With over 30 years of experience, we’re a trusted private counselling and psychotherapy practice based in Plymouth.
Since 1994, we’ve provided compassionate, personalised support to individuals, couples, and businesses across Devon and Cornwall.
30/10/2025
The Rest We Don’t Talk About 🌿
We know we need sleep. But what about emotional rest?
Life moves fast, messages, deadlines, decisions, constant noise. Even when we stop, our minds keep going. Over time, that mental overload can leave us feeling detached or low without really knowing why.
Emotional rest means giving yourself permission to pause, not to fix or achieve, just to be.
To breathe, notice, reflect, and reconnect.
Counselling can help you find that space again, a quieter pace where your thoughts can finally catch up.
📍 Personal Relationship Counselling Plymouth
22/10/2025
We’re often our own harshest critics.
That quiet voice that says “you should be doing better” or “why can’t you handle this?” can slowly wear us down.
Psychologists call this the inner critic and research shows that practising self-compassion instead can reduce stress, boost resilience, and even improve motivation.
Self-compassion isn’t about ignoring mistakes; it’s about treating yourself with the same patience and understanding you’d offer a friend.
Sometimes, counselling helps you recognise that voice and learn how to soften it.
15/10/2025
The Pressure to Be Happy ☀️
We often assume happiness comes from getting what we want but psychology shows that much of our happiness depends on our expectations.
When we expect life, relationships, or even ourselves to always feel positive, we set an impossible standard that leaves us feeling disappointed.
Researchers call this the expectation gap, the space between how things are and how we think they should be. The wider that gap, the harder it is to feel content.
Counselling can help close that gap by exploring what truly matters to you, finding balance between hope and acceptance and learning to experience calm and satisfaction even when life isn’t perfect.
📍 Personal Relationship Counselling Plymouth
10/10/2025
Guided by the BACP Ethical Framework 🌿
We work within the BACP Ethical Framework, which sets the professional standards for counsellors across the UK.
It shapes everything we do, from how we protect your privacy to how we make ethical decisions and continue our professional development.
It’s our way of ensuring every session is grounded in safety, respect and integrity.
Stepping outside, even for a short walk in nature is one of the easiest ways to help your mind calm down. Studies show that spending just 20 minutes connecting with nature can lower cortisol.
Of course, walking doesn’t have to be long or strenuous. A gentle stroll along the coast, through a green park, or up a wooded path can help you reset, shift perspective and reduce tension.
📍 Plymouth’s surroundings (from the coast to Dartmoor) are perfect for this kind of breathing space.
26/09/2025
When physical desires don’t match. 💭
What happens when one partner sees physical intimacy as essential and the other doesn’t?
It can lead to frustration, pressure, or even looking outside the relationship.
The truth is, it’s rarely about who’s “right” or “wrong” it’s about needs not being heard.
Counselling offers a space to talk openly about desire, boundaries and connection without blame.
If this feels familiar, you’re not alone and support is available.
📍 Personal Relationship Counselling Plymouth
19/09/2025
Communication and Reconnection 🌿
Sometimes we talk, but don’t really hear each other. Over time, that can leave us feeling distant or misunderstood.
Counselling can be a space to pause, slow down, and find better ways of listening and responding. Even small shifts in communication can bring back trust, closeness, and connection.
📍We're based locally in Looe Street, Plymouth, where you can chat to us in person, when you feel the time is right for you.
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Contact The Practice
Send a message to Personal & Relationship Counselling.:
Established in 1994, we are a small private practice of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, offering individual & couples counselling, supervision, training & workshops.
Most people, at some time in their lives experience difficulties that are hard to understand or come to terms with, and at times like this it can be helpful to talk issues over with a trained counsellor. Our practitioners are experienced and well qualified, with a wide range of different experiences and specialities, such as;
Marital and Relationship Issues • Stress and Anxiety • Depression • Self Esteem and Confidence Difficulties • Eating Disorders • Drug & Alcohol Addiction • Difficulties with Intimacy and Sexual Problems • (CBT) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy • Bereavement and Loss • Bipolar Disorder • OCD • Long Term Health Conditions • Childbirth • (PND) Post Natal Depression • Anger Management • Physical and Sexual Abuse
We are all trained in generic counselling and offer;
CBT – Clients are taught ways to change thoughts and expectations, with the use of relaxation techniques.
Humanistic – Encourages people to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Emphasis on self-development and achieving one’s potential.
Integrative – Where several distinct models of counselling and psychotherapy are used together.
Relational – Where a therapist prioritises their clients ways of relating to others as central to understanding themselves.
Transactional Analysis – Helps clients understand how they interact with others, a central concept is the notion of having a Life Script.
Psychodynamic Therapy– Stresses the importance of the unconscious and past experience in shaping current behaviour.
Please take a look at our website for further information and to view our Counsellors profiles www.plymouthcounselling.com
