Couples Counselling Practice
Relationship Challenges 2: Caring for Ageing Parents
Following on from my previous blog focusing on a relationship challenge where one partner wants to leave - in this blog I want to focus on the challenges that couples can go through when either one or both partners need to care for ageing parents. Many couples I see in my practice struggle with […]
Relationship Challenges 1: When one partner wants to leave
Relationships are complex and challenging, of that there is no doubt. Never more so than over the past two years when we have had to manage Covid and all its implications on top of everything else going on in our lives. Over the coming months I am going to focus on different relationship challenges that […]
Loneliness in our Relationships
If there is anything positive that’s come out from this current Covid pandemic, it’s that issues of loneliness and isolation experienced by so many, especially during this last year, are firmly at the centre of our awareness. Organisations such as Campaign to End Loneliness believe that people of all ages need connections that matter and […]
Managing Uncertainty During Lockdown
For therapists, uncertainty is an issue that often comes up in therapy and never more so than now. It feels that over the past eight months when the first lockdown started, couples therapy sessions became more focused on uncertainty and anxiety than I can ever remember. Uncertainty about health, job security, schooling, finances, aging parents […]
Articulating the Importance of our Closest Relationships
Celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year this weekend was a very different experience this year. Covid 19 prevented many people attending synagogue services and participating in the familiar customs. The rule of six made it difficult for families to celebrate all together and partake in festive meals. This period is the start of the […]
The Effect of Lockdown on the Client and the Therapist
Who would have thought that at the beginning of March when lockdown started and we were all in a state of shock, that three months later we would all still be coming to terms with this global pandemic and its unknown implications for the future. Rarely before, in over 20 years working as a therapist, […]
Are your parents too intrusive in your relationship?
Are your parents too intrusive in your relationship? In my consulting room I am often not just sitting with a couple who are experiencing difficulties in their relationship, but with a couple who metaphorically bring their parents with them to every session and spend more time talking about their relationship with them than about […]
How to make 2020 a better year for our couple relationship
Already into the third week of the New Year, how many of us are still going strong with our new year’s resolutions to do dry January or Veganuary, to do more exercise and eat less sugar? How many of us have found the novelty has worn off all too easily and returned to our old […]
Mothers and Daughters
Following my previous blog 'Is it Gutsy to stay in a marriage after Infidelity' (please click here to read it) which discusses the book co-written by Hilary and Chelsea Clinton 'The Book of Gutsy Women', I recently attended a packed Royal Festival Hall watching Mary Beard in conversation with Hilary and Chelsea Clinton about their […]
Is it Gutsy to stay in a marriage after infidelity
Hilary Clinton was speaking to ABC’s Good Morning America this week to promote a book she wrote with her daughter Chelsea 'The Book of Gutsy Women. ' When asked “what was the gutsiest thing Hilary had ever done” she replied “politically running for President and personally making the decision to stay in my marriage with […]
Couples Emotional Attachment to Money
In a recent couples counselling session, a client disclosed to her husband that she was in a lot of debt but had been too afraid to share this with him. This came as a complete shock to him and he questioned what sort of marriage they had if his partner didn’t feel able to share […]
Mind the Age Gap
Getting back into work after the summer break is always a varied and an interesting time. Some couples feel the break has been far too long and can’t wait to resume their weekly sessions. Other couples feel the summer break has been good for their relationship and decide to end their sessions. It is often […]
Stress and the Couple
Two news items caught my attention this week: how stress impacts relationships and whether there is a stress gender divide. 1. The first is new research released for National Stress Awareness Day on 1 November 201. It shows that many more women than men are feeling stressed and anxious. Data showed that: · more than […]
Navigating Change in a Couple when the children leave home
The summer holidays are over and the kids are back at school. Many parents up and down the country are bracing themselves for the inevitable when in the next few weeks their children will be leaving home for university. Adjusting to children leaving home, whether its your first child or your youngest child for some […]
What happens to couples when the children leave home
Watching the mesmerising and compelling performance of Gina Mckee in Florian Zeller’s production of 'The Mother' at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn last week left me questioning long after the final curtain. Gina Mckee plays the role of a mother floundering between reality and hostility as her family starts to fall apart and move away […]