We fall in love by chance, we stay in love by choice.

Imago

Imago means image in Latin. We all have images of our experiences, memories and lives inside us. They can be positive or negative.

The people with whom we have relationships can activate these images knowingly or unknowingly. The more intimate the relationship, the more vulnerable and sensitive we are. When a negative image is activated, we feel pain and develop defence mechanisms to ease the pain. But this defensive behaviour can prevent us from finding ourselves emotionally.

At Imago Relationship Therapy, we learn to develop an alternative relationship culture, to expand a relationship’s true potential, to examine beliefs and to critically analyse behaviour.

When should you seek relationship counselling?

If you answer ‘yes’ to one of the following questions, you can fall in love again with Imago Couples Therapy:

• Do you still love one another, but sometimes feel DISTANT and DISCONNECTED?
• Do you wonder where the PASSION and PROMISES of the early days have gone?
• Do you want to ARGUE less and TALK more?
• Do you want to feel more CONNECTED?
• Do you want more ROMANCE and INTIMACY?

When should you seek individual counselling?

When you want to make a change, but don’t know how to go about it.

• You struggle to make decisions
• You feel stuck and unable to move forward
• You want to understand your behaviour
• You want to know what your values are
• You want to improve your relationships with others
• You find it difficult to express emotions
• Your sex life does not satisfy you
• You have problems at work with colleagues
• You have problems forming relationships
• You have problems with motivation
• You have self-esteem issues

Warning:

It takes self-awareness

It takes courage to begin couples therapy. I encourage you to take that first step, even if you feel as though it’s too late. It doesn’t matter if you have different goals or if one of you wants to separate.

Couples therapy helps to clarify many things, so that you can make decisions consciously.

The reasons for doing so are manifold and depend on the couple. Here are just a few:

• Going through a difficult period
• Getting married/wanting to live together
• Wanting a baby
• Struggling to conceive
• Having children with special needs
• Not being satisfied with your sex life
• A third person in the relationship
• Being a step family
• Having financial problems
• Family is interfering in the relationship
• Work/spare time doesn’t leave room for the relationship
• Coming to terms with the loss of someone important
• Repeating the same patterns of behaviour
• Not understanding each other
• Needing to improve communication

I do so with kindness, effectiveness and empathy.

Imago counselling is a structured, heart-to-heart dialogue that teaches couples a new way of loving.

Partners discover the other person’s world in a way that they would never have imagined. They learn to turn relationship conflicts and frustrations into opportunities for growth.

Partners create a new space for creativity and this helps them to rediscover their joy, vitality and sexuality.

This gives a deeper meaning to the relationship and allows partners to rekindle those feelings they felt when they first met.