Claire Ratcliffe: Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Couples Therapist

Claire Ratcliffe: Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Couples Therapist Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Couples Therapist. There are many reasons why people choose to come to therapy.

Podcast: Healing Relationships: With Ourselves, Others & The World

For more information please click on the link belo For some, it can be a sense of discomfort, an internal struggle, or perhaps an external trigger has pushed you towards seeking support. Therapy can be an empowering process, supporting you to reconnect with yourself, to notice and take care of your needs, bringing you self awareness, healing, and a deeper sense of security. I work to provide clients with a safe and attuned therapeutic experience. This gives you the space to look at old patterns of behaviour that are no longer serving you, supporting you to make healthier changes, moving you forward into a place of authenticity. My main training and theoretical background is Transactional Analysis & Relational Integrative Psychotherapy. I offer both short-term and long-term therapy for individuals, couples, and groups. Supervision

I completed my Supervision training at The Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy in January 2015. My work as a Supervisor is very much informed by Transactional Analysis & Relational Integrative theory. I supervise Counsellors & Psychotherapists from a wide range of theoretical approaches. I also provide Clinical & Reflective Supervision (Individual & Group) for various organisations. Relationship & Couples Counselling

I am a qualified relationship therapist, and have been working with couples, polyamorous & other relationship variations since 2013. I work with heteros*xual relationships & those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Telephone & Online sessions available, both within the UK & Internationally. For further information, you can access this via the following link:

https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/claire-ratcliffe


Twitter: CR_Psych
Instagram: cr_psychotherapy

16/11/2025

A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to London to a Couples Therapy Live Demonstrations Event at Regents University.

I have been a couples therapist since 2013 and love learning as much as I can about Couples, Relationships & S*x therapy. I have training in several Relationship Therapy Modalities and wanted to learn more about RLT (Relational Life Therapy) as I have also started my Level 1 training with them.

What became apparent for me is there are many ways in which we can train and many modalities and approaches we can learn from. But a huge part of who we are as therapists is also in our human nature, our personalities and who we are as people.

Even if we all have the same training, we are different people, different therapists and we will work with couples differently.

I loved the adventure and had a great time meeting new people and exploring London when I had the chance! šŸ’›

15/11/2025

Inner Child Exercise

šŸŽ§ Podcast: Healing Relationships

Are you a couples therapist who dreads seeing couples? …  I was! I began my couples therapy training in 2013… I had nine...
14/11/2025

Are you a couples therapist who dreads seeing couples? … I was!
I began my couples therapy training in 2013… I had nine months of weekly training… I began working with couples and quickly realised I felt incredibly under-confident and to be honest I didn’t feel fully equipped… I wondered if I’d made a mistake advertising I work with couples… So I deleted that from my Therapy profile and stopped seeing couples altogether.

I felt sad because I was very sure that I wanted to work with couples and disappointed that it hadn’t worked out. What I now realise is… The training that I’d had.. although it was good, didn’t feel enough to work with the wide range of complexities that couples can bring.

In addition to this, the supervisor I had at the time didn’t work with couples and hadn’t had any couples therapy training.

It didn’t actually occur to me at the time to seek out specialist supervision with someone who works predominantly with couples and relationships.

Because I had a passion to work with couples, I continued to read, train and explore more therapeutic modalities… including s*x therapy.
And I also sought out additional supervision with specialist couples therapy supervisors.

Now, not only do I feel confident, competent and potent working with couples & relationships, but I really truly love it. I get so much enjoyment from working with couples in sessions and seeing their relationship transform.

So if you are a therapist who is considering deleting ā€˜couples therapy’ from your online therapy profile… Please pause and ask yourself… if you feel fully supported?
In your training? In your supervision? Do you have the resources required to support you to thrive in your couples therapy practice?

✨I am currently in the process of setting up a new supervision group specifically for couples and relationship therapists for 90 minutes each month. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to join.

In Transactional Analysis, awareness is at the heart of growth. Without it, we cannot change. It’s what allows us and ou...
13/11/2025

In Transactional Analysis, awareness is at the heart of growth. Without it, we cannot change.
It’s what allows us and our clients to step out of automatic patterns and into conscious choice.

When we’re truly present in the here and now, we can see ourselves and others more clearly, rather than reacting from old scripts or unfinished stories.

In couples work, this awareness can be the moment everything changes .. when a partner finally sees the other without the filter of the past… but it takes work to get there. It takes noticing.. it means reconnecting with yourself… it takes having difficult conversations.. again and again and again… that leads to deep healing.

✨ Online Group Supervision for Therapists Working with Couples & Relationships ✨I’m putting together a new 90-minute onl...
11/11/2025

✨ Online Group Supervision for Therapists Working with Couples & Relationships ✨

I’m putting together a new 90-minute online supervision group for counsellors and psychotherapists who work with couples and relationships.

The group will meet once a month, likely on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, and will offer a supportive, reflective space to explore your work, develop confidence, and deepen your understanding of relational dynamics.

If there’s enough interest, I’m happy to run two groups - one on a Tuesday and one on a Thursday, so there’s flexibility to find a time that works best for you.

🪷 Space for reflection, learning and connection

🪷 Deepen your therapeutic practice

🪷 Open to therapists of all modalities

🪷 Online and accessible wherever you are

🪷 £65 per month (membership-based group)

If you’d like to join, send me a message to express your interest and share which day suits you best. Once I know what works for most people, I’ll confirm the regular slots.

