Great Couples Counselling in Mount Albert, ON. Therapy to heal relationships.

Winnie provides non-judgemental and compassionate couple therapy. In dealing with Couples counselling she primarily draws from her training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). EFT is the most progressive and well researched therapeutic interventions used in Couples Therapy. By using this practical and effective method, the goal is to help couples to identify their cycle, how they are connecting in their distressing patterns, and how they can be helped to reconnect again in a new pattern. Winnie also had attended Sex Therapy course at University of Guelph. She has also taught Premarital sex courses as well as leading female groups on the topic of sex.

Everyone wants to feel heard and understood, that's why arguments are hardly ever about chores or childcare. Sessions will help you and your partner cut through the resentment and find a shared language that will help you see each other for your true selves. Communication will focus on expressing your needs in a safe environment and learning how to be able to meet your partner's needs with gentleness and validation.

Taking time with your loved one can be a beautiful and fulfilling experience. However, it can feel challenging when you and your partner are stuck in previous patterns of behaviour, communication, and interaction. As a couple therapist, I will support you in better understanding yourself, your loved one, and your relationship to navigate challenges (e.g., communication, attachment, trust, etc.). I seek to enable you and your partner to work as a team in navigating whatever struggles come your way and developing your own unique toolkit. Speak with me today for a free consultation to begin your journey.

Healthy relationships are extremely important to our happiness, health and well-being. In couples therapy, it is my ultimate goal to help both of you to come to a full and deep understanding of one another. Often times, couples get into disputes because of a lack of understanding of one another which can be due to time constraints, family difficulties, lack of knowledge of one another's beliefs, etc. In therapy, we will explore each person's background, beliefs and perspectives, and we will negotiate both so that they can work together in harmony. We will also look at the particular issue(s) that you have sought therapy and will work on remedying it by reestablishing an emotional connection.

As human beings we are hard wired for connection, yet many of us struggle in our most meaningful relationships for many reasons including betrayal, infidelity, blended families and other conflicts. Through 30 years of work we have recognized that often couples leave their relationship at the time they have the most to learn. Our team of therapists are trained to implement a variety of skills and techniques when working with couples, such as active listening skills, Imago, Gottman’s principals, managing emotions, and positive communication skills.

Specializing in couple therapy, I can help you and your partner work through difficult times such as affairs, broken relationship, losses, etc. As I am informed by Emotion Focused Therapy (which is effective in couple therapy), I can assist you in reaching out to your partner despite your fear and uncertainty. You will experience a closer and intimate relationship.

You are at the end of your rope. You love your partner, you don't want to end the relationship but your partner is so distant and disconnected, so you are looking for help. Perhaps you just found out the awful truth that your partner is having an affair. Maybe you have tried couple therapy before and things improved a bit then you found yourself back in the same sad stuck place. Couples often need help to find their way back to each other. Please visit my website or call me to find out how I can help you heal wounds and create the strong loving connection with your partner that you deserve.

I’ve been helping people lead more intentional lives for over 20 years. Couples therapy supports you in reaching a fresh connection with your partner. You have the ability to have a meaningful relationship. I can help you learn the skills to communicate in a way that will get your needs met. I’m trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, developmental models,and anxiety and depression management. I will support you in creating a set of tools to help you discover your objective. Most importantly, you're a distinctive couple, with distinctive needs. My goal is to work with you as a unique couple, and focus on YOUR goals.

Loving, successful relationships need to be carefully and skillfully nurtured in the following five areas: Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual, Sexual, Financial. Couples who are ready to do ongoing work on their relationships are richly rewarded with a loving, meaningful and joyful life together. Committed relationships that have the possibility of morphing into long term relationships benefit greatly by being guided by the Gottman research on relationships as well as Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Premarital Counselling prepares a couple for a new stage in their relationship by identifying potential areas of conflict and strength and developing tools to create a strong foundation.

Do you or your partner suffer from social anxiety and it's affecting your relationship? Social anxiety is a fear of negative judgment from others and it can lead to reduced levels of intimacy, suppressed emotions, feelings of isolation and loneliness and lack of communication. If one or both of you feels anxious socially, your relationship may be suffering too. Contact me for ways in which you can move past social anxiety to a fuller, intimate, richer, relaxed more authentic relationship.

Would you like tips on how to communicate with your partner? How about learning how to argue fairly and come to a compromise or solution? Would you like help in restoring the gratitude you once had for your relationship and loved one? My therapeutic technique(s) using both talk therapy and active therapeutic strategies I.e. worksheets, couples homework assignments, etc can help you acknowledge areas in your relationship you would like to improve and provide practical strategies toward accomplishing both your individual and partnership goals.

Shyamala has a Masters in Counselling and a Doctorate specifically in Marriage and Family Therapy. As a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist, her expertise is in working with couple relationships. She practices Emotionally Focussed Therapy for couples; one of the most researched and effective ways to treat couple distress. Her goal is to help couples create secure and meaningful connections so that they no longer need the assistance of a couples therapist and are able to work through life's challenges on their own.

