Carol Maynard

RELATIONSHIP THERAPY WITH A SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® APPROACH 

First of all, anybody in relationship is welcome. This could mean couples, family members and friends. I also offer an inclusive and affirming space for people of all genders, sexual orientation, gender identities and relationship styles.  

My approach to relationship therapy combines Imago Relationship Therapy & Somatic Experiencing®. Imago offers a structure with a focus on safety and a new way of communicating along learning to actually listen, validate & empathise. Somatic Experiencing® brings the safety through nervous system regulation and helps you understand what's happening on a body level that may also be playing a part in what you are experiencing. 

I may also weave in Transactional Analysis as a way of understanding how childhood may connect with what you are exploring and what is coming up in current day plus to help understand your 'script" and why you think, feel and act the way that you do. 

All issues, difficulties, events and circumstances are welcome. You may also be coming to improve and learn more about your relationship, you don't have to be in crisis or difficulty to have sessions. This work could help develop a more secure foundation for your future. You may also be wanting to a space to create a safe and respectful way to part and end the relationship.

Anything related to sex and intimacy is also really welcome. I may also offer that out as a suggestion of an area to explore as it is often not talked about and is area that is mostly avoided. 

My work is suited to two people as opposed to multiple, for more than two family members I recommend family therapy. 

Sessions are generally fortnightly and are for 1hr 25mins, however I also offer weekly sessions where possible, extended longer sessions and relationship therapy intensives (1,2,3 days). This we can discuss in the initial free phone call or video call. 

The foundation of my work is Imago Relationship Therapy, developed in 1980 by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt. Imago is built on the understanding that we are drawn to relationships that unconsciously mirror early attachment experiences. The conflicts that arise are not signs of failure, but invitations into growth and healing.

Imago offers a structured, relational dialogue that helps partners move from reactivity to curiosity, from blame to understanding. It creates safety through intentional communication, allowing each person to feel seen, heard and valued.

Alongside this, I integrate Somatic Experiencing®, a body-based approach to healing trauma and overwhelm developed by Peter Levine in the 1970s. Somatic Experiencing works with the nervous system, helping the body gently process and release survival responses that may be held from earlier experiences. Rather than focusing only on thoughts or stories, it supports regulation, grounding and embodied awareness.

Bringing these two approaches together allows us to work both relationally, physiologically and physically. Imago helps partners understand the meaning beneath their conflicts; Somatic Experiencing supports each person in staying regulated enough to have those conversations safely.

In this way, relationship challenges are approached not simply as communication problems, but as nervous system events shaped by attachment history. We work with what happens between you and what happens within you.

The aim is not to eliminate difference or conflict, but to create a relationship where both people feel secure, connected and safe enough to work through conflict, using the tools given and in turn are then able to grow personally and in the relationship.

In the first session we will try and cover as much as possible including all or some of the following; 

- A deeper understanding of why you are coming and your expectations. 

- Identifying areas of work, challenge and focus. 

- To have a taster of the Imago dialogue process. 

- To explore some of your nervous system experience & Somatic Experiencing®.

- Begin to look at how you protect yourself, how you respond to conflict, the stories you tell yourself, the patterns you are in.

- The basics of learning to properly hear your partner, validating & empathy.