Relationship Counselling in Melbourne

Name: Safe Place Therapy
Price range: $$

Safe Place Therapy is a private practice offering relationship counselling in Melbourne, Australia.

Talk to us Online via Telehealth from anywhere in Australia, or in person at one of our Melbourne locations.

What is relationship counselling?

When you need to work at your relationship, we can help with effective relationship counselling.

Relationship counselling can be hard work for any couple. Even couples in a healthy relationship can benefit from a tune-up here and there!

It is important for the counsellor to make both partners feel supported and heard in their experience of what is going on in the relationship.

At Safe Place Therapy, we use a number of different relationship therapies and tools to help you strengthen your connection, including the Gottman method.

Below, we break down the main areas that our relationship counselling program will help you to tackle.

What are the main problems
in a couple's relationship?

Communication issues

“They never listen to me”

“I can’t get a word in”

“We don’t talk anymore”

All relationships need work. At some point, things get rocky. However, do you strongly feel like you are having the same conversation over and over and not getting anywhere? Or are you just not talking at all? When you aren’t talking, it’s hard to fix things. For example, what often happens is we get caught into ‘he said/she said’ arguments that go nowhere. What’s more we get caught up in a cycle of fighting. Sometimes you also feel the point of the argument gets lost. Now, the point of the argument is simply having an argument.

Because we know our partner well, we also know how to hurt them. Sometimes we say hurtful things and this escalates into a two-way battle.

If this all sounds and feels familiar, read on. These are very typical relationship problems.

We provide effective relationship help and relationship advice.

When we sit with both of you and start talking about communication, usually each partner recognises what they are doing that is unhelpful. It’s important to understand what adds to the breakdown in connection. Unhelpful and negative behaviour has reasons behind it.

In our relationship counselling, you will understand why you and your partner might be doing this. There are sometimes many reasons. Often it is because we feel unheard, unsupported and insecure. That makes us revert back to bad ways of communicating.

When communication with your partner is making things not work, reach out to our service and we will talk this through.

Emotional connection

“I feel alone in this relationship” or “they are so hot and cold all the time” or even “I’m walking on egg shells”.

The glue that holds any relationship together is the connection that you have. Remember back to when you first met, usually you think of a time where you both spent time together, went out of your way to do something special or just had one-on-one time. Over time we get busy and comfortable or issues come up that pull you apart. There may have even been a big life transition, such as having a baby, that may have affected the way you and your partner emotionally engage with each other.

We usually see this in relationship counselling, with couples who haven’t spent the time to talk things through and feel unable to share their feelings in a safe way.

A lot of couples are unsure how to support their partner when they are going through a hard time. We also see feelings being hidden away or replacing true feelings with frustration of the other person. It’s easier to display anger and irritation than sadness or fear.

Our first priority in your emotional connection to your partner is talking about your ability to feel safe with them. There may have been real reasons why you have pulled away from them and our sessions focus on this.

If you want a deeper connection with your partner please contact our relationship counselling service in Melbourne and we will discuss this further.

Conflict/trust breakdown

“I’ve lost trust in them”

“I just don’t know who they are anymore”

Is there just that ‘one thing’ that has ripped your relationship apart? An affair? Is it about money? Is it something one of you has done ‘out of character’?

This is often the one fight you always have and it seems that all other fights revert back to this one issue. You both feel stuck and consumed by this issue. You go around in circles and can’t move forward. The other aspect of this is your changed perception of your partner and the loss of respect or trust that has come with it.

The way they have behaved or treated you in the past has carried forward. Now it taints how you both interact. We don’t downplay how horrible this experience can be and what you are going through right now. All is not lost, not even in these high level stress situations. If both partners are willing and wanting to work on the relationship, things can get better.

Can couples counselling really help?

Making the decision together to seek couples therapy or marriage counselling is the first and biggest step you can make to repairing your relationship.

In agreeing to attend counselling session together, you have already told each other you are willing to put in the required work.

As long as both of you are willing to put in the effort, then our couples counsellors are here to help you address your problems in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

At the core of couples therapy is communication.

We can provide you with the skills needed to overcome barriers to communication, and help you to really hear what your partner is trying to tell you. In our extensive experience, opening the lines of communication is essential for repairing relationships.

Once you are able to talk, express yourselves, and hear what your partner has to say, you will both be better equipped to work through the deeper issues.

If any, or a combination, of the above issues are happening for you and your partner our service is here to help. We are happy to have a conversation over the phone or to speak with you at a first appointment. Take the time for your relationship.