SOME INQUIRIES AND FEEDBACK

Real and authentical client inquiries and feedback given to us.

Personal data has been removed. Otherwise, we do not change anything, neither grammage nor content.

Please be aware, for many customers, English is not their mother tongue.

Questions

Hi

We have some questions regarding marriage counselling.

• Who would lead sessions?
  This depends on you. Can choose between Daniela or Ulrich, or of course we also offer the “couple to couple” sessions. We have great feedback from our customers using this form of counselling.
• What is the professional qualification of the therapist?
  We are counsellors, not psychiatrists. You can see our qualification on our website : https://www.englishcounselling.ch/counselling/about-us/   Also, we have approximately 3000 hours of experience over the last 10 years regarding marriage counselling.
• What is a price of one session?
  https://www.englishcounselling.ch/counselling/fees/
• What is a standard number of sessions?
  This depends on you. Some couples have 2 or 3 sessions, others just one, some couples decide to come every 12 months. No couple is the same as another couple.
• Can we decide after the first session how many more do we want to have? 
  Yes of course. We do not reserve more than one session at a time. At the end of each session, we will ask you if you want to continue. We will also decide if we think we are the right counsellors for you.
  

Kind regards

I am tired

Hi, I am looking for marriage therapy, as my husband and I seem to fight about the same topics. It’s getting tiring!

Do you take any new appointments?

Kind regards

Unresolvable

Message:

My partner and I are interested in seeing a couples counsellor.  We have reached a point in our relationship that we think is unresolvable without professional help.  We would need the therapy/counselling sessions in English because our German is simply not good enough to discuss complex topics.

Kind regards,

Thank you again

Dear Ulrich

 Hello there.

Thank you so much for your time and energy, patience, and support yesterday. I found the whole process incredibly therapeutic and awakening. You have an amazing ability to read people and articulate and clarify the various perspectives in a simplified manner.

I am so glad we found you.

As discussed yesterday, could we please set up a time for another session? Should we try for next week, or do you think that is too soon? In one way I would love to come tomorrow again, but as you mentioned, the learning process is between sessions.

 Kind regards 

Missing Trust

My wife and I are considering starting couples therapy as our relationship is suffering, and we are struggling to get by.

Would you have availability at your praxis? The sessions would need to be in English as I do not speak German (my wife does, she is Swiss).

 Some background that would help you:

We have been together for 5 years. We got married last year, and my wife is pregnant now. That’s why it's so important for us to recover and fix our issues.

At the very beginning of us being together, I was seeing another woman at the same time and my (now) wife was unaware of this fact, that went on for a while, since we started dating.

Then she found out, and our relationship started to suffer as a consequence. We thought, it will help to get married, to give a sense of formality to the relationship. However, still now my wife is suffering from the fact of the past and doesn’t trust me any more.

 We would need support to understand how to get better and what actions we need to take. I hope you can help us find a solution to our problems, especially now that our baby is due soon.

Please let me know if you have any availability or if you need any additional information.

Thanks so much in advance for the help

I want to split up

Message:

My husband and I have been together for over 27 years (married for 11yrs). I have told him that I want to split up and we have had two conversations since I shared this with him.  After our talks I decided it may be a good idea to first get some professional help before I make my final decision.  

Please advise on your earliest available time. 

Kind regards

English speaking counselling

To Whom May Concern,

My husband and myself are in the need for an English speaking couple's therapy help; I wonder whether you are taking new patients or not.

If yes, how soon is the availability for the first session?

Thank you in advance, looking forward for your prompt response.

Kind Regards,

I was unhappy

Hi Ulrich,

I want to give you my feedback:

I always like to complete a story and give back to anyone who accompanies me on my journey in life, you are one of these people.

I’m writing to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help in navigating probably through the biggest hurdle life gave me: To go against the truths and believes that I was brought up with, and therefore to seek happiness and mental freedom for myself.

I was so upset, squashed, and my marriage made me feel inadequate to be a mother and often also as a wife for so many years. Then I started the therapy for myself. I was stuck and thought I had to accept the situation and tried so hard to seek happiness with a person that gave me happiness many years ago, but from whom I had grown apart for quite a while.

It takes courage and boldness to go against the current and make such a life-changing decision, but with your help I got there…I will be forever grateful! 

He is still living at home (and dragging things on…)  but we are very actively looking for a flat nearby (and I’m strong now, much more than when you met me), we have told the kids and our immediate relatives that we are divorcing, and we are in the process of drafting the divorce papers. 

I spent some months since I saw you wondering if I had made the right decision. Sometimes I left my path and followed the “old” ways, especially when he was using his very good manipulative techniques …it was hard…however, some of your advice kept my thinking clear and I continued. 

It saddens me to see how he continues playing the victim and licking his wounds, but as you said, I can’t be responsible for that…I can only be responsible for my life. 

I look back at last year with appreciation for having had the courage to set myself free and bringing me joy again. Free from a relationship that was consuming me in a toxic way.

