Imago Relations Therapy is an intentional strategy that aims to slow the conflict cycle in communication.  It helps couples identify what is most important to them, and focusing on effective listening, couples can move to a real sense of understanding.  The intention is to help everyone come away with a sense of being heard.  These skills help a couple move towards healing and growth that results in you becoming your own relationship expert.

A counsellor has specific training in recognising emotional and psychological issues that arise from past events in a relationship.  Their focus is on trying to address the impact of those events and the patterns of behaviour that arise from this.  If the relationship has encountered trauma and/or mental health issues, or is experiencing a high level of toxicity, then a counsellor is the best option.
As a couples coach, my focus is on what you each bring to the relationship and how you can use the best of who you are to work together better.  With the unique combination of CliftonStrengths (the language of your unique relationship) and Imago (achieving a sense of ‘being heard’) you have the opportunity to revitalise the curiosity and energy within your relationship.  With specific training on working with couples, I am well placed to help you to learn about each other and equip you to communicate more effectively.

As with anything, you will only get out what you are prepared to put in.  There are things that you will be asked to practice between sessions, and the effort you put in here will impact the success of the sessions that you have.
In particular, the key changes that you will be asked to work on are:

• A curiosity about yourself; discovering and naming what is most important to you.
• A curiosity about your partner; realising that they too have things that are important to them.
• A willingness to talk about what really matters in your relationship, with a corresponding willingness to slow down and hear what is important to the other.

The cost of coaching varies based on what you are looking for as a couple – everyone’s situation is different.  While affordability is subjective, we know that the rewards that you get from personal growth such as this will bring lasting benefits to many different aspects of your life, even beyond the immediate rewards within your relationship.  We understand budget concerns and are here to help.  Contact us to explore how coaching can work for you within your budget

Gallup CliftonStrengths is a tool that provides the vocabulary couples can use to enhance curiosity and understanding in their relationship.  Everyone is wired very differently – we are unique human beings.  In relationships, where opposites tend to attract, using the language of CliftonStrengths enables couples to recognise each other's unique strengths and weaknesses, and get an understanding of what really important to the other, thereby learning to appreciate and support each other better. 

A typical session will last up to 90 mins.  In that time, there will typically be three things that we are trying to achieve:

• Practising Imago skills, learning to slow down and hear one another.
• Understanding what intuitively drives each of us to be our best, gaining a sense of curiosity about ourselves and our partner, and how this impacts the dynamic of the relationship.
• Using current issues and tensions to apply new skills and understanding to identify more fulfilling co-created solutions to these issues.

You will start to gain a greater understanding of each other from session one, including learning skills that will help you both to move forward.  By engaging in the learning and practice between sessions, you will learn to build new resilience in your relationship.  Understanding comes one step at a time, change comes in the intentional practice to respond differently.

We offer group workshops at various times, and this can be a very cost-effective way of gaining similar benefits.  Workshops are more focussed time-wise, usually occurring over a weekend.  This might work for your time schedule.  Private coaching happens over a longer period of time, focussing on ongoing growth.  Because the attention is entirely on you as a couple, it tends to be tailored more to your specific needs.  Contact us to talk about the options that work best for you