Relationship Therapy & Couples Counselling in Nantwich, Cheshire
Couples therapy for when you still care, but can’t seem to reach each other
Couples Therapy: For long-term relationships that have lost their way and partners who would like to find each other again.
Most of the couples I see aren't here because something dramatic has happened. They're here because something quietly has. The arguments have started looping. The conversations have got shorter. The sex has thinned out, or stopped. They're functioning as parents, as a household, as colleagues running the family logistics, but something that used to be between them has gone missing, and they don't quite know how to get it back.
Sometimes though, it's louder than that. An affair has surfaced and you're both in the wreckage trying to work out whether, and how, to rebuild. A betrayal you've been carrying alone has finally come out. A version of one or both of you has changed in a way the relationship hasn't caught up with.
Sometimes the hardest part is admitting that something between you isn't working. Saying it out loud can feel frightening — especially if you still love each other and don't know what acknowledging the problem might mean.
You don't need to arrive knowing whether the relationship can be repaired, whether you should stay together, or even exactly what has gone wrong. We can begin by slowing things down and understanding what keeps happening between you.
Common reasons couples come to see me
You've lost the spark. You love each other but the warmth, the laughter, the closeness have faded, and neither of you is sure when it started.
You've been struggling since the children arrived. Sleep, logistics and exhaustion have flattened your relationship. You parent well together; you don't really know each other anymore.
You're stuck in the same argument. It might be about money, sex, in-laws, the household, parenting, but you can both sense you're not really fighting about that. You're fighting about the same thing in a hundred different costumes.
There's been an affair. One of you is trying to understand what happened. The other is trying to work out whether to stay. You both need a steady space to do that. See more on affair recovery and infidelity counselling here.
You communicate very differently. One of you wants to talk it through; the other shuts down. One of you raises things; the other minimises. You both end up feeling unheard.
One of you is changing. A career shift, midlife, a bereavement, therapy — something has moved in one of you, and the relationship is creaking as it tries to keep up.
How I work with couples: Imago Relationship Therapy
I use Imago Relationship Therapy, an approach designed specifically for long-term relationships. It's structured but human, with techniques I'll guide you through in the room, not endless free-flowing argument that just replays what you do at home.
What Imago does well, and why I trained in it, is help couples slow down enough to actually hear each other. Often the surface issue is only part of what makes an argument feel so charged. Imago helps us slow the conversation down enough to become curious about what each of you is feeling, needing and hearing underneath it — and, where relevant, the older experiences that may be getting touched. Imago gives us a way to surface that gently, without one of you becoming the villain.
Over our work together, you can expect to:
Understand the patterns underneath your conflict — including the bits that pre-date your relationship
Learn to hear each other without going straight into defence
Find safer ways to raise difficult things rather than letting them build
Reconnect with what brought you together — warmth, fun, intimacy, friendship
Make repair after rupture, rather than papering over it
What sessions look like
Couples sessions are 60 - 90 minutes (£75 - £110), weekly or fortnightly, at The Psychotherapy Place in Nantwich, UK. We start with both of you in the room, because the work happens in the space between you.
Our first session is a chance for me to hear from each of you about what's brought you, what you're hoping for, and how you're each experiencing the relationship right now. From there we'll agree how we'd like to work. I don't take sides. I won't tell you whether to stay or go. And I'll be honest with you both, kindly, about what I'm seeing.
Ready to start?
If you and your partner want to try a different conversation, get in touch via the contact form or email hello@thepsychotherapyplace.co.uk and we'll arrange a first session.
Frequently Asked Questions
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It varies. Some couples come for a focused piece of work over 8–12 sessions. Others stay longer, particularly when working through betrayal or significant rebuilding. We'll talk about what feels right as we go.
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That's common. It doesn't have to be a problem, I'd rather have one of you reluctantly curious than two of you pretending. Come and try a session.
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Yes. Couples therapy isn't only for relationships in crisis. Sometimes the relationship is still loving and committed, but the closeness, playfulness or sense of being a team has faded. You may be getting through daily life well enough, but feel more like flatmates than partners. Therapy can give you space to understand what has changed between you and what keeps getting in the way of connection.
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No. Some couples come knowing they want to stay together; others feel much less certain. You don't need to have made that decision before starting. My role isn't to tell you whether to stay or leave, but to help you slow things down, understand what is happening between you and make space for more honest conversations about what each of you wants.
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This is a very common pattern. The more one person tries to talk, seek reassurance or resolve things, the more the other may feel overwhelmed and pull away. That distance can then make the first person try even harder to reconnect. In Imago Relationship Therapy, we slow this cycle down so both of you have more chance to feel heard without the conversation escalating or shutting down.
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I can't tell you that from a website, and I won't promise you an outcome. Some couples come knowing they want to stay together; others genuinely aren't sure. You don't need to have made that decision before coming. The first step can simply be understanding what's happening between you more clearly.
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Get in touch by reaching out via hello@thepsychotherapyplace.co.uk or submitting the contact form. It is helpful if you can let me know your availability on submission. We can then book an initial session.