COUPLES THERAPY — Therapy with Monica

What is couples therapy?

Couples therapy is a space where both partners can bring what's happening between them, with someone impartial helping to hold and guide the conversation. It isn't about deciding who's right, assigning blame, or delivering a verdict on the relationship. It's about slowing things down enough that you can actually hear each other — often for the first time in a long while — and finding a way through together, whatever that ends up looking like.

My role is to stay curious and even-handed, never to take sides.

Alongside general relationship work, I bring specialist focus in psychosexual and relationship therapy and in sex and porn addiction — so if sex, intimacy, or compulsive sexual behaviour is part of what's happening between you, it can be worked with here rather than referred elsewhere.

Who I work with

I work with couples of all kinds, including:

✓

Married and unmarried couples, at any stage of a relationship

LGBTQI+ couples

Couples navigating non-monogamy or alternative relationship structures

Couples from different cultural, faith, or family backgrounds, including intercultural relationships

Couples at major life transitions — new parents, empty-nesters, blended families, retirement

You don't need to be married, or together for any particular length of time, to bring your relationship here. If your relationship doesn't fit a "typical" shape, that's not a barrier — it's simply something for us to understand together.

If your partner isn't ready. It's common for one partner to be more willing than the other. We can begin with individual sessions focused on the relationship, and your partner is welcome to join later if and when that feels right.

What couples therapy can help with:

This isn't an exhaustive list, but common areas include:

Connection and communication

Communication breakdown — [e.g. arguments that go in circles, feeling unheard, shutting down instead of talking]
Conflict and repeated patterns — [e.g. the same argument resurfacing in different forms]
Growing apart — [e.g. feeling more like housemates or co-parents than partners]
Differences in values or expectations — [e.g. around family, culture, faith, money, or parenting]
Major life transitions — [e.g. new parenthood, career change, illness, relocation, retirement]
Deciding on the relationship's future — [e.g. working out whether to stay together, separate well, or something in between]

Sex and intimacy

Mismatched desire — one of the most common reasons couples come, and one of the most workable
Loss of sexual connection — sex that's stopped, dwindled, or become routine
Sexual difficulties affecting the relationship — erectile difficulties, pain during sex, difficulty with arousal or orgasm
Different expectations — around frequency, type of intimacy, or what sex "should" look like
Intimacy after life changes — illness, menopause, pregnancy, parenthood, ageing, or disability
Navigating non-monogamy — agreements, boundaries, jealousy, and communication
Talking about sex at all — for many couples, this is the first hurdle, not the last

Trust, betrayal and compulsive sexual behaviour

Infidelity — rebuilding after a breach, or working through suspicion and insecurity
Discovery of porn use or secret sexual behaviour — and the rupture that follows
Compulsive sexual behaviour in a relationship — supporting both the person affected and their partner
Betrayal trauma — the impact on the partner who's been hurt, taken seriously in its own right
Disclosure and honesty — working out what gets said, how, and at what pace
Rebuilding trust and intimacy — slowly, and without pretending the rupture didn't happen

"Your mental health is a priority. Your happiness is an essential. Your self-care is a necessity."

What to expect

Couples sessions typically run a little longer than individual sessions, to give both of you enough room to be heard. We'll start with a short initial conversation, then an initial session to understand what's brought you here, before settling into regular ongoing work — reviewed together as we go.

Session length: 90 minutes Fee: £65 Format: In person at my central Leeds practice, and/or online

Before we start

I'm a qualified counsellor and registered member of BACP, working within the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. I hold professional indemnity insurance and work under regular clinical supervision throughout.

If sex or intimacy is part of what's affecting your relationship, that's also very common — and often woven into couples work directly, or alongside dedicated psychosexual and relationship therapy, depending on what's most useful.

Monica Chiorascu MBACP

Integrative Psychotherapist | Psychosexual & Relationship Therapy | Sex & Porn Addiction

Get in touch with me: