As we move through the life of an intimate relationship, mapping and learning each other’s edges and limits is one of the most essential ways to foster a life together that is meaningful and mutually beneficial. Then there are the relationship deal-breakers that challenge a loving bond in ways that make it impossible for most couples to find a bridge over. Spotting and navigating them well are critical to keeping the couple. It’s important to remember that every couple has very different deal breakers, depending on their unique preferences and values. However, some deal breakers are more universal, especially when…

I am a psychotherapist who has spent many years working with couples struggling to communicate. But few have been more memorable and eye-opening than the long-distance relationship of Elena and Sarah, a lesbian couple who – years after meeting – were each finding it far too difficult to make their relationship work in two different countries. Their story is just as much about their love for one another as it is about the transformative power of communication and trust-building. In this article, I will walk you through Elena and Sarah’s journey, from the tipping point of divorce to a tighter…

Having worked as a psychotherapist for more than 20 years, I have heard a lot of family business in the consulting room. Even so, few family dramas have stayed with me as powerfully as this one. So today, having cut and spliced their story together, I’m telling it to you, in the hope that. If it rings true of parent-daughter relationships you’ve known, maybe you’ll take heart that there’s hope in the studio, too. Laura had been seeing her therapist for some months a task that would deeply embarrass her. Her therapist wanted her to tell her daughter, Emily, that…

As a psychotherapist who has spent 20 years treating post-college relationships, I’ve seen the throes of romance, as well as the struggles that occur as couples fight for greater trust and closeness… or simply call it quits. Here, I want to share with you the story of a couple following the latter path: of two young lovers who threw caution to the wind in high school and are now trying to make sense of the seemingly irreconcilable tenets of their worldview, after they were shattered amid post-college opposition. Let me introduce Aiden and Zoe, boyfriend and girlfriend from high school…

I am a psychotherapist with 30 years of experience and over those years, I have had the honour to be invited into the hardest and most rewarding work of couples’ lives, helping them work through the transition to parenthood, of which there are many. But possibly the most difficult couple for whom I have worked are Carlos and Nina, whom I invite you to meet. Nina and Carlos came to me seeking couple’s counselling after two and a half years of trying to conceive their second baby with no success. The Expectant Couple When Carlos and Nina entered my office…