Couples counselling at Marking Therapy is for two adults who want to understand what is happening between them and change it. Some come after a crisis; others because the same argument keeps returning, because closeness has faded, because a decision is ahead of them, or because they want to separate well. Every relationship style is welcome, and the same warmth, respect and care applies to both people in the room. Sessions last a full hour and cost 100 pounds, face to face in South Shields or by secure video.
How it starts
The first session is a joint consultation, one hour at the couples fee, booked online in the usual way. Both partners attend, and the session is used to hear each person’s view of what has brought you, to agree what you both want from the work, and to check together that couples counselling is the right route. Before that session both partners are sent the Couples Agreement to read and sign, so that the ground rules are known before anything personal is said. Sessions are usually weekly to begin with, and the pace is reviewed together. Sessions are with both partners together, and separate individual sessions are not part of the pathway. The one exception is safety: where there is a risk to either partner or a safeguarding concern, the therapist speaks with each of you on your own, and what is said about safety is handled as the confidentiality section below describes rather than brought into a joint session.
What stays confidential, and between whom
What is said in sessions is confidential to the three people in the room, with the same rare exceptions that apply to all therapy: serious risk of harm to you or someone else, a child or vulnerable adult needing protection, a court order, or where the law requires it. Between the two of you, Marking Therapy works on a no-secrets basis: anything one partner tells the therapist alone, whether in an individual session, an email or a message, is treated as belonging to the couple’s work and may be brought into a joint session. Nothing is kept from one partner on behalf of the other, because the therapist cannot work for the relationship while holding a secret from half of it. The one exception is safety: a disclosure of fear, violence or coercion made to the therapist alone is not brought into a joint session; it is handled under the exceptions above and under the section on when joint work is not the right route. Brief, factual records are kept for the couple rather than for each person. Either partner can ask to see them, and any such request is considered properly rather than refused or granted automatically, because a joint record necessarily contains information about the other person as well, so what can be shared is worked out case by case and asking does not give either of you an automatic right to the whole file.
When joint work is not the right route
Couples counselling is not offered, or is paused, where one partner is afraid of the other, where there is ongoing violence, coercion or intimidation, where drug or alcohol use is currently out of control, where one partner has already decided to end the relationship and wants the sessions only to announce it, or where court proceedings between the partners are live. In those situations each person is offered individual support instead, and pointed to the right service where Marking Therapy is not it. If you are in danger, call 999; the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247, free, twenty-four hours a day.
Neutrality
The therapist works for the relationship, not for either partner. That means no side is taken, no verdict is given on who is right, and no decision is made for you about whether to stay together. What the therapist does is slow the conversation down, make sure each person is heard, name the patterns that keep repeating, and help you both try something different. If either partner ever feels the balance has slipped, saying so in the session is part of the work.
Online sessions
Couples sessions by secure video (Microsoft Teams) work best with both partners in the same room on one screen, in a private space where nobody can overhear and nothing is recorded. Being in two different places is possible by agreement in advance, for example when one partner is away. If the connection fails, the therapist telephones the number given at booking and the session continues by phone or is rebooked without charge. Everything else, including confidentiality and the no-secrets basis, is the same online as in person. How online and telephone sessions work has the practical detail.
Registration and standing
The registrations that apply to all counselling at Marking Therapy apply here: BACP Registered Member, MBACP, NCPS Accredited Registrant, MNCPS (Acc.). The About page sets out training, approach and the inclusion the practice works to.
Terms in brief
One hour, 100 pounds, paid at booking; 48 hours’ notice to cancel or move, otherwise the full fee, charged to the partner who booked; sessions start on the hour; the Couples Agreement is signed by both partners before the first session; either partner can end the work at any time, and a closing session is offered so that it ends well. Full fees, including the cancellation terms, are on the Fees page.
Not sure whether couples counselling or individual work is the better start? The free ten minute call is there for exactly that question.