Great Couples Counselling in Burlington, ON. Therapy to heal relationships.

You meet, fall in love, make a decision to be together – everything is pretty rosy! What happens from that time until the time you walk in my office? Miscommunication, hurt, misunderstanding, broken trust, and ambivalence. But you are in my office – so there’s hope! Whether your relationship needs ‘tweeking’ or a complete overhaul – I want to help you both onto a path toward a stronger, truly connected relationship.

All relationships struggle at times. These struggles often interfere with a couples ability to feel safe and connected within their relationship. Rebuilding safety and connection restores relationships. It is through this restoration process that long lasting change is achieved. It is my privilege to work with couples to help them understand what they want from their relationship, how to get it and most importantly how to keep it.

Day in and day out for the last twenty-five years I have worked with couples both as a seminar trainer and as a therapist. I love seeing couples transformed as they find their way back to love and to each other. All couples struggle! The wise ones seek help! While all successful couples do similar things . . . broken relationships can be broken in a myriad of ways. It is my job to come a long side the couple to resolve, heal and recover. I love working with couples to develop communication and conflict resolutions skills. When couples come to me honestly seeking help and committed to put effort into their recovery the outcomes are nothing short of wonderful!

We all want to love, be loved, and connect with our significant others. Yet, it can feel daunting at times, due to repetitive relationship patterns (influenced by our childhood wounding), poor communication skills, cultural/gender differences, and inability to negotiate “me” with “we”. So be it past trauma, poor communication skills, inability to handle stress, different upbringing (thereby different ways of doing things), or sexual challenges, among other things, I help couples identify the areas/habits which challenge them, behaviors which destroy relationships, and anything else that stands in the way of them achieving an intimate connection.

We are not prepared to be married. Clouded with romantic ideals and unreasonable expectations, our relationships can quickly begin to feel lacking in fulfillment. I believe that most couples don't want divorce. What they do want is to feel connected again and safe again. I use Imago Therapy and Emotion Focused Therapy to help couples re-connect. Building a healthy marriage takes both time and commitment. The skills you will obtain will give you a clear path to reconnection and safety.

Relationships are tricky and often emotionally charged. Communication plays an important role in couples relationships, but not to be discounted is the powerful role of emotions and feelings that may be unconsidered. I look forward to helping couples begin to understand themselves, the positive and negative cycles, and the process necessary to truly understand the core needs of themselves and their partner. I believe that couples often have the power to heal their relationships and even their partner when they begin to feel that their own needs are respected, and I look forward to working with you to achieve your relational goals.

Our most intimate relationships are where we are often challenged the most to grow. Much of my work with couples is helping each person feel entitled to their feelings and feel able to advocate for their needs within the relationship. So often we have expectations of how our partner or spouse is supposed to be, how we are supposed to be with them and there are unspoken expectations to navigate between us. These assumptions can easily lead to very destructive patterns that we act out with the person we want to feel the closest to. Our work is to strengthen ourselves from the inside out so that we can meet our partner "full of ourselves" and then find ways to be together that are a win win!

Couples Counselling Most relationships will become strained at some point and will begin producing maladaptive patterns. Relationship problems are rooted in our distorted egos, insecure attachment, emotional immaturity etc., which create to the many issues that develop for couples - infidelity, financial stress, poor communication, ill health, sexual divergence, household responsibility conflicts, addictions, etc., .... or just simply growing apart. Relationships can often be restored if help is sought soon enough. A counsellor can help reorient perceptions and emotions (how we look at a situation and how we feel about it) and assist the couple in adopting conscious structural changes.

Two people coming together and thriving together necessitates that there be humility and a willingness to work in order for the marriage or relationship to be all that it can be. If these things are present then we have a great foundation for breakthrough and we can progress to discovering where the relationship went wrong. One approach to couples counselling is “Emotional Focused Therapy” which helps both individuals express their feelings toward one another. This process facilitates the individuals being vulnerable and expressing what is going on inside of themselves and always leads to moments of understanding between the couple.