At Sydney Couple and Family Specialists, we have been counselling married couples for more than 25 years. We have the skills, expertise and experience to improve your marriage / relationship. Sydney Couple and Family Specialists offer marriage counselling in Sydney at one centrally-located practice in Elizabeth Street, Sydney CBD.  If you feel you might need some marriage counselling, feel free to call us on 02 8968 9397 or complete the online contact form to book an appointment today.

Being married is not only a legal commitment but an emotional commitment to your significant other. Typically, people want to get married because it provides security, shows commitment, and is a legal recognition of membership of each other’s families. Marriage also provides a secure base for children to enter a relationship.

However, there are almost always external stresses that can test even the best marriages. And of course, human development means that people change – sometimes their values change, and sometimes there are changes to what they want in life. Marriage counselling helps couples re-negotiate their relationship in the face of change, establish new shared goals, and bring their relationship back into focus.

What is marriage counselling?

Marriage counselling is a service that will allow you and your partner to air any concerns or troubles in a safe environment. The counsellor will ask questions about the relationship in order to identify and assess any areas which are causing conflict. They might then give the couple strategies to help them work with problems in the relationship. The strategies vary and depend on the couple’s particular situation. It’s important to note that the aim of marriage counselling is not to locate an ‘antagonist’ in the relationship. It’s not about finding someone to blame. The aim of marriage counselling is to identify unhealthy dynamics and communication problems in a relationship. Then give the couple the practical tools, strategies and support to work on the problems – with the aim of helping the relationship flourish again.

Many couples are concerned that the counsellor may show some bias toward one party over the other. But marriage counsellors are trained to remain neutral, and the counsellors at Sydney Couple and Family Therapist are all experienced professionals who prioritise the health of the marriage – as opposed to siding with one person.

Do I need marriage counselling?

Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether or not you need marriage counselling. Every marriage goes through periods where problems show up or where one or the other person struggles with the relationship. This doesn’t mean that marriage counselling is needed every time there’s a problem or challenge. However, if you find that you as a couple are avoiding issues, not communicating about differences, and/or are ‘stuck in an unhealthy dynamic, it would be worthwhile investing in marriage counselling. The sooner you do it, the earlier you can catch problems and repair them before resentment builds. In our experience, problems that are left unresolved tend to show up ten-fold later – and sometimes it’s too late to save the relationship.

You could benefit from marriage counselling if you experience any of the following:-

• You’re feeling unloved, lonely or disconnected in your relationship.
• There is a lack of communication in the relationship; perhaps one or both of you feel like you the other doesn’t really ‘hear’ you.
• There’s a lack of affection, sex and other forms of intimacy in your relationship.
• There are repetitive issues that cause conflict which is never really resolved.
• Your partner has had an affair, or perhaps you’re considering sleeping with other people.
• You and your partner are struggling to agree on how to raise children, or perhaps having issues with in-laws.
• You are considering a separation but can’t think of a way to carry it out well, or you are not sure it is the right thing to do for your children.

If any of the above ring true to you, then you may benefit from marriage counselling. Marriage counselling, like health problems, tends to have the best outcomes when problems are treated as soon as they appear. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to resolve, and you may end up in an endless cycle of resentments.

How can marriage counselling help me and my relationships?

Of course marriage counselling can help your partnership. But it can also help you as an individual. A struggling marriage can severely impact your mental health; it can cause anxiety and depression. It can also severely impact your quality of life. When your primary relationship is under stress, it can affect your sleep and your ability to concentrate at work. Marriage counselling can help you if you have children, or you want them. Children can be profoundly affected by tension, lack of connection, or outright conflict between their parents. By strengthening your relationship, you can give your children great role models and the security and stability all children need.

A struggling marriage can also severely impact your social lives and relationships with friends and family. You might not want other people to see that you are not as connected as you used to be, and if you are experiencing depression or anxiety you are likely to withdraw from social life.

Marriage counselling will not only help your marriage, but could also greatly improve your family as a whole, your social life, work-life, and your own mental health and quality of life. It can free you to move on and truly start enjoying your life again.

Why use Sydney Couple and Family Specialists?

If you live in the Sydney area and believe you may need some marriage counselling, Sydney Couple and Family Specialists can help. We have one centrally-located practice in Elizabeth Street, Sydney CBD.  This is convenient for anyone working in the CBD or living in the Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore and Inner West. We offer Zoom sessions for clients who live further out from our two Sydney locations. All of our marriage counsellors and family therapists are highly experienced and trained, and typically clients report improvement in their relationships in less than three sessions.

We understand that some couples will be anxious about counselling, and we are experienced in quickly settling couples into sessions so that they are able to get the most out of them and feel confident to disclose their thoughts and feelings. Most couples report they feel comfortable in sessions by the time the first session is completed. We pride ourselves on being marriage counsellors who are easy to relate to.

Make an appointment with Sydney Couple and Family Specialists if you are looking for:

• Professionally trained marriage counsellors to work with couples and families.
• Proactive work which will leave you walking out of your first session hopeful and with a plan to repair your marriage.
• Structured and safe sessions which are conducted in a way which allows everyone to express themselves. Sessions do not get out of hand or aggressive.
• You would like expertise to help you manage a situation where one of you is not comfortable with the idea of counselling. We understand that marriage counselling is a financial and emotional commitment, and we can generally get a couple to a point where they are both comfortable coming to sessions and engaging fully in them.
• If you would like to see significant improvements in your relationship in less than three sessions.

If you’re looking for Marriage Counselling in Sydney, feel free to call us on 02 8968 9397 or complete the online contact form.