Online Couples Therapy, across the UK and for partners in different locations

Online couples therapy is often not just a convenient alternative. It is sometimes the more realistic option. Particularly for:

• Couples in different locations, whether long-distance or frequently apart for work
• Partners with very different schedules where matching in-person availability is almost impossible
• Families with young children where leaving the house together for an hour is genuinely difficult
• Couples living outside Chichester and West Sussex who want a COSRT-registered therapist
• UK couples living abroad who want a therapist in their own language and culture
• Couples who, quite simply, find it easier to speak openly from their own home

Research on video-delivered couples therapy shows results comparable to in-person work. In my own practice, many couples reach breakthroughs online that they might never have started in person, because the practical barrier to beginning was lower.

What matters is not the room. It is emotional safety, pacing, and the structure of the therapeutic work inside the session.

Sessions are 55 minutes on a secure video platform. The therapeutic structure is identical to in-person couples work: we still slow down conflict cycles in real time, track attachment responses, and work with what arises in the session.

What I pay particular attention to online:

• Pacing: making sure both partners are settled before we open anything charged
• Turn-taking, it is harder to interrupt online, which many couples find helpful
• Noticing the body, tension, breath, posture and tone still tell us a great deal over video
• Landing sessions well, leaving a few minutes at the end so no-one closes the laptop and walks straight into the rest of their day unregulated

You will get more from sessions if you can protect the space a little. A few practical things that help:

• A room you can close, where you will not be interrupted by children, housemates or calls
• A stable internet connection (wired if possible)
• One or two devices that both show the full shoulders-up view
• Headphones if privacy from the wider house matters
• Agreement together to silence phones and notifications for the session

If children or others in the home make a fully private session impossible some weeks, tell me and we will think it through together.

This is one of the most useful practical questions in online couples therapy, and we will discuss it early on.

Joining from the same room is often the easiest option, and can help when part of the work is learning to stay present with each other's reactions. You will need one laptop, a reasonable camera angle, and enough space that both of you are clearly visible.

Joining from different rooms, or different homes, entirely workable, and sometimes essential. Long-distance couples do this by default. Some couples even prefer it in the early stages, when safety between them still needs rebuilding, because it can feel less exposing.

Both approaches can work well. We will find what feels right for the stage of work you are in.

Sessions are delivered through an encrypted, GDPR-compliant video platform. The same professional confidentiality that applies in person applies online. I will talk you through the small practicalities, what happens if the connection drops, how to reach me between sessions, and how to protect notes or reminders you keep at home.

• Format: Secure Zoom platform video, 55 minutes. Extended 90-minute sessions available.
• Availability: Couples across the UK and Ireland. English-speaking couples across Europe also welcome.
• Frequency: Weekly in the early stages of the work.

Fees and booking details on the Contact page.

If online couples therapy feels like it might suit you, a free 15-minute consultation is a low-stakes way to meet and talk through whether working together would be a good fit.

Considering psychosexual work online, as an individual or a couple? See Online Psychosexual Therapy →.