Professional Counselling Support for Couples

While every relationship has its ups and downs, sometimes the challenges go deeper and are more difficult to navigate on your own. Perhaps you and your partner feel disconnected and no longer on the same page, make assumptions about what the other thinks or lapse into hurtful conflict patterns. 

As a Melbourne-based professional couples counsellor, I encourage you to reach out to me for help.

The aim of couples counselling is to raise awareness and explore patterns that may lead to conflict, and repair fractured relationships. I can help you improve your communication, gain clarity and a deep understanding of each other, and strengthen your emotional connectedness. 

I provide a non-judgemental, emotionally safe space. This allows you to have difficult conversations to explore patterns, barriers or behaviours that lead to conflict or miscommunication. And I’m right by your side to guide the conversation with compassion and care, and ensure it remains respectful. 

Please note that my approach is not appropriate for couples where family violence is a factor. If you are experiencing this, it is important that you seek specialist support or contact 1800 RESPECT for resources.

Areas I can support and help you both with

• Acceptance

• Conflict resolution

• Emotional disconnection

• Emotional safety

• Financial distress

• Mutual understanding

• Poor communication

• Sexual incompatibility

My couples counselling approach

I support couples in counselling with compassion and understanding. At times, it may feel confronting, emotionally challenging and non-linear. I encourage you to trust the journey, that you’re moving closer towards the life you wish to live. 

Counselling sessions are split across three-phases: 

1. Discover – we explore your past experiences, current interactions and I observe your dynamics.

2. Workshop – learn and practice techniques and safe strategies to overcome unhelpful behaviours and patterns.

3. Embed – we reflect how your new skills have been applied outside of our session, and adjust as needed.

I recommend an initial 8 sessions close together, so we can build momentum and get your relationship back on track or find a positive way to move forward. From there, we can assess your needs for further support. 

Therapies

I use a range of evidence based counselling therapies which focus on self-acceptance, connection with others and clarity to make choices aligned with the life you desire. All therapy modalities have a strong theoretical basis and are clinically supported. 

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – helping you to understand your values and how to make mindful choices aligned with what’s most important to you.

• Compassion Focused Therapy - Helping you to be kinder to yourself so you can give yourself gentle space to work on the areas that you would like to improve upon.

• Emotion Focused Therapy - Helping you to understand, process and use emotion in a psychologically safe space.

• Gottman Method Couples Therapy - A structured, deliberate approach to couples therapy based on decades of clinical research.

‘Kate has given us a real insight into what we can control and can’t control as a couple. I am building a skill set where I set clear boundaries when it comes to other family members and their impact on our relationship.’ - JG

‘I expected this to be about blaming. Like a boxing ring where I get blamed for everything and we fight it out. It wasn’t like that at all. You allowed us to step away from that and helped us observe what was happening so we could learn. It’s been so good.’ - AB