Relationships

As adults we all experience difficulties in our relationships; whether we are a couple or an individual, married or in a partnership, separated, divorced or divorcing, straight or gay, whatever our age, race or social background. On average, couples with children have just seven minutes of meaningful conversation each day, but difficulties can also arise from the demands of long working hours or other aspects of modern living and they all mean we just don't find enough time for our partners.

If you are a mature couple then facing readjustment to a relationship in later life can be particularly difficult. Your children may be flying the nest, you might be facing up to retirement or you may be suffering the menopause or a mid-life crisis and you discover the last time you had a conversation about yourselves was years ago.

Relate Medway & North Kent works to help talk through your relationship and deal with problems such as communication issues, balancing work and home, depression, money worries, domestic violence and affairs. The initial consultation enables you to understand where and how things have begun to go wrong and how you might remedy the situation.

Although we aim to help you resolve your difficulties, we do recognise that sometimes separation or divorce is the only answer. 

Relate Medway & North Kent can offer emotional support and practical help so you can understand and deal with the effect the decision will have on you and other members of the family, particularly your children.

Ideally you should come to counselling together, it's very hard to build a team if only half the players are there, however, if your partner is relucant, don't worry we have found that a reluctant partner will often come along when you've made a decision to give counselling a try. If they still don't want to join you, then counselling can still help you make changes which will have a positive impact on your relationship. You may find this individual counselling allows you to work out your feelings first before you go on to see a counsellor as a couple.