What concerns can we hope to address? ​ - Communication - Conflict - Infidelity - Building trust - Enhancing emotional intimacy - Opening up - Sexual issues We will utilize a combination of therapeutic modalities, interventions and approaches to help tailor the treatment to your specific needs, including: ​ - Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) - Gottman Method - Sex Therapy - Assess for strengths and vulnerabilities of your relationship - Assign homework activities (applying what you've learned outside of your sessions with structured exercises for reducing conflict, improving communication, and enhancing sexual intimacy) - Recommend individual therapy for one or both partners

I use 9 steps of Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) to help couples identify their negative interaction cycle and each partner's role in that cycle. Steps 1-4 entails empowering the couples to access unacknowledged emotions underlying the interactional positions and to reframe the challenges in terms of underlying feelings and attachment needs. Steps 5-7 entails supporting and mediating couples to change interactional positions and creating new bonding experiences. Steps 8-9 entails encouraging the couples to integrate new solutions to old relational problems.

Couples counselling in my sessions includes communication styles and changes, understanding each person's perspective, and more awareness of oneself in the relationship. Healthy attitudes and behaviours are explored together. Sometimes individual therapy is suggested alongside couples therapy if there are more severe issues in the relationship. Couples may include pre-marital, married, partners, separated, or even good friends who want relationship growth.

In working with couples, the relationship is my client. My goal is to ensure that both partners feel heard and validated. I support the couple in creating space to have conversations that might otherwise be difficult to have. In working with me, couples will learn improved ways of communicating and being there for one another. They will also learn how to manage conflict in a way that is supportive of relationship growth. Further, the couples' strengths will be highlighted and accessed to continue to grow the relationship bond.

Relationships are very complex. They have the potential to enrich our lives if we let them. They require flexibility and compromise, good communication skills, and an awareness of ourselves as individuals. A couple is made up of two unique individuals who come from very different family backgrounds and who bring diverse beliefs and perspectives into the relationship. It's no wonder that difficulties arise. It is common for partners to get caught up in negative, destructive cycles that unless stopped, can propel the relationship into greater disharmony. Couples therapy can lead to a deeper and more meaningful relationship.

If you are finding yourselves stuck in the same 'merry-go-round' (although not so merry!) of poor communication and accusation/defensiveness, winners and losers, your marriage probably feels like you're going nowhere fast! You think you've married the wrong person and feel that you've tried everything in your 'tool-bag' to do. If you don't have 'win-win', what you essentially have is 'lose-lose'.. I will advocate for your marriage...I will be your cheerleader and your coach combined, showing you how to get out of this destructive cycle and move forward to something much more satisfying. I will help you rebuild when hurts have been deep. Don't delay on this...sooner is better!

Relationships can be both satisfying, and frustrating. Although we can get along with some people some of the time, in close relationships we can sometimes get stuck, over-reactive, or even too distant. In couple counselling we can explore what's not working in your relationship, what your individual and 'couple' ideals and dreams are, and then strategize and work together on getting your relationship to a better place.

If you are feeling disconnected, angry, hurt, and unfulfilled in your relationship I can help. I listen carefully to both partners in an unbiased manner. I can help you to reconnect through techniques that improve the content and quality of communication. I will address the needs of both partners in the relationship and help you to establish a deep intimacy. I can help you to overcome infidelity and in turn, create a brand new and ultimately fulfilling relationship.

Your marriage is in crisis, or you feel "stuck". Perhaps you are dealing with one of many common relationship issues, Infidelity, Frequent bickering and fighting, Inability to stop destructive patterns of behavior, Feeling taken for granted, Unsupported or misunderstood, No longer enjoying time together, Damaged trust or jealousy, Loss of intimacy, Challenges with parenting, Difficulties with the stress of work and family. Learning new communication skills which replace the old repetitive patterns, using Imago and Emotionally Focused Therapy are two strong amongst various approaches to reignite and/or deepen the connection that restores trust, safety and security, and harmony.

Beneath most intimate relationship struggles, there is a key defining question being asked, “Are you really there for me?” This question embodies many others: When I need you, can I reach you? Do you respect and support me? Do you care about me when I'm hurting? Do you still want me? When the answers to these questions become shaky in our mind, we get stuck in unhealthy patterns, and may need some help finding our way back to each other. Emotionally Focused Therapy is an evidence-based model that helps couples reconnect with each other and (re)discover the relationship they have always wanted. Reach out today to bring healing and enhancement to the most important relationship in your life!

Healthy relationships can be one of the most enjoyable and important experiences a person can have. Yet relationships are not easy—they are complex and can change over time. It’s not uncommon for couples to fall into patterns and engage in behaviours that create distress for both partners. I believe that couples counselling is about helping you and your partner better understand each other by being open, vulnerable, and honest about your own thoughts and feelings. My approach is about working together to create space, find the language, and develop ways to restore, grow, and thrive as a partnership.

Relationship with "other" (meaning really anything outside of ourselves) is probably the most important aspect of living. The better this relationship is, the more fulfilling a life can become. More specifically, the relationship with a human partner is probably the most important of all relationships. Is it true to you that your heartfelt relationship with your partner is truly an integral "need" in your life? Some say that we all need connection, acceptance, and love in order to be whole human beings. Are those three essentials present in your relationship? Do you want to find ways to bring them more fully into your life?

Couple therapy is a broad term for those who wish to address relationship concerns or would like assistance in navigating their relationship. Presenting topics may include breaches of trust, infidelity, (co)parenting, sex and intimacy, separation, exploration of relationship structure or general conflict and arguments. Often times, at nobody’s fault, couples may get caught in patterns of interaction that bring a lot of pain to the relationship. I will assist you in identifying these harmful interactions and work towards breaking that cycle with new ways of relating to each other. I am affirming of polyamorous and ethical non-monogamous relationships. Contact me to book a free consultation.