Relational Life Therapy has a beginning, a middle and an end. Living relationally is an ongoing practice.
Relational Life Therapy™ (RLT) is an approach to couples therapy developed by American family therapist and author Terry Real, drawing on more than four decades of his clinical work. It’s warm, direct and practical. Rather than simply listening, we work actively with you both, naming, honestly and with care, the patterns that keep you stuck and helping each of you see your own part in them. At its heart is the idea that closeness grows between equals, when neither partner is standing above the other or shrinking below.
The therapy moves through three phases. First, we identify the repeating pattern between you: the familiar push and pull that’s easy to fall into and hard to step out of. Next, with both of you in the room, we gently explore where it began, in the early experiences, family history and messages about how we’re meant to be in relationships that shaped how each of you learnt to protect yourself. Finally, we practise the everyday skills that keep a relationship close, such as raising a concern with love, listening well and repairing after a rupture. Understanding why things happen matters, and so does knowing what to do differently tomorrow.
