Individual therapy
for relationship issues
Explore your relationship patterns, improve communication, and develop healthier ways of relating— all in individual therapy tailored to you.
Individual Therapy, Not Couples Therapy
I offer individual counselling to help you work through relationship difficulties. This is one-to-one therapy focused on you—your patterns, your responses, your growth. I do not provide couples therapy or relationship counselling for partners together.
Why Individual Therapy for Relationship Issues?
Relationship difficulties often stem from our own patterns, beliefs, and attachment styles—things formed long before the current relationship. Individual therapy helps you understand and change your contribution to relationship dynamics.
You don't need your partner present to work on relationship issues. In fact, individual therapy offers unique advantages:
Focus on Your Patterns
Explore how your attachment style, past experiences, and learned behaviors show up in relationships without needing to coordinate with a partner.
Safe Space for Honesty
Speak openly about your feelings, fears, and resentments without worrying about your partner's reaction or hurting their feelings.
Work at Your Own Pace
Process difficult emotions, past trauma, or family-of-origin issues without needing your partner to be part of that journey.
Change What You Can Control
Focus on your own growth, communication, and responses—the things you actually have power to change.
Paradoxically, working on yourself in individual therapy often improves your relationships more effectively than joint work. When you change how you show up, the relationship dynamic shifts.
Common Relationship Issues I Help With
Individual therapy can help with a wide range of relationship difficulties.
Attachment & Intimacy Issues
Anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, fear of intimacy, difficulty trusting, push-pull dynamics
Communication Difficulties
Struggling to express needs, conflict avoidance, defensive communication, feeling unheard
Repeating Patterns
Choosing similar partners repeatedly, same conflicts in different relationships, self-sabotage
Codependency
People-pleasing, losing yourself in relationships, difficulty setting boundaries, over-functioning
Relationship Anxiety
Constant worry about the relationship, need for reassurance, catastrophizing, jealousy
After a Breakup
Processing grief, understanding what went wrong, healing before moving forward
Trust Issues
Difficulty trusting after betrayal, hypervigilance, checking behaviors, past infidelity trauma
Fear of Commitment
Sabotaging relationships when they get serious, keeping one foot out the door, ambivalence
Family Conflict
Difficult family dynamics, boundary issues with parents/siblings, family-of-origin wounds
How Relationship Counselling Works
I use an integrative approach combining Person-Centred therapy, Gestalt, and Transactional Analysis— all particularly effective for relationship work.
Exploring Attachment Patterns
We explore your attachment style (anxious, avoidant, secure) and how it shows up in relationships. Understanding these patterns is the first step to changing them.
Developing Communication Skills
Learn to express needs clearly, set boundaries, and communicate from Adult rather than reacting from wounded Child. Practice new ways of relating in the safety of therapy.
Understanding Relationship Dynamics
Identify games and drama triangles you might be playing (Rescuer, Persecutor, Victim). Recognize how your past influences present relationship choices.
Building Secure Attachment
The therapeutic relationship itself becomes a model for secure attachment. You experience being seen, accepted, and valued—often for the first time. This heals and rewires old attachment wounds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can individual therapy really help my relationship?
Yes. When you change how you communicate, set boundaries, and manage your emotions, the relationship dynamic shifts. Your partner often responds differently when you show up differently. Many clients find their relationships improve significantly through individual work.
What if my partner won't come to therapy?
That's exactly when individual therapy is valuable. You can't control whether your partner engages in therapy, but you can work on yourself. Often, the changes you make inspire your partner to reflect and grow too.
Should I leave my relationship or stay?
Therapy isn't about me telling you what to do. It's about helping you gain clarity on what you want, understand your patterns, and make decisions from a place of self-awareness rather than fear or confusion.
How long does relationship counselling take?
It varies. Some clients find clarity and develop new skills in a few months. Others work on deeper attachment wounds or trauma that requires longer-term therapy. We'll work at a pace that feels right for you.
Ready to work on your relationships?
Book a free 15-minute consultation to discuss how individual therapy can help you develop healthier relationship patterns.