I work with couples and families mainly where the sense of “us” begins to falter – when communication breaks down, misunderstandings accumulate or are left unresolved, and feelings of guilt, blame, shame or humiliation start to intensify. Closeness and cooperation can lose their grounding. When it feels as though partners can no longer speak to one another, I help create a pathway back to being heard and understood.
Hurt feelings, emotional distance, loneliness, feeling misunderstood or a loss of trust can easily conceal the underlying needs – until communication itself begins to feel like a burden. Conflicts often get stuck on the surface level of “what is said”. I support you in returning to a key foundation for loving relationships: emotional safety and security are the core needs for appreciation and connection. These needs are often expressed through emotion. By learning to understand that emotional language, you can begin to look – together, with greater trust and openness – at what is really driving recurring conflicts and begin to resolve them.

I facilitate, guide and structure conversations with calmness, empathy and clarity, so that each person’s perspective becomes understandable. We unmask what has been misread or misunderstood and make sense of what was actually meant behind words or actions. Emotions reveal themselves when they feel received, are given space and can start being translated into genuine understanding again.

We focus on patterns and attempted solutions rather than blame, and on needs rather than accusations. This helps new solutions become visible and interrupts repetitive cycles. Guided by meaning and by what you want to move towards, couples and family therapy enables clearer communication. In our sessions, we agree on shared goals and establish everyday practices and rituals that lead – through manageable, realistic steps – to the outcomes you are seeking.

Suitable for:

• Couples working through trust, intimacy or sexuality issues
• Families with children and adolescents, co-parenting and blended families
• Multi-generational dynamics, questions of roles and healthy boundaries
• Balancing individuality and connection of one’s identity within the family
• Support during challenging circumstances (e.g. medical issues, trauma, or crises)

For a more sustainable way of relating – bringing greater trust, dignity and fairness into life together.

When is couples and family therapy recommended?

Couples or family therapy can be particularly helpful when you find yourselves caught in recurring conflicts – or in patterns of avoidance, silence, withdrawal, “punishing” distance and criticism. This may weigh on the relationship in conversations, physical closeness or a sense that you can no longer be open and fully yourselves with one another. Attempts to solve things can disguise themselves as criticism and conversations begin to go in circles: one word leads to another, old issues resurface, one person withdraws while the other presses for explanations and both may end up feeling alone, misunderstood or treated unfairly. In these moments, “always” and “never” statements often increase in frequency, as do justifications, a sense of having to defend oneself, comparisons, power struggles or keeping score about who does, knows or contributes more. When appreciation and respect feel under attack, it often touches something fundamental – either the relationship itself or a person’s sense of self-worth.

Everyday pressures can also keep conflicts stuck in one place. Mental load, household responsibilities, social overload, time with or without children, finances, sleep deprivation and media use can expose different expectations about shared life, leisure time, and parenting. Intimacy is shaped – consciously and unconsciously – by very subtle cues. Problems with closeness or distance, sexuality and boundaries often point to underlying needs, values and the conditions required for a more harmonious way of being together.

Children and young people are often the first to show signs that something in the family system is compromised. Recognising these signs – and understanding what they may be communicating – can be difficult, especially when they appear as anger, withdrawal, blame, loss of interest or a decline in performance.
Research in neuroscience and mental health has increasingly highlighted how vulnerable children and adolescents can be to psychological and emotional stress. When conversations frequently break down or escalate, agreements are not kept or “sides” begin to form – this can be understood as a sign that additional support is needed.

Couples and family therapy can provide structured, steady guidance and support to help you look at what is happening – and find a way forward together.