Therapy for Relationship Difficulties

Talk about what's happening between you, together or on your own, with an accredited therapist by secure video.

Accredited therapists Fully confidential Evening & weekend times

Everything is confidentialWhat you say in a session stays in the session.

Secure video, Ireland-wideFrom wherever you feel comfortable, on any device.

No GP referral neededBook online in a couple of minutes.

Evening and weekend timesSessions that fit around work and family.

Most people don’t come to relationship counselling after one dramatic row. It’s usually slower than that. The same argument on a loop, long silences in the kitchen, a sense that you’re living alongside each other rather than with each other. And then the question neither of you says out loud: is this fixable?

Online relationship counselling is private, professional support you can attend from your own home, anywhere in Ireland. No waiting room, no drive across the county, no explaining to anyone where you’re off to on a Tuesday evening.

What is online relationship counselling and how does it work?

It’s counselling for your relationship, delivered remotely, usually through a secure video session. You and your partner meet a trained counsellor at an agreed time, talk through what’s going on, and work out what needs to change. Sessions are typically 50 minutes, weekly or fortnightly.

It’s for married and unmarried couples, for people who are living together and people who aren’t, and for LGBTQ+ couples. It’s also for one person on their own who’s worried about a relationship.

The counsellor isn’t there to decide who’s right. Their job is to stay impartial, help you both notice the patterns you keep falling into, make it possible to say the harder things without it turning into a row, and agree what you’re actually working towards.

Option	What it involves	Often suits
Live online counselling	Real-time sessions with a counsellor by secure video	Couples who want to talk things through with a person, at a set time each week
Phone counselling	The same conversation without video, where a service offers it	Patchy broadband, or when being on camera feels like too much
Self-help courses and reading	Written or video material you work through yourselves	Building on what you’re learning between sessions
Blended support	Some sessions online, some in person, where a service offers both	People who want face-to-face contact and live near a clinic

Online Therapy Works is an online practice, so every session here happens by secure video, wherever in Ireland you are.

What relationship problems can online counselling help with?

Broadly, anything that’s getting in the way of the two of you. Some of the most common reasons people get in touch:

Communication that’s broken down, or the same argument coming round again and again
Emotional distance, feeling more like flatmates than partners
Trust that’s been damaged, jealousy, or an affair
Intimacy and sexual difficulties
Disagreeing about the children, or about how much each of you is carrying
Money worries, work stress, and one of you never being home

Then there are the bigger life things. Getting married, becoming a blended family, fertility treatment, a serious diagnosis, a bereavement, a separation, or trying to decide whether the relationship has a future at all. The HSE lists relationship difficulty among the ordinary reasons people seek mental health support, and that’s worth saying plainly.

You don’t need to be in crisis. Plenty of couples come simply to listen better and argue less badly.

Not sure if this is the right fit?

A first session is just a conversation.

Book a session Find a therapist →

Is online relationship counselling effective, and is it right for us?

For many people, yes. BACP notes that online relationship counselling can work well for a lot of couples, provided the counsellor is properly trained to work this way and the format suits you. It isn’t a lesser version of the real thing.

The practical side matters too:

No travel, so an evening session doesn’t cost you the whole evening
Real access if you live rurally or in a town with no local therapist
You can both attend even when one of you is working away
Nobody has to be seen going in a door

People sometimes assume a screen makes things less personal. In practice, most couples stop noticing it within ten minutes. What does matter is being reasonably comfortable with the technology and actually turning up ready to take part.

There are situations where couples counselling online is not the right call. If there’s coercive control or abuse in the relationship, joint sessions can put someone at greater risk, and specialist support is the right route instead. The same applies if either of you is in immediate danger or acute crisis, or if there’s simply nowhere private to talk. Women’s Aid runs a 24-hour national freephone helpline on 1800 341 900. In an emergency, ring 112 or 999.

Sometimes an initial conversation points towards individual therapy for one of you first, or a different kind of support. Your counsellor will say so.

What should I expect from the first session and the ones after?

