Couples Therapy in Bath

Active couples and relationship therapy for people who want to understand what keeps happening between them and begin relating differently.

When you care about each other, but keep ending up in the same place

Perhaps the same conversation keeps becoming the same argument.

One of you pushes to talk while the other withdraws. You become defensive, critical, silent or overwhelmed. You may avoid certain subjects altogether because you already know how the conversation is likely to end.

Or perhaps there is less conflict than there used to be, but also less closeness. You manage work, family and everyday life together, yet feel more like housemates than partners.

Sometimes trust has been damaged. Sometimes intimacy has faded. Sometimes nothing dramatic has happened, but you have gradually lost a sense of being on the same side.

You may still care deeply about each other and not know how to change what keeps happening between you.

Couples therapy and relationship counselling can offer a place to slow that pattern down, understand what happens between you and begin practising different ways of responding.

A more active approach to couples therapy

I specialise in couples and relationship therapy. I work actively with couples who care about each other but have become caught in conflict, distance or loss of trust.

I help you see what happens between you, take responsibility for your part and practise different ways of relating. My work with couples is grounded particularly in Relational Life Therapy (RLT).

I will not simply sit back while you repeat the same argument in the therapy room.

We pay attention to what happens between you as it unfolds: what triggers each of you, how you protect yourself and where you become reactive, as well as what happens to the connection when the relationship comes under pressure.

The work is not about deciding who is right and who is wrong.

It is about helping each of you recognise your part in the dynamic, become more able to speak and listen honestly, and practise relational skills around boundaries, accountability, intimacy and repair.

Insight matters. What you begin to do differently with that understanding also matters.

Therapy can offer insight, challenge and relational skills, but what happens beyond the therapy room also depends on what each of you is willing to practise and put into the relationship.

What would you like to be different?

Different couples come with different hopes for therapy.

You may want to:

• speak honestly without every difficult conversation escalating;

• understand and change repeated relationship patterns;

• feel heard without becoming defensive or shutting down;

• rebuild trust after hurt or betrayal;

• reconnect emotionally or sexually;

• understand differences around intimacy, affection or desire;

• become better at repair after conflict;

• address resentment before it becomes entrenched;

• find a more connected way of parenting or co-parenting;

• make an important decision about the relationship;

• strengthen a relationship that already matters deeply to you.

The aim is not to create a relationship without disagreement.

It is to develop greater awareness of what happens between you and a stronger capacity to respond with honesty, respect and relational responsibility when things become difficult.

You don't have to wait until your relationship is at breaking point

Couples therapy is not only for relationships in crisis.

Some couples come because they can see familiar patterns developing and do not want them to become more deeply established. Others want to give deliberate attention to an important relationship around commitment or marriage, becoming parents, parenting or co-parenting, blended families, intimacy or major life transitions.

“Our relationship matters to us, and we want to look after it.”

You do not need to wait for a major rupture to take your relationship seriously. Therapy can also provide space to strengthen connection and consider how you want to relate as you move forward together.

Couples Therapy

Regular space to understand, practise and integrate

Regular couples therapy in Bath offers continuity over time, with space to understand relationship patterns and practise different ways of responding.

Weekly or fortnightly sessions allow us to understand the patterns developing between you, work with difficult moments as they arise and give you time between sessions to notice, practise and integrate what you are learning within everyday life.

The main couples-therapy format is 90 minutes, giving both partners time to participate while allowing us to work with the relationship without rushing difficult conversations.

Couples may bring difficulties around communication, repeated arguments, emotional distance, damaged trust, intimacy, boundaries, parenting, resentment, relationship repair or major life decisions.

Sessions are available in person in central Bath and online.

COUPLES INTENSIVES

Dedicated time for more focused relationship work

Some couples prefer a longer period of uninterrupted therapeutic time.

A Couples Intensive in Bath offers one, two or three days of private intensive couples therapy, giving us longer periods of time to stay with important relational material and work with patterns as they unfold.

This can be useful when you want dedicated time to focus on the relationship without repeatedly having to pause because a shorter session is ending.

An intensive may include time to:

• understand the central relationship pattern;

• explore what happens beneath conflict or disconnection;

• work with trust, intimacy or unresolved hurt;

• practise more direct and relational communication;

A Couples Intensive is not a group or residential retreat, and it is not presented as a quick fix.

Regular couples therapy offers continuity and integration over time. An intensive offers a more concentrated period of therapeutic work.

Neither format is inherently better. The most useful approach depends on the relationship, what you are bringing and how you want to work.

A little about me

Stanka Krnacova

UKCP Registered Psychotherapist
Certified Relational Life Therapy Couples Therapist

I specialise in working with couples and relationships.

My original training is in Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapy, which gives me a broad understanding of emotional experience, development, attachment and the therapeutic relationship.

My work with couples is particularly grounded in Relational Life Therapy (RLT).

I bring warmth, curiosity and compassion to the room, alongside a willingness to be direct when the way you are relating is keeping you stuck.

I am interested in understanding both partners without reducing the relationship to one person being the problem. At the same time, compassion does not mean avoiding responsibility. Part of the work is helping each of you become clearer about your own behaviour and the effect it has on the relationship.

My commitment to RLT is also personal. My husband and I have experienced the approach ourselves, which deepened my understanding of what it can feel like to be on the other side of this work and strengthened my commitment to relationship therapy.

My wider couples work also draws on specialist training around relationships, sexuality and intimacy, including Passion & Presence® with Maci Daye.

Couples therapy in central Bath

In-person couples therapy takes place in my private therapy room at:

33 Gay Street
Bath
BA1 2NT

The practice is in central Bath and provides a private setting for couples therapy, relationship therapy and Couples Intensives.

Regular couples therapy is also available online for couples where this is the more practical option.

Couples attend from Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset and the wider South West.

For Couples Intensives, some couples choose to travel further and stay in Bath while undertaking the work.

Not sure where to begin?

You do not need to know whether regular couples therapy or a Couples Intensive is right for you before getting in touch.

I offer a free 15-minute introductory consultation where you can briefly tell me what is happening, ask initial questions and get a sense of whether my approach feels right for you.

If you are ready to begin couples therapy more fully, you can instead enquire about a 90-minute initial couples consultation.

If you are considering a Couples Intensive, simply mention this when you contact me.