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When Your Safest Place Feels Like the Scariest
You might seem steady and capable in most parts of your life, yet feel like a different person with your partner. At work, you stay calm, get things done, and appear confident. With friends you can be relaxed and even funny. Then in your relationship, you find yourself in tears, overthinking every text, or shutting down completely. This shift can feel confusing and shameful. You might tell yourself you are too sensitive, too demanding, or not easy enough to be with. From our

Lisa Romanova, MA
1 day ago6 min read


Silent Resentment in Relationships and How Therapy Helps
Silent resentment can sit quietly in the background of a relationship for a long time. On the surface, life looks fine, routines work, and you both carry on. Inside, you might feel tense, unappreciated, or hurt, but you tell yourself to keep going and not make a fuss. This experience is very common in long-term relationships, especially when life is busy or stressful with work, children, caring for others, or big changes at home. In this article, we want to name what silent r

Lisa Romanova, MA
Apr 47 min read


When Betrayal Shakes Everything You Thought You Knew
Betrayal in a relationship, whether emotional or sexual, can feel like the ground has dropped away. You might look at your partner, or at yourself, and think, "I do not know what is real anymore." When one of you wants to repair and the other is unsure, the pain can feel even sharper, as if you are standing on different sides of a broken bridge. You may feel pulled in two directions at once. One part of you might long to rebuild, to prove the relationship can survive this. An

Lisa Romanova, MA
Mar 277 min read


Rewriting Old Relationship Patterns in Therapy
Old relationship patterns can feel like a loop you cannot switch off. These repeating patterns are not a sign that you are failing. They are usually old strategies that once helped you feel safer or more in control.

Lisa Romanova, MA
Mar 206 min read


When Life Changes and Your Relationship Feels Fragile
Big changes in life can come all at once. A new job, a baby, a house move, a health scare, perimenopause or menopause, children leaving home, retirement, or a loss can arrive in quick steps. Even when you have wanted some of these changes, they can still leave you feeling wobbly inside and unsure in your relationship. You might notice new questions circling in your mind: Why can’t I cope? Why are we arguing more? Are we still right for each other? When life shifts under your

Lisa Romanova, MA
Mar 126 min read


Situationships, Anxiety and the Body: How Ambiguous Relationships Impact Your Mental Health
Situationships often look casual on the surface, but can have a profound impact on your mental health and nervous system.

Lisa Romanova, MA
Mar 75 min read


When Your Inner Critic Starts Running Your Relationship
Spot signs your inner critic is sabotaging your relationship. Learn how harsh self-talk impacts love and trust, and get therapy tips for low self-esteem. The inner critic is that harsh voice in your mind that says things like, "You are too much," "You are not enough," or "They will leave if they really get to know you." It often sounds convincing, as if it is simply telling the truth or keeping you safe. In close relationships, this voice can become especially loud, because t

Lisa Romanova, MA
Mar 35 min read


Restore Trust After Jealousy With Couples Therapy
Explore how couples counselling for jealousy helps rebuild trust, improve communication and heal after conflict, in supportive therapy in South London or online Rebuilding Trust After Jealousy in Couples Therapy Jealousy can feel like an alarm going off inside your body. Your heart races, your mind runs ahead, and suddenly you are saying or doing things that do not match the partner you want to be. It can be painful, confusing, and heavy with shame, especially if people in yo

Lisa Romanova, MA
Feb 238 min read


How Couples Heal After Infidelity With Therapy: Learn how affair recovery counselling supports couples to rebuild trust, improve communication and create safer, more secure relationships without blame
After an affair, many couples feel caught between love, anger, fear and confusion. You might not know if you want to stay together, you might feel pulled in two directions, and everyday tasks can suddenly feel hard. In this article, we will explore what affair recovery counselling as a couple actually looks like, what it can and cannot offer, and how it can support you both as you decide what comes next.

Lisa Romanova, MA
Feb 177 min read


Interfaith Love: The Quiet Miracles and Hidden Fault Lines
When Elena* first sat across from me in my London consulting room, her hands trembled as she clutched a crumpled tissue. She was 34, a devout Catholic from a tight-knit Italian family in Clerkenwell, and her partner, Amir, was a quietly observant Muslim whose parents had emigrated from Lahore decades earlier. They’d met three years prior at a mutual friend’s dinner party - her laughter spilling over a shared plate of biryani, his gentle questions drawing her out about her fai

Lisa Romanova, MA
Feb 166 min read


Emotional Regulation in Relationships: Understanding Your Anger and Vulnerability
In close relationships, learning to hold space for your own emotions — and your partner’s — is one of the hardest and most transformative skills. When we can’t bear our own anger, frustration, or pain, we unconsciously pass them on to those closest to us. If you struggle to tolerate your own anger, two things can happen at once. On one hand, you might try to block your partner from expressing anger; on the other, you might try to provoke them — trying to release your own unac

Lisa Romanova, MA
Feb 82 min read


How Your Childhood Attachment Patterns Are Quietly Running Your Adult Relationships
If you've ever wondered why you keep ending up in the same painful relationship dynamic, or why you panic when a partner pulls away even slightly, you're not alone. The way we connect (or struggle to connect) as adults isn't random. It's a blueprint drawn up decades ago, often before we could even articulate our needs. We're talking about attachment patterns, and they're far more influential than most people realise. These early relational templates, formed in childhood throu

Lisa Romanova, MA
Nov 30, 20255 min read


How to Stop Self-Doubt from Damaging Your Relationships
Learn how your inner critic affects relationships and what small steps can improve trust, reduce anxiety, and create space for closeness. Most of us carry a voice inside that questions, doubts, or pushes us too hard. It's not always loud, but it can be unkind. This voice, often called the inner critic, tends to show up when we're feeling low, uncertain, or trying to connect with others. It’s the part that says, “You’re not good enough,” or, “They’re going to leave anyway.” In

Lisa Romanova, MA
Nov 25, 20255 min read


The Label Trap: Why Over-Categorising Your Partner Keeps You Stuck in Love
In the modern quest for meaningful connection, we are swimming in a sea of psychological jargon. Everywhere we look—from books to social media—we find frameworks that promise to unlock the mystery of human relationships: "anxious/avoidant attachment," "healthy boundaries," "narcissist/empath" dynamics. These models initially offer comfort. They give us a clear map when we feel lost, confused, or hurt. They provide a deeply satisfying feeling of "knowing" why our relationship

Lisa Romanova, MA
Nov 21, 20253 min read


The Secret Weapon of Happy Couples: Why Therapy Should Start Before the Fire
Relationship therapy serves as more than a rescue tool for couples who face relationship breakdowns. It can serve as protective maintenance work which helps couples improve their communication skills while driving individual and shared development.

Lisa Romanova, MA
Nov 18, 20254 min read
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