Getting started is straightforward:

Send an enquiry or complete the counselling form with a short note about what’s going on
You’ll get the practical details back: how sessions run, fees, availability
Book a time that works for both of you, including evenings and weekends
Complete the consent form before you meet

The first session is mostly about getting the picture. How you met, what’s changed, what each of you would want to be different, and whether this is the right support for you. You’ll both get a chance to speak. No GP letter is needed.

After that the work is collaborative. Your counsellor won’t take sides. They’ll help you spot the pattern you fall into, try saying things a different way, and check every so often whether things are shifting.

There’s no fixed programme. Some couples come for six or eight sessions, others for longer, and it depends on what you’re dealing with and how quickly things move. Give yourself a few minutes before each session to think about what you want to raise, and try not to schedule anything straight afterwards. Big decisions made in the ten minutes after a session rarely hold.

How do we prepare for a private, secure online session?

Worth sorting before your first appointment:

A stable internet connection and a charged laptop, tablet or phone
A working camera and microphone, tested once in advance
Headphones, which help a lot with privacy
A room with a door that closes, where you can’t be overheard
Notifications silenced and other applications shut

If you’re joining from two different places, test your links separately beforehand and agree what happens if someone drops out mid-session, usually a phone call to reconnect.

On confidentiality: what you say stays between you and your counsellor. The limits are narrow and they’ll be explained at the start, mainly where there’s a serious risk of harm to someone or a legal duty to pass something on. Ask how sessions are protected, whether anything is ever recorded, and how your information is stored. Any service handling your data in Ireland must meet GDPR requirements, and the Data Protection Commission sets out what you’re entitled to expect.

How do I choose a qualified online relationship counsellor in Ireland?

Check the basics first:

A recognised qualification, plus current accreditation with a body such as the IACP, the Irish Council for Psychotherapy or the Psychological Society of Ireland
Professional indemnity insurance
Actual experience working online, not just a webcam
Specific training in couples work, particularly if infidelity, intimacy or separation is part of it

Then ask the practical questions: how they work, session length, fees, cancellation terms, and what happens if you need something different later. Statutory registration for counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland is still being introduced, so accreditation with a professional body remains the clearest marker to look for.

Fit matters as much as credentials. After a first session, both of you should feel listened to, and neither of you should feel ganged up on. Directories and reviews can help you shortlist, but no testimonial can tell you how it’ll feel to sit with a particular person. Only meeting them does that.

Frequently asked questions

How much does online relationship counselling cost in Ireland?

Fees vary between services and counsellors, and couples sessions sometimes cost more than individual ones because they can run longer. The fee should be stated clearly before you book, along with the cancellation terms. Some health insurance policies contribute towards a set number of counselling sessions each year, so it’s worth checking your policy, and low-cost community services exist in some areas. Citizens Information is a good starting point for what’s available locally.

Do both partners need to attend online relationship counselling?

Usually both of you attending gets you further, because a lot of the work happens in how you talk to each other during the session. But you don’t have to start together. Some couples begin with one person, and the other joins once they’re less wary of the idea.

Can I have relationship counselling online on my own?

Yes. Plenty of people come alone, either because their partner isn’t willing, or because the thing they need to work out is their own: whether to stay, why the same pattern keeps repeating, how to stop absorbing all the blame. That’s proper work in its own right, not a consolation prize.

Are you ready to take the first step?

If any of this sounds like your situation, have a look through the available therapists on our website and book the therapist that feels like the best fit for you

you can make a confidential enquiry by completing the contact form and we reply with practical information and possible appointment times to help you find a match

you can phone us and we’ll talk through what you need and when you could be seen.

You don’t need to have it all figured out first. “Things aren’t right and I don’t know why” is a perfectly good place to start.

What happens next ?

Your first online session is arranged, evenings and weekends included
You therapist will contact you drectly within one working day to ensure that you are prepared for your first session
You and your therapist meet, you talk through what you need from therapy, outline a plan for working together, and agree a plan.

One important note: counselling is not an emergency service. If you or someone close to you is at immediate risk, ring 112 or 999, or go to your nearest emergency department. Samaritans can be reached free on 116 123, at any hour. If you’re experiencing abuse at home, Women’s Aid is on 1800 341 900, 24 hours a day.