Couples Therapy

What is Couples Therapy?

Couples therapy is a form of psychotherapy that helps couples improve their relationship by resolving conflicts and enhancing communication. It is designed for partners who are experiencing relationship difficulties, whether due to communication problems, emotional distance, or unresolved issues from the past.

How Does Couples Therapy Work?

Couples therapy works by helping partners identify and understand the issues that are causing tension in their relationship. The therapist facilitates open communication, encouraging both partners to express their thoughts and emotions in a safe and supportive environment. Techniques used in couples therapy may include:

  • Active listening and communication exercises.
  • Conflict resolution strategies.
  • Developing empathy and understanding for each other’s perspectives.
  • Learning how to manage and express emotions constructively.

Benefits of Couples Therapy

Couples therapy can help partners strengthen their emotional connection, rebuild trust, and resolve long-standing issues. Some of the benefits include:

  • Improved communication and understanding between partners.
  • Resolution of conflicts and reduced tension in the relationship.
  • Strengthened emotional bond and intimacy.
  • Enhanced problem-solving skills as a couple.

What to Expect in Couples Therapy Sessions

In couples therapy sessions, both partners are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings openly. The therapist helps guide the conversation, ensuring that both individuals are heard and understood. Therapy can last for several weeks or months, depending on the couple's needs and goals.

Is Couples Therapy Right for You?

If you and your partner are struggling with communication, trust, or emotional distance, couples therapy may provide the tools and support you need to repair and strengthen your relationship. Consulting with a trained therapist can help determine if couples therapy is the best approach for your relationship.

Therapists offering couples therapy

All therapists listed are verified and based in Brighton & Hove.

Rosie Dee Brighton

Rosie Dee

Psychotherapist

I'm a humanistic psychotherapist working with individuals and couples, and I bring empathy, hope and creativity to my work. I am interested and curious about what it means and feels like to be you, and I really believe in the power of the therapeutic relationship as a vessel for growth and change. It is a privilege to do this work, and to be a part of the exploration of your life story, who you are and what matters to you.

BACPRegistered

Alan Sparkes Hove

Alan Sparkes

Psychotherapist & Counsellor

An integrative psychotherapist with 20 years’ experience, working with shame and relational trauma, and with people who’ve had therapy before but found it didn’t reach the root of things.I often work with men who've spent years holding it together, and with women living with the effects of early or relational trauma. What brings people is usually anxiety or depression, but underneath there's something that has been there a long time: a harsh inner voice, a sense of never being quite good enough, relationship patterns that keep repeating, or simply not knowing why you feel the way you do.I don't do psychic amputation. You can't cut off the parts of yourself you don't like, or that cause you pain, without running into more problems. Therapy can help those parts be understood and integrated, so you can live more fully.I'm not a therapist who just nods and asks how that makes you feel. I'll tell you what I notice, and when it helps, I'll gently challenge you, always with care. I also work with couples, helping each partner understand what keeps happening between them.I am a UKCP-registered psychotherapist. I built and ran a multi-room therapy practice in Hove, lead peer groups for practitioners, founded Brighton Counselling Directory, and also counsel with the Terrence Higgins Trust in Brighton. Qualified therapists are welcome as clients.

BACPRegisteredUKCPAccredited

Jaz Stroe Brighton

Jaz Stroe

Therapist / Counsellor

A Registered Member of the BACP, I've trained extensively in psychodynamic psychotherapy and counselling, working with the past, memories, dreams and the unconscious. I also volunteer with two leading mental health organisations and benefit from bi-weekly supervision to deepen my knowledge and approach.I’m also a third-culture person. I grew up in the UK with mixed Romanian and Serbian heritage. I know what it's like to perform versions of yourself while quietly feeling like someone else. Cultural identity, migration, belonging and othering are all woven into my psychology and therapeutic practice.I aim to maintain a genuinely inclusive space across culture, identity, sexual orientation, relationship structure, faith, and background. I don't work from a single script of what a person, a relationship, or a life should look like. I work within an ethic of non-harm, to self and to others, and I ask the same of the therapeutic space we share.Ultimately, I came into this work wanting to understand and aid my own mental wellbeing. I've had personal therapy for over a decade. I can only take you as far as I've gone myself, and I've gone deep. In other words, you're in safe hands, and you will be held week after week, for as long as you keep showing up.

BACPRegistered

Stephanie Fortescue Brighton

Stephanie Fortescue

Psychotherapist & Counsellor

I offer both short-term and open-ended therapy, online or face-to-face. We can talk about what might suit you best during an initial consultation.My approach is relational, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming. I work particularly with adults who are autistic, ADHD or AuDHD, including people who have been diagnosed or identified as neurodivergent later in life. I also work with anxiety, depression, relationship and attachment difficulties, low self-esteem, emotional overwhelm and the impact of difficult or traumatic experiences.I originally trained psychodynamically, so I am interested in how our earlier experiences and relationships can shape the way we understand ourselves, relate to other people and respond to situations in the present. However, my way of working has developed considerably over the years and now draws on a wider understanding of trauma, attachment, neurodivergence, emotional regulation and the nervous system.This means we might explore patterns in your relationships, experiences from childhood, difficult emotions or beliefs you hold about yourself. But we might equally think together about sensory overwhelm, executive functioning, masking, burnout, rejection sensitivity, emotional regulation or why everyday demands can sometimes feel disproportionately difficult.I don't believe that every difficulty needs to be traced back to childhood or that distress should automatically be viewed as something within the individual that needs to be “fixed”. Sometimes understanding your brain, nervous system and environment — and recognising where you have spent years trying to function in ways that don't suit you — can be just as important.

BACPRegistered


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