Relationship counselling refers to the process of facilitating people involved in a relationship to effect reconcile differences and to better understand recurring patterns of distress. It is a confidential therapeutic service which offers an opportunity to explore challenges and difficulties in a couple’s relationship and then find means to effectively resolve the conflicts. In most instances, relationship counselling is the best way to save a relationship that is struggling.
Couples can benefit from relationship counselling even during the initial stages of their relationship, when issues are easier to address. Those who tend to wait longer may experience more difficulties in searching for solutions to problems that have spiraled out of control.
How can relationship counselling help?
Relationship counselling is also used to further strengthen existing relationships, to identify problem areas in a relationship, and to manage a wide range of issues that arise in interpersonal affairs. Often, early counselling is the key that saves couples from drifting apart and ending in separation.
It is important to note that while couples and marriage counselling from a huge part of relationship counselling services, the interaction does not always have to be romantic in nature. It can be a family therapy as in the case of a parent and a child or among siblings. It may also take the form of business relationship, such as those between a professional and a client or between employers and employees in the workplace. In addition, the concept of ‘relationship’ has expanded to include those who are single, married, divorced or living together.
There are various approaches to relationship counselling and there are a number of institutions that offer resources for those who are looking or this particular type of service. Relationship counsellors are professionals with extensive training that allow them to deal with different types of people, situations, and relationships. The primary role of a relationship counsellor is to listen, understand, respect and facilitate better interaction by keeping the conversation positive.
Counsellors are well aware of the need to hear the side of all the parties, involved and refrain from taking sides or acting in a judgmental manner. This impartially enables them to create a setting where those involved can talk, listen and be heard. In the end, relationship counselling can teach people how to make the positive changes required in resolving issues so they can build lasting and rewarding relationships.