Couples therapy on the Mornington Peninsula — private, depth-oriented sessions

Is couples therapy or marriage counselling on the Peninsula right for us?

Therapy Atelier works with couples from across the Mornington Peninsula — Mornington, Mount Eliza, Mount Martha, Frankston, and the coastal villages further south. The practice is couples-only: ninety-minute sessions, unhurried, and held with complete discretion in a private suite on Main Street, Mornington.

Peninsula couples come at every stage:

• partners caught in the same argument for years
• marriages gone quiet
• relationships recovering from betrayal or secrecy — see couples therapy after an affair
• new parents who can’t find each other in the noise
• long-settled couples facing retirement, illness, or a late question about what remains

If the relationship itself is the thing that needs attention, this is the work. Couples counselling, marriage counselling, couples therapy — Peninsula couples use all three words for the same search; here it is couples psychotherapy, and it is all I do.

What sessions look like

• A dedicated couples practice, in Mornington, with the training and time to do it properly.
• No divided caseload, no rushed hours.
• Couples work that doesn’t require a drive into Melbourne.

No pretence that change is guaranteed — just serious, structured attention to the two of you.

Coming from further down the Peninsula

Couples travel to Mornington from Mount Eliza, Mount Martha, Dromana, Rosebud, Rye, Sorrento, Blairgowrie, Hastings and Somerville. For most of the Peninsula that is a drive of twenty to forty minutes, and the ninety-minute session is deliberately long enough to justify it.

Where the drive is genuinely impractical, or where one partner works away, sessions are held online. The work is not a lesser version for being remote: much of this practice runs online, including with couples in different countries at the same time.

A number of Peninsula couples also use a concentrated format instead of weekly appointments — marathon couples therapy across consecutive days, or a three or five day intensive. For people already travelling, doing the work in one stretch often makes more sense than eight separate journeys.

Questions couples ask before they begin

We are at opposite ends of the Peninsula from each other. Can one of us join online?
Yes. Sessions can run with one partner in the room and one online where circumstances require it, though wherever possible I would rather have both of you in the same place.

What if one of us is not sure they want to continue the relationship?
That is common and it is a different piece of work from ordinary couples therapy. It is set out on the page for when one of you is unsure.

Is couples therapy covered by Medicare?
No, and not with any practitioner in Australia; the fees page explains.

Do you work with individuals?
No. This is a couples-only practice, which is deliberate. Couples from different cultural or linguistic backgrounds may also want to read about intercultural couples.