I can offer an excellent opportunity to talk about what is happening and help you as a couple to find new ways to relate to each other.  The purpose would be to reduce distress, improve communication and increase trust.

Psychotherapy may involve thinking about habits and beliefs and then negotiating to take responsibility for making changes.  This is useful to do in a calm and structured way.

It is my responsibility to listen to each person and I will suggest some individual and joint meetings.  The aim is to bring issues out into the open and to help find new ways of getting on better.

I will provide

• a safe relationship for each of you to talk
• a collaborative process that will acknowledge each of your individual needs
• the opportunity to communicate differently with each other.

I work with couples who find that one or both of them feel ‘stuck’ in the relationship, are perhaps sad or have things that they cannot resolve on their own.  I can help people to face these challenges and to work on destructive patterns.

Finding new ways of communicating will involve some practice.  Recognising the efforts that each person is making will take time and effort.  You will find out how to learn more about each other.

In safe creative conversations, people develop new skills and give one another time and opportunity to grow.

I would encourage you to reflect on who you are in the relationships in your life and the contexts that you live in, using systemic psychotherapy.  Systemic therapy focuses on attachments, emotionality, behaviour and strengths.  I would expect to negotiate with you what you want from the therapy and help you to focus on these areas: the behaviours you are using, the contexts that these occur in and the feelings that come up.  Sometimes, it is useful to think about how other family relationships are affecting your current ways of being.

Often in therapy, someone is coming with a problem, this may be a difficulty which has become aggravated, or may be an issue in a relationship which is difficult to change.  You may have been treated badly or suffered a terrible loss.

People need a chance to decide what they want to talk about.  Then some exploration of the issues and affirmation for their wish to consider changing.  I will use a range of different suggestions/techniques based on evidence to offer help at a negotiated pace.

Sometimes it is not always clear what the difficult issues are, especially if both of you have a different version of how things are. Couple therapy offers the opportunity to understand what are the key issues you may be struggling with in order to be different with each other.

I put a high value on issues of diversity in my individual, couple and family psychotherapy.  A starting point for me as a psychotherapist is that there are many realities and that multiple realities are part of outer social, national and international contexts and may be part of our inner consciousness as well.  I have had developmental and training experiences assist my abilities to address issues of different and overlapping identities.

Usually weekly or fortnightly and also at other frequencies by negotiation.

I offer individual appointments as well and will often recommend them as part of the therapeutic journey.

You can come to the first appointment with some questions which we can discuss and plan from there.    Some people come with a clear view of what they want which can then lead to weekly and/or fortnightly appointments. 

Please say if this is what you want,  I would encourage all my clients to be thinking if the therapy was working for them.  It is useful to review the resources that are available to you. I can suggest other U.K.C.P. registered psychotherapists and counsellors who you could contact.

It is important to find a registered psychotherapist as this will ensure they have a recognized training and that they are keeping up with their professional development.  A register such as the United Kingdom for Psychotherapy (UKCP) plays a monitoring role and helps to safeguard clients from malpractice.

It is important to follow your own responses when you work with a psychotherapist, if the relationship doesn’t feel right for you then I suggest you find someone else.

Please see below for fees – I can offer some clients lower fees if negotiated.  Please ask me.

Sessions will cost £60:00 a session (55 minutes) for daytime appointments between 9.00 am and 8.00 pm.  We can work in a confidential room at my home Ditchling Road in Brighton.

After a booking is made at least 48 hours’ notice is needed if cancellation is necessary.  Otherwise, the full cost of the session will need to be paid.  

By banker order, with cash or by cheque.

Solutions to problems often lie in every day behaviour and ways of talking with each other.  The aim of a family therapist is to bring issues out into the open at a negotiated pace and to help find ways to get on better.

I will provide a collaborative and cooperative process which respects expectations.  I am interested in family ways of doing things and I look for the strengths in people.

Initially, I might meet with one or two people but it is up to you who you bring.  I will be interested in others and will want to consider whether their views can be heard.

Typically family therapy is relatively short, usually no more than six sessions.  Family therapists believe that expanding on the ways we communicate with each other can overcome family problems and can lead to significant and long-term benefits.  This can often be achieved in a small number of sessions than other methods of psychotherapy.