A few weeks ago, I asked on here if anyone had any questions they’d like me to answer on the podcast .. and this episode...
11/11/2025

A few weeks ago, I asked on here if anyone had any questions they’d like me to answer on the podcast .. and this episode is all about that.

The questions were mainly about relationships.. what to do when things feel really difficult, when you’re drawn to someone else, and when dating brings up more anxiety than connection.

šŸŽ§ Q&A: Your Relationship Questions Answered

Out now wherever you listen to podcasts.

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2537400.rss

Podcast: Healing Relationships

All relationships move through cycles of connection, disconnection, and repair… the repair is incredibly important.It’s ...
10/11/2025

All relationships move through cycles of connection, disconnection, and repair… the repair is incredibly important.

It’s not the absence of conflict that defines a healthy relationship, but the ability to return to one another after rupture. šŸ’›

When we can stay grounded in our nervous system and approach repair with curiosity instead of blame, trust deepens and our relationships become stronger.

It’s in the coming back together that intimacy grows.

When we find ourselves trying to control or fix those around us, it’s often because we’re in our sympathetic state in ou...
09/11/2025

When we find ourselves trying to control or fix those around us, it’s often because we’re in our sympathetic state in our nervous system .. activated, anxious, or on alert. Our body is saying, ā€œsomething isn’t safe,ā€ and we instinctively try to restore balance by changing the outside world rather than soothing our inner world.

Learning to regulate your own emotional temperature means noticing that activation, pausing before reacting, and finding ways to soothe yourself first.

šŸŽ™ New Podcast Episode Out Today!In this episode, I talk about The Developmental Model of Couples Therapy ..  We’ll explo...
04/11/2025

šŸŽ™ New Podcast Episode Out Today!

In this episode, I talk about The Developmental Model of Couples Therapy ..

We’ll explore:

ā™„ļø Why conflict can actually be a sign of growth

ā¤ļø How differentiation deepens connection

ā™„ļø What it really means to ā€œgrow upā€ together in a relationship

šŸŽ§ Listen wherever you get your podcasts

Healing Relationships: With Ourselves, Others & The World

šŸŽ™ļø New Podcast Episode: Therapist Burnout – Preventing Burnout in Private PracticeIn this episode, I talk about the burn...
28/10/2025

šŸŽ™ļø New Podcast Episode: Therapist Burnout – Preventing Burnout in Private Practice

In this episode, I talk about the burnout that therapists can experience when working in private practice.

I explore:

✨ How to recognise the signs of burnout

✨ How isolation as a therapist can contribute to it

✨ The impact burnout can have on your therapy practice

✨ Practical ways to take care of yourself and prevent burnout in the future

Being a therapist is deeply rewarding, but it can also be emotionally demanding. It’s essential that you’re taking care of you, so you can continue to show up for your clients without it taking a toll on your own wellbeing.

šŸŽ§ Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Healing Relationships: With Ourselves, Others & The World

✨ Three-Hour Couples Therapy Intensives Available ✨I have availability for a three-hour couples therapy intensive on:šŸ—“ M...
22/10/2025

✨ Three-Hour Couples Therapy Intensives Available ✨

I have availability for a three-hour couples therapy intensive on:

šŸ—“ Monday 10th November (afternoon)
šŸ—“ Monday 17th November (afternoon)

This is the shortest intensive I offer .. designed for couples who want to make meaningful progress in a focused block of time.
These sessions don’t come up often, so I’m sharing the dates in advance for anyone who’s been thinking about booking.

šŸ’› How a three-hour intensive can help:

• Provides the space to explore recurring patterns and communication challenges in more depth

• Allows time to get to the heart of issues that feel ā€œstuckā€ or keep resurfacing

• Offers a supportive structure for rebuilding trust and emotional connection

• Helps you develop practical tools you can start using straight away

• Creates momentum and clarity to support ongoing change after the session

For some couples, a three-hour intensive is enough to work through a specific issue, whether that’s answering an important question about their relationship, reaching a decision together, or finding new ways to reconnect.

For others, especially if there’s a lot of resentment or emotional dysregulation, the intensive can be a powerful starting point… the beginning of a deeper process that may continue with further sessions.

If you’d like to book or find out more, you can follow the link in my bio… it’ll take you to my website contact form.
You can also find more information about the couples therapy intensives there.

✨ New Podcast Episode ✨Beyond Exhaustion: Finding Your Way Out of BurnoutBurnout can creep in quietly … until one day, y...
21/10/2025

✨ New Podcast Episode ✨

Beyond Exhaustion: Finding Your Way Out of Burnout

Burnout can creep in quietly … until one day, you realise you’re running on empty.

In this episode of Healing Relationships: With Ourselves, Others & The World, I explore what burnout can feel like, why it happens, and how we can begin to find our way out of it.

We’ll talk about:

🌿 The signs and symptoms of burnout

šŸ’­ The deeper reasons we reach this point

šŸ•Šļø What recovery can look like … slowly and gently

šŸ’” How to spot the early signs next time

If you’ve been feeling exhausted, disconnected, or overwhelmed, this episode might help you understand what’s happening beneath the surface, and how to begin healing.

šŸŽ§ Listen now on your favourite podcast platform.

Healing Relationships: With Ourselves, Others & The World

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2537400.rss

Address

Manchester

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 8pm
Tuesday 10am - 8pm
Wednesday 10am - 8pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday 11am - 4pm

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