Many of my couple clients start with just one partner attending. This is generally because their partner is reluctant to attend, at first, for a range of reasons. Some of their partners don't attend because they've lost hope and resigned themselves to how the relationship is at that time. Others are angry about something that happened in the relationship. And others just didn’t believe that “talking to someone about their problems” would help their marriage or relationship anyway. So it makes sense that some partner's are resistant at first.

And let's face it, just “talking to someone about your problems” doesn’t help. But let's be very clear; that’s not what I do. It's not "a chat" about your relationship. There's a big difference between talking to someone about problems and working through issues and challenges with a qualified and professional Relationship Specialist Counsellor (Psychotherapist).

Naturally the process may move along faster if both partners attend, however, often with a reluctant partner, one partner learns tools that they can use to significantly alter the patterns that occur in the relationship. In most cases, the reluctant partner sees the changes that the work is having on their relationship and decides, of their own accord, to actively engage in the process.