Services
Relationship Counselling in Narre Warren
Feel Close to the People You Love
Understand the patterns you bring into relationships, and build the capacity for closer, more secure connection.
Many of the difficulties people experience in relationships have less to do with the other person than with patterns formed long before that relationship began, ways of relating, trusting, and responding to conflict that were shaped early in life and tend to repeat themselves. This individual counselling is for anyone wanting to understand their own part in relationship difficulties, whether they're currently in a relationship, between relationships, or simply noticing a pattern they'd like to change.
This work is separate from couples counselling. It's one-on-one, focused on you, your history, and your patterns, and can be valuable whether or not you have a partner right now.
Have a specific question? Jump straight to the FAQs below.
Signs Relationship Counselling Could Help
- A pattern of relationships ending the same way, or for similar reasons
- Difficulty trusting partners, or a fear of being left or betrayed
- Feeling anxious, preoccupied, or overly reliant on reassurance in relationships
- Avoiding closeness, or feeling smothered when a relationship becomes serious
- Repeating dynamics from your family of origin in adult relationships
- Difficulty communicating needs, or expressing them in ways that push people away
- Struggling to set boundaries, or feeling responsible for others' emotions
- Wanting to understand your patterns before entering a new relationship
Understanding Attachment Style
Attachment theory describes how early relationships with caregivers shape the templates we later bring into adult relationships. Someone with a more anxious attachment style may seek frequent reassurance and fear abandonment. Someone with a more avoidant style may feel uneasy with closeness and pull away when a relationship deepens. A more secure attachment style tends to involve comfort with both closeness and independence. Most people show a mix of these patterns rather than fitting neatly into one category, and patterns can look different depending on the relationship.
Importantly, attachment style is not fixed. While early patterns can be persistent, research indicates they can shift over time, particularly through new relational experiences and focused therapeutic work.
The relationships that shaped you early in life do not have to determine the relationships you have from here.
Our Approach
With 20 years of clinical experience and advanced training across trauma-informed and evidence-based modalities, we help you understand where your relational patterns come from and build the capacity to respond differently.
What We'll Work On Together
- Understanding your attachment style and where it comes from
- Recognising patterns that repeat across different relationships
- Processing past relational hurt, betrayal, or family of origin dynamics
- Building healthier communication and boundary setting skills
- Increasing tolerance for closeness, vulnerability, or independence, whichever feels harder for you
- Preparing for future relationships with greater self-awareness
Wondering about cost? Session fees and private health insurance rebate details are on the Fees page.
If patterns in your relationships are affecting your wellbeing, support is available. Sessions run 60 minutes, in person or via telehealth.
Book a Session →If you and a partner decide you'd like to work on the relationship together, couples counselling is also available.
References
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. Basic Books.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. Guilford Press.
Fraley, R. C. (2019). Attachment in adulthood: Recent developments, emerging debates, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, pages 401 to 422. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7075830/
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner's guide. Guilford Press.
Common Questions
Relationship Counselling FAQs
Individual relationship counselling is one-on-one support to understand your own patterns in relationships, such as attachment style, communication habits, or recurring conflicts, without your partner or another person attending sessions with you.
Attachment style describes patterns of relating that develop in early life and tend to carry into adult relationships, shaping how comfortable someone feels with closeness, how they respond to conflict, and how they seek or avoid reassurance from others.
Couples counselling involves both partners attending sessions together to work on the relationship directly. Individual relationship counselling focuses on your own patterns, whether or not you are currently in a relationship, and can be useful on its own or alongside couples work.
Yes. Many people seek individual relationship counselling between relationships or before starting a new one, to understand patterns from past relationships and approach future ones differently.
Yes. While attachment patterns are often stable, research shows they can shift over time, particularly through corrective relational experiences and targeted therapeutic work such as Schema Therapy.
Yes. Thoughtful Strides Counselling and Psychotherapy offers individual relationship counselling via telehealth Australia-wide, as well as in person in Narre Warren, Victoria.
Ready to take the first step?
Appointments are available now. Reach out today and we'll find a time that works for you.
Book an Appointment