Welcome to Berkshire Relationship Counselling
Experienced relationship counsellors working with couples, families and individuals in Wokingham, Crowthorne and Reading
Our names are Diane Aspell, Fay Hanniker and Michaela Reeves and we are all relationship counsellors, professionally trained through Relate.
Relationship Counsellors
As a team of relationship counsellors, we have extensive experience working with people facing challenges in their relationships and of facilitating change. Between us we provide relationship counselling for clients coming to counselling as individuals, couples, young people or families. We have been working to provide relationship counselling and psychosexual therapy, also known as sex therapy, in Wokingham and Reading for the past 16 years and more recently we also started a relationship counselling and sex therapy practice in Crowthorne.
The term relationship counselling covers our work as couple counsellor, family counsellors and counselling with individuals facing relationship challenges. We work with clients at all stages of relationships whether this is at the beginning, during or at the end of a relationship.
If you are looking for counselling as an individual or couple, please read through our profiles and from there you may decide that one of these resonates most with your specific situation. Or you may feel any one of us could support you. In this instance, please don't hesitate to contact all of us in one email and we will work together to do what we can to match your availability. We all work with individuals and couples. Additionally if you are looking for family counselling, please contact Diane. If you're looking for Psychosexual Therapy, please contact Michaela. You will find our contact details on the page, How To Contact Us.
Individuals, couples & families
As relationship counsellors, we work with individuals, couples and families who are experiencing issues such as:
breakdown of communication - there is little or no communication; attempts to talk result in frustration or arguments
impact of life events - such as the birth of children; 'empty nest'; retirement; illness; redundancy
managing the 'new normal' such as the impact of changes in working patterns since Covid on couples and families
managing crises - such as the discovery of an affair; one partner feeling ready to leave; discovery of financial issues
divorce and separation - this can include working through a range of difficult feelings involved in the sense of loss this experience brings; managing the impact on all involved
family issues- such as changes in family dynamics; different parenting styles; conflict between family members
You can read more about individual counselling with a relationship focus, couple counselling, and our work with family or young people by clicking on the Counselling button above.
As couple counsellors, we all also offer counselling with a sexual focus in Wokingham, Crowthorne and Reading. Michaela is also a highly trained psychosexual therapist in Crowthorne. Please click on Sexual Issues in the menu above to read more about the difference between these two types of therapy.
We are all members of professional bodies - Michaela COSRT (College of Sexual and Relationship Counsellors): Fay BACP, (British Association of Psychologists and Counsellors) Voluntary Register, Diane BACP. For further information about our individual qualifications please click About Us in the menu above. We work in strict adherence to our professional bodies' code of ethics. To ensure we offer relationship counselling and psychosexual therapy of the highest professional standard, we all regularly undertake ongoing professional development activities and also all hold the appropriate DBS checks.
How to Find Us
Our relationship counselling practices are located in Wokingham where Fay works, Crowthorne where Michaela works and Reading where Diane works. These are within easy reach of Bracknell, Ascot, Sandhurst and Henley. We have also worked with individuals, couples and families looking for counselling and couples and individuals looking for relationship counselling or psychosexual therapy from further afield - places such as Camberley, Pangbourne, Burghfield, Mortimer, Oxford, Newbury and Basingstoke. Some of these clients chose Berkshire Relationship Group because they wanted counselling some distance from home. However, the majority sought out our services on the recommendation of friends / family who had themselves previously been our clients.
If the situation at home becomes unsafe, abusive or violent , then advice and support is available through Womens Aid - see their website or call 0808 2000 247, Samaritans 116 123 - a free number that doesn't appear on phone bills, Kaleidoscopic UK - kaleidoscopicuk@gmail.com or by contacting the police by dialling 999 or 555.
Availability
Our availability is as below. When contacting us, it's really helpful if you can give some idea of the best times for you so that we can do our best to match your availability. Also let us know if you're looking for online or face to face counselling - or if you're interested in knowing about both.
Fay works in Wokingham on Monday to Thursday during the day and on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Michaela works from Crowthorne during the day on Mondays and Tuesdays and Monday evenings.
Diane is able to offer appointments in Reading on Monday through to Friday between 8a.m and 8p.m. She also works on Saturday mornings in Reading.
Our Blog
Through our blog, we explore some of the issues that we work with as counsellor specifically trained in relationship counselling and , in Michaela's case, Psychosexual Therapy. We have tried to include a range of concerns that relationship counselling can help address - whether this is through individual or couple counselling, family counselling or sex therapy.
Topics we've covered include:
- Couple counselling as a last resort - how couple counselling might help even when the relationship is in a very difficult place
- Addressing communication breakdown
- Managing times of family stress such as Christmas / holidays
- An emergency kit to help manage low mood
- Parenting after separation/divorce
- Working with low sexual desire
- Teen stories of the impact of their parental separation
You can read our blog on berkshirerel.blogspot.com
Some frequently asked questions
We can usually offer a first appointment within a week of your contact with us.
Fees vary according to where you see your counsellor.
In Reading, fees are £80 for couples and individuals.
In Wokingham and Crowthorne the hourly rate for all appointments for couples and individuals is £70.
The hourly rate for families is £90 or £135 for a fortnightly 1.5 hour appointment.
This is an opportunity to meet your therapist(s) and decide what you wish to achieve from the counselling. At the end of this session you can decide whether this type of therapy suits you or not.
Appointments with individuals and couples usually last for an hour, but family sessions are usually up to 1.5 hrs. This is to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak and feels listened to. In larger family groups we may pair up and meet you together. This will incur an additional fee.
No. Sometimes one session is sufficient, but often the therapy takes longer. You decide what is right for you, and you can finish at any time. Whilst typically a minimum of 6 sessions is suggested, there is no obligation to commit to a set number of sessions
Again this is a joint decision. The frequency of your sessions is discussed at the beginning and throughout the course of the therapy. Most often couples and individuals come weekly at the beginning and as the process develops they may decide on fortnightly or monthly sessions. Family sessions are usually fortnightly or monthly from the onset.
Yes, the sessions are confidential. There are two exceptions to this. The first exception would be if you or someone else were considered to be at serious risk. This rarely happens, but if it did, we would aim to discuss this with you before we speak to anyone else. The second exception is in supervision.
Membership of our professional bodies requires us each to undertake monthly supervision which we do with qualified supervisors. In supervision we think about the work we are involved in so that we can help our clients as fully as possible. We also support each other in our work and learning through peer supervision. In both instances confidentiality and client anonymity are maintained.