What services do we offer in primary care settings?
GP's are often seen by the same patients regularly, presenting with a variety of somatic problems, masking a troubled personal relationship. TCCR has co-designed services with primary care professionals to help patients get the help they really need.
TCCR's Wellbeing Service, a brief counselling approach of up to four sessions, for people whose relationships problem is not too entrenched or is related to a specific or new problem area, like a question mark over a couple's fertility or a recent bereavement. is early intervention service helps couples resolve issues and move on together. See TCCR's Wellbeing Service for more information.
TCCR's Short term Counselling in Primary Care is a service for couples and parents living together or apart, where a range of relationship issues create depression, emotional uncertainty, rage or violence. TCCR's highly trained counsellors use the sessions to help couples in conflict and despair recover their relationship's quality or separate from each other safely.
What therapeutic model is being used?
The model used has been successfully trialled in primary care and involves an early intervention of 4 sessions and/or our Short term Counselling in Primary Care of up to 20 session model, delivered by fully qualified, trained and clinically supervised counsellors.
What kinds of problems can couple counselling in primary care help with?
• Parental mental health, depression and/or anxiety as per NICE Guidelines
• Postnatal depression
• Individuals/couples struggling with the transition to parenthood
• Conflict on how to parent together best
• Individuals/couples struggling with a relationship breakdown and/or divorce/separation
• Communication difficulties
• Impact of unemployment on the parental couple relationship
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Domestic violence
• Psychological abuse
• Cross cultural differences and heritage issues
• Managing stress and family life
• Managing anger and conflict to help build strategies for the future
• Creating or restoring effective co-parenting for separated parents
• Sexual problems
• Childhood depression or anxiety as per NICE guidelines
How are outcomes measured?
All of TCCR services are routinely evaluated by administering clinically valid and reliable psychometric measures (CORE and GRIMS ) to all clients at intake and at three month intervals while undergoing treatment.
How effective is TCCR's couple counselling and therapy?
Paired t-tests for the outcome data show statistically significant reductions in self-reported psychological distress (measured by CORE) from intake to three (10-12 sessions) and six (18- 20 sessions) months of treatment. Clinically significant change is seen at 20 sessions showing change from the severe category to the moderate to severe category. This analysis shows an association between reduction in psychological distress and duration of treatment. There are also statistically significant improvements in self-reported relationship quality.
What outcomes and benefits can be expected by your patient(s)?
The new patient benefits that this service will bring, include:
• Reduction in inappropriate help-seeking from other agencies including GP appointments
• Improvement in adult mental wellbeing with CORE Depression scores moving from clinical to non-clinical population
• Changes to lifestyle/behaviour and improvements in physical health associated with improved couple relationships include: reduced alcohol consumption, better cardiovascular health, increased likelihood of survival post-bypass surgery, reduced adult and child obesity, improved blood glucose control and reduced risk for development of dementia.
• Reduction in unhelpful communication patterns
• Reduction in levels of family and couple conflict
• Improvement or introduction of new positive relationship skills
• Better integration of ideas on change and loss
• Improvement in children's emotional wellbeing and educational attainment
• Improvement in safety or resolution of abuse within the parental couple relationship
• Improvement in management of anxiety
• Improved parenting alliance leading to better emotional outcomes for children
• Improvement in quality of family life for separated and separating parent
What other services can Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships offer GPs and Primary Care professionals?
• Short-Term Couple counselling for people who are not parents or for whom parenting is not the main focus of problems – up to 20 sessions
• Post-natal depression group work programmes
• Parenting Together, TCCR's specialist service for divorcing and separating parents, a short term programme of 12 sessions
• Psychosexual Therapy
• TCCR's The London Approach: Living Together with Dementia
• Long-term couple psychotherapy
• Workshops, seminars, clinical and academic trainings on the couple relationship
• Couple Counselling for Depression (NICE approved and accredited for use in IAPT)
All services offered at TCCR have fees calculated on a sliding scale according to income and there is no minimum fee; TCCR aims to see everyone whatever their financial circumstances.
Please contact Sara Breinlinger ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or Honor Rhodes ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for further information.
How can my organisation/practice commission this service?
For information on how to commission our clinical services please see our commissioning page.