 This email is to thank you for now, our path might cross again one day, but I wanted to send you a note of deep appreciation.

Please send my best wishes to Daniela too, she rocked as we took a short session of couple counselling.

Take super care and continue to rock as a councillor.

Thank you for everything

Thank you

Many thanks for today’s session. I believe that it started a thought process for me.

I will contact you soon about another session, either for me alone, or for us together.

Kind regards

Struggling expats

Message:

Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

 We are married for 30 years and would like to seek therapy to save our marriage. We are expats and live close to Zurich since 2006. The last couple of years have been a struggle with fighting and lack of affection, and it feels like it‘s getting worse. We agreed on trying counselling as a last resort.

 My husband is often abroad, but he would be more available next month. Would you be so kind to advise on your availability?

Kind regards,

Problems in our relationship

Message: Dear Teampraxis,

We are a family of 4 (2 young kids). My husband and I have been married for more than 10 years and are having problems in our relationship and would both like to do everything possible to save our marriage for the kids.

As a family and parents, we work very well, and we co-parent really well, however, as a couple we do not have much in common any more. The issue that we have is that we are not sure how we can make it happen to find a suitable slot for counselling. We have no family here and the kids are at day-care and school when we work. We might need to start with single sessions to get around this problem.

Thank you for your answer in advance,

Zweisprachiges Paar

Wir suchen eine englische Paarberatung.

Wir sind ein zweisprachiges Paar (Sie Englisch, Ich Deutsch). Unsere Kommunikation findet ausschliesslich in Englisch statt. Wir stossen in unserer Kommunikation immer wieder an Grenzen. Teilweise sprachbedingt, teilweise sind es aber auch andere Verständigungsprobleme. Da uns an unserer Beziehung viel liegt, möchten wir gerne Unterstützung in Anspruch nehmen. Ich bin im Internet auf Ihre Seite gestossen und würde gerne mit Ihnen einen Termin für eine erste Paarberatungssitzung finden.

Ich freue mich auf Ihre telefonische Rückmeldung.

Marriage Problems.

Dear team,

Thanks again for the session on Friday. I think it particularly helped us to visualize what problems we have and where we sit today. The given outside view was astounding for us, how quickly the over all relationship situation was grasped. How to resolve the conflicts we have, is of course a more complicated path.

We wish to have another 2 hour session as soon as possible, as we don't want to get lost again in our old pattern.  Thanks for letting me know if you have a free slot.

Best regards

Running on the limit.

Message: Hi

My husband, English speaking and me, German speaking, do not find the right words to communicate with each other any more. It doesn’t help that I just gave birth to our third child, which means, I am constantly exhausted, tired, and running on the limit. We are both working full time in very demanding jobs. Luckily, I am still on maternity leave.

When would you have an appointment for both of us, I am desperate?

Thanks a lot on advance!!

We are bickering.

Message: Hello,

My wife and I have been married for almost 12 years and we have 3 children. The last year has been a real struggle with regular bickering and lack of affection, and it feels like things are getting slowly worse. I am desperate to resolve this both for our sakes and for our kids. We have agreed to try counselling. Would you have any availability this month?

We also would like to know; how do you counsel and how many sessions do we need?

Thanks

Reaching out for help

Hi

I am reaching out to you to inquire about counselling help. I only speak English, and you were referred to me by my neighbour.

Please let me know if I could discuss the possibilities to receive help from you.  I really don’t know exactly to whom I can talk too.

It is not my country, and I am not in my social or friends network system.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you

Best regards

An eye-opener

Hi Daniela,

Hi Ulrich,

Thank you for the session today, it was an eye-opener, and it brought some self-reflection too. After all this, I need to book a session for myself please, what will happen in the future, I really don’t know, I for myself, I am not sure yet, which path to take.

 There are some things I would like to discover for my own journey, my behaviour, my pattern in certain situation.

I want to thank both of you ever so much for your professionalism, counselling us as a couple and understanding both of us, as individuals.

 Regards

going through a rough patch

On behalf of my parents

Message: Dear team, on behalf of my parents I would like to check your availabilities. My parents have been married close to 29 years now and are going through a rough patch and are looking for marriage counselling. My brother and I have been supporting them as far as we can when it comes to communicating. A friend of the family recommended you but mentioned that it might be difficult to find an open slot. Is this still the case (for the Team-Couple Counselling), are there any free dates for the next 1-2 weeks?

Many thanks,

Navigating through turbulence times.

Dear Madam

Dear sir

My partner and I would need professional support in navigating through turbulence we are going through, and our network recommended reaching out to you. Especially the «couple to couple» counselling was highly recommended.

Daily routines like, nappies, school collect, cooking, tidying, cleaning, washing, is less of a concern.

Our son has no chronic illness or sleeping problem. But he started daycare, so he has fever and stomach bugs on and off, for the last 6 weeks, as part of the normal ramp up of his immunity.

Would you be so kind as to advise on your availability?

