Relationship Therapy
At Tidyminds, relationship counselling is personalised to the specific needs of each couple. We don’t use a fixed program or a one-size-fits-all model. Instead, therapy is carefully tailored to your relationship, your goals, and how each of you experiences emotions, stress, and connection.
A personalised approach
What couples counselling at Tidyminds looks like
Most couples arrive stuck in a cycle rather than a single disagreement. One person pushes for connection, the other withdraws to avoid conflict, and both end up feeling unheard. Couples therapy makes that cycle visible so it stops running the relationship, and gives you a way back to each other when it starts up again.
We work with the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). In practice that means we spend the first sessions assessing your relationship’s strengths and stress points, then work on the specific things that predict whether couples recover: how conflict starts, how repair happens, and how much friendship and fondness is still in the tank.
What we help with
- Recurring conflict, criticism and stonewalling
- Rebuilding trust after an affair or a breach of trust
- Mismatched desire, intimacy and sex
- Neurodivergent relationships — ADHD, autistic and mixed-wiring couples
- Parenting disagreements and unequal mental load
- Life transitions: new baby, career change, illness, empty nest
- Discernment counselling when one partner is unsure about staying
Neurodivergent couples
Most relationship advice assumes both partners are neurotypical. When one or both of you is ADHD or autistic, standard advice about “just communicate more” often makes things worse. We work with the actual wiring in the room: reducing demand pressure, building rituals that make connection automatic, and separating an executive-function problem from a caring problem — because they are not the same thing and should not be treated the same way.
Practical details
Couples sessions run 60 minutes and are $260 (GST inclusive). We usually recommend an initial block of six sessions before reviewing progress together. Sessions are available in person at our Forrest rooms or by telehealth.
Common questions
Is it too late for us? Couples who come in earlier do better, but a great deal is recoverable. What matters most is whether both partners are willing to try something different for a few months.
Will you take sides? No. Our client is the relationship. That also means we will name unhelpful behaviour from either partner.
What if my partner won’t come? Start on your own. Individual work on your side of the cycle changes the dynamic, and partners often join later.
Ready to start? Request an appointment or call 02 6106 9707.
Evidence-based, used flexibly
Rather than following a single model, therapy draws thoughtfully from evidence-based approaches, including the Gottman Method, Schema-focused couples therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
Counselling for neurodivergent couples who want to feel understood, not fixed.
Many neurodivergent couples care deeply about each other, yet find themselves feeling misunderstood, disconnected, or stuck in painful cycles. Differences in communication styles, emotional processing, sensory needs, attention, or intimacy can slowly create distance — especially when one or both partners have spent years masking, over-explaining, or feeling “too much” or “not enough.”
We work with neurodivergent couples and mixed-neurotype relationships navigating challenges such as communication breakdown, emotional disconnection, intimacy and sexual concerns, trust repair, burnout, and the impact of ADHD, autism, trauma, or chronic stress.
This is not about fixing one partner or deciding who is right. It’s about understanding difference, reducing shame, and supporting both of you to reconnect in ways that feel authentic, sustainable, and safe — together.