Opening Hours : Mon-Fri 9am-5pm + Sat 8am-1pm
Sunshine Coast Couples and Marriage Counselling
Are you struggling to get along with your partner and feel as though you never see eye to eye anymore?
Do you wonder how you ever got here and struggle to see the person you once loved so deeply?
Are only staying together because of the kids or find yourself constantly bickering?
Ambrose McKinnery
Psychologist and Counsellor
Ambrose has helped over 500 couples with thousands of hours in face-to-face relationship counselling. He has a 25-year careerbackground in clinical, counselling and corporate work, and specialises in couples work with IWC. More on Ambrose.
APPROACH – WHAT TO EXPECT
Relationship distress is overwhelmingly due to:
- Unresolved problems that continue to fuel distress, frustration, and exhaustion into the relationship. These problems can be recent or have been unresolved for many years.
- The interaction of a person’s values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations within the contact of unresolved problems.
- Stress from all sources, work and personal. Overwhelmed from stress.
- The impact of an individual’s temperament and past history.
- Fatigue within the relationship creating changed feelings.
Couples seek help when they are unable to resolve these difficult challenges, – frequently where their communication approaches to each other is not helpful, including a lack of listening, understanding, and conflict.
A chance to hear and be understand. My role is to help flesh out your issues, and to get the conversations going you are struggling to have together, and / or not working, and to observe the communication or conflict management styles that are preventing you from working better as a team.
Further understanding the broader context and background, as well as what your unmet expectations are, and seeing what can be done to address these. Can each person get more of what they want and need in the relationship.
Treatment: Once a couple’s situation is better understood, we can see what can be done to bring a couple closer together.
Most couples require further sessions together. On occasion, Ambrose may suggest that he work individually with one of the partners or refer externally for support. This is where particular individual issues arise like addictions, or trauma, or where other clinicalconditions are apparent (e.g. depression). Ambrose is highly experienced in working with all issues involving mental health.
Meet our Relationship Counsellor and Psychologist.
Ambrose McKinnery brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Integrated Wellness, with 20 years’ experience in clinical and counselling psychology, as well as organisational psychology.
Ambrose realises that every couple’s situation is unique. He is aware that frustration within the relationship is caused by issues which can be difficult to address and overcome. This is where relationship support can help find pathways to addressing the issues that will continue to fuel distress into the relationship for as long as they remain unresolved.
As a professionally trained counsellor, as well as a psychologist, and with much personal experience, Ambrose is able to mediate and draw out the issues, and with much understanding and empathy, help identify what has to change in order for couple to get back on track.
Whether you feel as though your relationship is truly on the rocks and couples counselling is your last shot, or you simply know that your connection and partnership could be enhanced with professional support, Ambrose can help you.
We offer relationship counselling that is non-judgemental and works with you therapeutically to resolve issues so that you can re-establish your connection and experience more:
- Love
- Care
- Respect
- Appreciation
- Connection
- Acceptance
- Compassion
Relationships may struggle for many reasons, this may be due to many factors such as:
- Cracks have started to develop after a long time together
- Being time poor and not having enough time to put into the relationship
- A continual sense of stress and overwhelm
- Suffering from physical or mental illness or disbalance
- Feeling misunderstood and unheard
- A life experience or trauma that challenges the strength of the relationship
- Unresolved conflict
- Holding expectations of each other that may be misunderstood, unrealistic or misaligned
- Going long periods of time with a lack of joy and overall life fulfilment
- Financial strains causing high stress
- Trust has been compromised
- Reduced care or respect
The core purpose of relationship counselling & marriage counselling is to:
- Learn how to effectively support each other
- Give both individuals a legitimate voice and work through any misunderstandings
- Facilitate communication in a non-judgemental manner
- Validate experiences
- Identify again the core personality traits that connected you to each other in the first place
- Re-establish the connection that once existed but is now missing
- Discuss the arguments or disagreements that seem reoccurring and never-ending. What is the core reasoning of these?
When we feel attacked or judged we go into defensive behaviours and create patterns that rarely get into the essence of what is really going on. So, within a non-judgemental and safe therapeutic way, both parties will have the time and space to be able to effectively communicate what they are experiencing and what is going on.
Both individuals are the client, there is no bias. Time will be spent delving into patterns that may have been established before the relationship was developed. These patterns may be getting in the way of effectively communicating your needs, tension and fears with each other. These patterns could be what is holding you back from a beautiful relationship.
Our compassionate couples therapist offers counselling service where the deeper needs and desires of both individuals are heard and understood. Our approach is non-judgemental and warm.
CURRENT AVAILABILITY – Mooloolaba and Noosa Clinics
Mooloolaba and Noosaville Clinics. Some Saturdays in Noosaville. Online availability as required.
APPOINTMENTS
1. Traditional: First session: 1hour and 15 minutes. Subsequent sessions: 1 hour.
2. Half day: The opportunity to fast-track your relationship issues and work out what to do more quickly, create a plan and
commence some change work as may be required.
Half days provide the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Ambrose within a working together arrangement.
Half days are usually on a Saturday (or Sunday) and either:
9 am to 1 pm, or
2 pm to 6 pm.
