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Welcome to Smart Couples Counselling

Counselling in Sydney CBD for Individuals and Couples. Personal Counselling, Relationship Counselling and Marriage Counselling to:

—• help improve relationships
—• understand and relieve anxiety
—• manage and relieve depression,
—• understand and manage anger and panic
—• relieve trauma and abuse
—• understand & resolve sexual identity and sexual issues.

• ALSO: visit choosingchange for more information -

Relationship counselling, Marriage counselling, Couple Counselling... taking positive steps toward improving and securing relationships. Having extraordinary relationships is applying skillful learning. Counselling and therapy for individuals and couples looking to improve relationships in Sydney CBD.

With this Smart Couples website we take the view that really all it takes to have effective and fufilling relationsips is

• KNOWLEDGE about relating, and
• ABILITY to act on that knowledge.

Philip Johnson, BCHC, MCAPA , Reg. PACFA, provides effective ways to make relationships work better.

To make an appointment please call
1300 667 996
02 9362 3025
0425 281 251

• take time to actively listen, and
• speak assertively for the things they want, and
• are willing to learn knew things about themselves, and
• encourage learning new things about their partner, and
• attempt to act responsibly, and
• remain open to discussion, and
• have independence from their partner, and
• foster mindfulness of the effect they have on their life, and the effect they have on their partner's life, and
• are aware that emotions affect reactions, and
• try to be enthusiastic about tackling the hard issues, and
• show a positive and forward thinking attitude, and
• feel empathy and understanding, and
• moderate the desire for instantly having answers, and
• are self-confident, secure and OK when alone, and
• can easily admit their mistakes and forgive, and
• act as they feel, believe and think (are congruent), and
• think, consider, plan, expect and act reasonably...
• and smartcouples, knowing all this, can be rewarded with loving, caring, forgiving and supportive relationships. Sometimes, through attending couple psychotherapy sessions or couple counselling sessions. the rewards can bevery great.

Learning new ways of being in relationships

Sounds like hard work! And, yes, it is sometimes difficult to juggle all these requirements for having a good relationship with being a mother, father, housewife, breadwinner, colleague, friend, daughter, son, aunt, uncle, neighbour, relative... getting the balance right is hard work.

However... time, practise and the desire to be better with ourselves and our partner is extremely rewarding.

You may have realised by now that all the above qualities I've identified as being critical to have a great relationship are actually significant requirements for anyone to have a strong and active and good self-esteem. Of all things we need to have in the world, in or out of a relationship, it is the feeling that we are OK in the world, just as we are.

Conscious decision making

There is no better description of what constitutes the essence of how smart couples keep their relationship real, exciting, rewarding and long lasting.

What makes relationships strong

SMARTCOUPLES are mindful of their effect on themselves and on others. How much do you believe your beliefs impact on your ability to deal with your own issues and deal with difficult situations you face with others.

Are you self-aware? Do you follow Socrates' advice, "Know thyself."? These are fundamental qualities to possess because they underpin your ability to deal with the trials and tribulations of your relationship.

Emotions often overwhelm us because past (bad and good) experiences flood our mind when we are feeling threatened or excited.

If you can contain unhappy thoughts and reactions and calm our immediate feelings you are far more likely to have a positive effect on your interaction. Read more...
Listening and responding calmly to your partner is helps to be in tune with them. When you can show empathy and real understanding for their ideas, thoughts and feelings a smooth path opens and both of you start getting what you want.

Openness and vulnerability are two other critical aspects of a nurturing and fulfilling relationship. Being open to other people's ideas and feelings allows us to feel empathy.

Relationships thrive on our belief that our partner understands, is in tune with our ideals, aspirations, goals, expectations. And vice versa. We want that in our partner too.

Reasonability... having a rational and clear way of thinking about the things that happen in your life lets your partner feel free to express their doubts and uncertainties; with freedom to speak comes honesty and truthfulness (whether it is about themselves, you or your relationship).

Enthusiasm gives life to you and your relationship. When you experience frustrations and set-backs, maintaining a positive outlook helps keep the relationship on track.

If your partner responds to your doubts and frustrations negatively, your job is to establish a climate of civility and friendliness to facilitate an enthusiastic atmosphere within which both of you can tolerate the bad times. Read more... coming
Self-motivation is linked to an enthusiastic attitude. Your position within the relationship is better served if you maintain your individualism. It is easy to be affected by other people's frustrations.

Being self-motivated means keeping your eye on your ball; what you want, what your goals are, what your dreams are. Read more... coming
That's how to have...

smart relationships

Counselling Services and Relationship Psychotherapist Services...

Specialist Couple Counsellor to help bring psychological awareness that is:

• enlightening and transforming, for
• living better, and
• relating more effectively,
• using psychology of change, and
• the art of possibility in order
• to enhance existing abilities, and
• to introduce alternative, and
• proactive ways, to
• encourage choosing change.

The installation of hope and expectancy, the way a client feels or thinks about the outcome of their session can affect that outcome. This is also noticeable in how the client feels about the therapist. We choose to see things in a particular way, and we are led to believe things because of our upbringing, culture, influences and needs. Against all logic we still do things that are not effective.

This is the choosing change referred to on this site. If you choose to explore and discover how you and your partner operate, your understandings will facilitate a better way to be in your relationship. This will ripple out and over into better relationships with the rest of your family, your work colleges and your friends. You will find that with practice, application and determination, your life could be completely different. You may find the happiness and contentment you have been looking for all your life.

How this choosingchange program can help you is that you discover the way you see things, the way you think things, the way you react to incidents in your life... and how this information is critical to how you can apply changes in your life to live better, more effectively, more happily.

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• Save the Children Australia