how best to help your relationship.