Kind regards

I am still lost.
Message: Hi,
I had a couple of hours counselling with you last year in June. It helped me to look at the situation and I started to understand why I behave the way I do.
I would like to come to see you again to talk about my current situation. What options to I have and how can I figure out what I want. I am lost.
Regards

Not in phase with each other

Message: We are an English-speaking couple (he is Portuguese, and she is British) and parents to a cheeky 11 months old girl. We just moved zo Zurich from Geneva and are in serious need of counselling. Since the birth of our daughter, we have not been in phase with each other and are incapable of communicating.

Looking forward to hear from you.

I want a divorce

Hallo,

Well, I, maybe we both, would like to have counselling with you about our marriage relationship (16 yrs). I have decided to go forward with a divorce, but I would like to make myself clear with certain things and find the real advice and psychological support needed.

I am confused, I think we both would like to have counselling with you. Perhaps out of different reason. I speak English (India) and my husband speaks German.  

How do we do it? Should we make 2 separate appointments or would you be talking to both of us together. 

Please let me know if you have some appt free beginnig New year.

There are a lot of things and people who are misguiding and giving misleading infos on a divorce as I am a foreigner here. Please give me the earliest possible appointment possible and the cost for it.

Thank you

Hi,

My wife and I had counselling session with you earlier this year, that helped us a lot. Now things have changed, and I believe that I need individual counselling to understand myself better - if not, I´m gonna lose my wife

What I need, is to get better understanding why I act as I do (pushing my wife away)

Actually, I don`t really know where to start, but maybe you can guide me in the right direction?

It’s quite urgent and I am thankful to hear from you asap.

Thanks.

Good morning

Thanks for your fast response.

We have thought about the last session and it sounds good to plan and discuss both of our objectives which we would work on, supported by your recommendations (options, as you like to call it) over the subsequent months.

What's positive is that we already have a "starting point", i.e. the session we had last time with you, which gave us some base rules to better approach each other as a couple and which gave you a general overview of us (our backgrounds and dynamics).

We would like to continue from where we left and move on to analyzing in detail recurrent pitfalls.

We would be happy to bring material to work on, to make the job easier for everyone. Then, we'll accept the process to be stagnant at some points or the learning curve.

We are convinced that, even if nothing seems to change, bringing up new topics each time can be a boosting element and a way to avoid possible pitfalls.

Therefore, we would like to set a limit to the number of sessions. obj. 1 (seeing the pitfall), obj. 2  (preventing the pitfall), etc. More is up to the therapist, as he sees it :-) or based on our needs.

Would this be a working foundation for you?

Kind regards

Variety of issues.

Hello,

I'm interested in beginning counselling to help with a variety of issues (mostly situational and discussing healthy coping mechanisms, understanding, etc). I would like to begin as soon as possible, depending on your availability.

A friend of mine recommended you and I would be grateful to hear from you.

 Thank you for your help.

We are stuck again.
Hello to you both. How are you?
We had a first appointment with you end of last year.
We are stuck again and are fighting over nothing.
I am writing to ask what schedules you have available for another appointment for us. We would like again the same type of counselling like last time. With both of you, that was really helpful.
kind regards

We need help.
Hi there,
I would like to book an appointment with one of your counsellors.
I’m an expat in Switzerland and my wife and I just separated 5 months ago. We’ve now decided to get some counselling to see if we can try to reunite or simply to collaborate better as parents – we have a 2 children, 5 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. We share joint custody.
I was wondering if you have a program or specific type of counselling for couples that have already separated but are trying to either get back together or simply to become better at parenting while divorced.
We both live close by.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Best Regards

Marriage is at the lowest.
Hi. I want to book a couple's counselling session in English for me and my wife. We are a couple from Pakistan living in Switzerland for 5 years.
Are there particular methods utilized in the session? My marriage is at our lowest and I would like some help in working things through. Lastly, I wish counselling face to face and not online. Could you help me with an appointment at the earliest?
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Wow, I can breath again.
Dear Ulrich
just a note to say thank you for this morning.
The session was so useful I felt I could breath and felt taller afterwards. I'm sure the road will be rocky but let's bring it on! Better than being squashed under rocks.
Looking forward to our exchange in 2 weeks
Thank you again.

Message: Please help us.
I'm interested in beginning counselling to help with a variety of issues (mostly situational and discussing healthy coping mechanisms, understanding, etc). I would like to begin as soon as possible, depending on your availability.
Thank you for your help.

My marriage is deteriorating.
Message: Dear Sir/Madame,
I am married for 18 years. During the past year my marriage has been deteriorating. I have become controlling, jealous and insecure. This is causing fights and misunderstandings. My wife feels controlled and this is taking us into the brink of separation. It has reached to the point that when I asked how her day was she feels controlled. Now it feels like stepping on eggshells whenever we start a conversation, from my side and from her side.

At the moment I would like to seek for therapy because I like to save my marriage. She is hesitant about therapy. She has the feeling that this will not help and we are a point of not knowing how to proceed.