Relationship Therapy & Intimate Partner Therapy

Diverse – Confusing – Exhilarating – Stuck – Broken – Loving – Terrifying – Open – Limitless – Safe – Lost – Unwanted – Desired – Conflict – Sexual

Relationships can be all of the above, none of the above, or much much more, often clients come to therapy to explore varying aspects of their current relationship/s those of the past, or thoughts about the future.

Relationship therapy (also known as couples therapy if there are two people in the relationship) and diverse relationship therapy (if there are more than two people in the relationship) can be a safe place for individuals and couples & groups to explore, understand and navigate towards growth and a deeper understanding of how to build and maintain healthy long-lasting and fulfilling relationships.

Relationships, Maintenance or Crisis

Finding your way along with your partner/partners into therapy can often feel like a last resort, but this should never be a judgment of where your relationship may be.

A brave and proactive relationship often requires maintenance and support, often this is needed to be found from outside the relationship.

Therapy within a relationship is not always about crisis, often it is about maintenance.

This can be at the very start of a relationship where we know we want to navigate aspects of our individual lives to give our relationship the best possible chance to succeed.

It may be at a stage in the relationship where the unexpected is found or we wish to plan for a strong and connected future but are experiencing new feelings or emotions or where we are navigating our own individual changes as we grow and adapt, but recognize our relationship needs support to evolve alongside us.

Be it forward planning and proactive maintenance, or crisis and conflict that bring you into therapy the important thing is the desire to explore and find stability through the exploration, understanding, and openness along with your partner or partners.

Diversity & Speciality

Every relationship is as unique and diverse as the individuals within it!

Relationship/Intimate partner work can often feel like it is accessible to a pre-defined ideal or social construct of what a relationship is or is not.

It is important to us that as client/clients you feel that your relationship/partnership is valued, acknowledged, and respected irrespective of who those individuals are their backgrounds, experiences, or individual choices in life.

There is no hierarchy upon the right or wrong relationship where those involved are consenting and making a choice to be together in whatever format they desire.

Fluid Psychotherapy specialises in working alongside and supporting those involved in more diverse relationship structures and groups, often helping us to explore and understand feelings and desires that may not fit with our own prior experiences or those of the society around us, or even be in conflict with the needs or desires of our partner/s.

Finding a suitable space to explore unique dynamics in a safe, non-judgmental, and supportive environment, can often be the stepping stone to navigating through the reality and often confusing feelings that can arise as with any relationship.

Elements

Here are some of the elements that we often find clients may wish to work on (although your experience may well be different)

  • Communication problems in a relationship, communication is often the first casualty of a struggling relationship (and the first aspect we feel is broken) yet is often the key to success and longevity. Many people in this situation feel stuck and unable to move on.
  • Conflict resolution, often the cycle of being trapped within conflict with no way out can become a significant and damaging factor within our relationships, often we are stuck as conflict can feel like risk so we become avoidant to protect ourselves.
  • Differences in sexual desire within the relationship.
  • Sexless relationship.
  • Healing and navigation after the disclosure of infidelity.
  • Lack of intimacy.
  • Ending a relationship.
  • Healing and navigation following trauma or intimate partner violence within a relationship
  • Navigating complexities around fertility

The above is an overview, but we recognize that with your relationship there will be factors and experiences unique to you, and we will work alongside you to, explore, stabilize and understand YOUR future

Process

The process of relationship/intimate partner work can often feel uniquely challenging, we can be faced with finding ways to say or share aspects of ourselves or feelings within the relationship with the one person we have the greatest fear of hurting, and the risks, fear and anxiety of loss/impact of openness can become overwhelming and a significant block.

In therapy, we will work to create a safe trusted space where individuals can feel supported in a balanced and non-judgmental way to share and explore with each other as well as your therapist.

There are several core models and modalities we use to support those individuals and couples we see in relationship/intimate partner work as part of a wider therapeutic process.

Narrative Therapy – To explore and share our narratives and voice around how we experience the relationship.

Gottman Method – which uses both individual and couples sessions to determine problems in a relationship and help couples to work together more effectively

Emotion-Focused Therapy – To help individuals & couples identify the underlying emotions involved in their relationship problems. learning to express emotions within the context of a relationship and for this to be safe, respected, and heard

CBT – We will use elements of CBT work to understand and map behavioural changes and explore methods/tools to support growth within the relationship

Fluidity

Fluidity in relationships can feel like an unobtainable situation, especially where we often use words like, stuck or trapped, and the world beyond this can itself not feel achievable, safe, or even OK.

Moving to a time & space in our relationship where we can feel a sense of fluidity, is something often clients express when feeling connected again like a dance, where we are moving together with energy and synergy, not always hand in hand, yet secure knowing we are together and connected, and has a passion or sharedness about it.

We move away from the protective focus being on me, or they, to us or we, finding balance and reconnection or even safety that even when it is not all OK as a team/partnership “we have got this”

Embracing openness, understanding, change & fluidity in relationship therapy can be part of the journey towards continued growth, development and movement.