About us
By the time most couples reach out for counselling, the same conversation has been happening for months — sometimes years. The specifics change. The underlying argument does not. One of you raises something. The other hears something different from what was said. It escalates, or it doesn't, and either way nothing actually gets resolved. The next day it is still there.
If that pattern feels familiar, you are not in unusual territory. Long-term relationships do not fail because the people in them stopped caring. They get stuck because the patterns of communication that develop over years stop letting new information in. The same conversation goes round and round, and both people end up feeling unheard.
What couples work with us looks like
Couples counselling is not about deciding who is right. It is not about making one of you change your behaviour to suit the other. It is about creating a different kind of conversation — one where each of you can hear what the other is actually saying, and where the patterns that keep you stuck can be examined together rather than re-enacted.
The work tends to begin with understanding the dynamic — what each of you brings, what each of you needs, where the conversations break down. From there, depending on what is needed, our work may draw on the Gottman Method (an evidence-based approach with decades of research behind it), on Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), on systemic approaches that look at the relationship in its wider context, or on Imago Relationship Therapy where the work needs to address how earlier relational patterns are shaping the present one.
What we don't do is take sides. The therapist's job is to be useful to the relationship as a whole — which sometimes means challenging both of you, sometimes means slowing the conversation down so something can actually be heard, and always means treating both perspectives as legitimate.
For all kinds of couples
Our couples work is open to and informed by the realities of different kinds of relationships — including same-sex couples, couples where one or both partners are neurodiverse, couples in non-monogamous arrangements, and couples navigating issues that traditional couples therapy has historically handled poorly. The work adapts to who you are. The principles do not change.
Online and accessible
Couples sessions are conducted online with both partners joining from the same space (or from different spaces, if circumstances require it). Online couples work is often more practical for couples juggling work, childcare, or simply geography — and the quality of the work does not change. Face-to-face sessions are available in some locations — please ask.
Who you would be working with
Hope Therapy is a team of more than 90 qualified counsellors and therapists, including couples-trained practitioners with specialist training in relationship work. Every therapist is a registered member of a UK professional body. We are an NCPS Organisational Member.
You will be matched to a couples therapist whose training and approach fit the kind of work the two of you need. The matching is deliberate.
How starting works
A free 15-minute consultation is the right place to begin. It is open to one or both of you — many couples have one partner make the initial contact and bring the other to the first full session. The consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
You do not need to know what you want to work on. You do not need to agree, before the call, on what the problem is. You just need to have decided that it is worth trying something different from the conversation you have been having on your own.
A note on what we don't offer
We do not work with couples where there is active domestic abuse, ongoing violence, or where one partner is being coerced into therapy. Couples counselling assumes both partners are able to engage safely and freely. If safety is a concern, the right first step is contacting Refuge (0808 2000 247, free, 24 hours) or Respect Men's Advice Line (0808 8010 327).
One honest thing
Couples therapy is not a guarantee that a relationship will continue. Sometimes the work leads to a renewed connection. Sometimes it leads to a clearer, kinder ending. Sometimes it leads somewhere neither partner expected. What we can offer is a professional space in which the conversations that matter most can finally happen — properly, slowly, and with both of you heard. What you decide to do with what emerges is yours.
When you are ready, get in touch: https://www.hopefulminds.co.uk/conditions/relationship-difficulties/
Training, qualifications & experience
Our mental health and wellbeing support includes private clients looking for personal counselling (One to One, Couples & Families) through to Large County Councils, Charities and Companies where the organisation may be arranging or funding sessions, possibly through an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) arrangement.
We have access to counsellors covering a large number of areas throughout England, so you may well be able to see us face-to-face wherever you are. However, we all offer Skype, Zoom and telephone support, so wherever you are, we will be able to work with you. People work with us from literally all areas of the country and, in some cases, from abroad.
Member organisations *
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations. In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Areas of counselling we deal with
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Flexible rates apply depending on circumstances. Please enquire for further details.
When we work
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We are able to offer flexible hours - please ask to find out more.
