Please note: Irene only works with couples and does not offer individual counselling.
Irene’s approach to couples therapy is warm, empathetic, and deeply relational. She sees the relationship as a space where both love and vulnerability meet, and where our past experiences, attachment wounds, fears and hopes can shape the way we connect with one another.
Irene supports couples who may be feeling stuck in recurring conflict, increasingly disconnected, struggling with trust or intimacy, or finding it difficult to understand and reach one another. She also works with couples navigating significant life transitions and experiences of grief and loss, including when these experiences have changed the way they relate to one another. She works collaboratively with both partners, creating a space where each person can feel heard, understood and respected, without judgement or blame. Rather than taking sides, she helps couples become curious about the patterns that develop between them and the needs, fears and protective responses that sit underneath them.
Grounded in an integrative and trauma-informed approach, Irene draws on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, Integrative Couples Therapy and the Gottman Method, alongside her training in attachment, mentalisation and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Her approach is flexible and responsive to the couple in front of her, recognising that every relationship has its own history, strengths and challenges.
For Irene, couples therapy is not about deciding who is right or wrong. It is about creating enough safety for both people to slow down, understand themselves and each other more deeply, and begin to find new ways of relating. This may mean learning to communicate differently, repairing ruptures, rebuilding trust, reconnecting emotionally, or finding a healthier balance between closeness and individuality.
She particularly values the moments when couples begin to recognise that they are not the enemy of one another, but two people who may have become caught in patterns that neither knows how to change alone. From this place, there can be room for greater compassion, responsibility, trust and connection.
Irene offers couples a supportive and grounded space to explore what is happening in their relationship, whether they are moving through a difficult period, repairing after hurt, navigating grief or change, or simply wanting to deepen their connection and understand one another better. Her work is guided by the belief that relationships can become places of greater safety, growth and belonging, while still allowing each person to remain fully themselves.
Irene can also offer counselling in Spanish, French and Italian.
Please note: Irene has a dog in the clinic. This is entirely optional, and clients can choose whether or not they’d like him in the room. If you have any concerns or allergies, please let us know when booking.
Experienced Melbourne relationship counselling.