How to Find a Therapist or Counsellor for Couples Counselling
When you and your partner are considering counselling, finding someone you both feel comfortable with can be an important first step. You may already be experiencing difficult conversations, emotional distance, or uncertainty about your relationship. Choosing someone to help you talk about these experiences deserves care and consideration.
You may wonder what qualifications to look for, how much experience a counsellor should have, or whether a particular approach to therapy would be right for you. You and your partner may also have different expectations about counselling, or one of you may feel more ready to begin than the other.
Finding the right counsellor involves more than one consideration. Professional training, clinical experience, therapeutic approach, emotional safety, personal fit, and your ability to access care can all matter.
Qualifications and Professional Standing
When choosing a counsellor, it can be helpful to understand their education, professional credentials, clinical training, and areas of practice.
In British Columbia, the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors maintains a public register where you can verify whether someone currently holds the Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) designation.
Search the BCACC Member Register
You can also ask about a counsellor’s experience and training specifically in couples counselling. A clinician may have considerable experience supporting individuals while having different levels of preparation for working with two partners together.
Professional qualifications provide an important foundation. Understanding how those qualifications relate to the concerns bringing you to counselling is equally worthwhile.
Experience, Supervision, and Finding the Right Fit
Experience matters, particularly when relationship difficulties involve complex trauma, longstanding conflict, attachment injuries, or uncertainty about the future of the relationship.
But years of practice alone do not determine how helpful a counsellor may be.
Some experienced clinicians bring decades of clinical knowledge and specialized training. Other counsellors, including supervised graduate practicum counsellors, may bring thoughtful preparation, current academic learning, and the benefit of ongoing clinical supervision.
The complexity of your concerns, the clinician’s training and scope of practice, the supervisory support available, and the needs of both partners are important when deciding which level of clinical experience may be appropriate.
Both of you should have opportunities to ask questions, understand how counselling works, and consider whether you feel respected, heard, and comfortable with the clinician.
Understanding Different Approaches to Couples Counselling
Couples counsellors may draw on Emotionally Focused Therapy, behavioural and integrative approaches, attachment-based interventions, Gottman Method interventions, and other clinically appropriate approaches.
These approaches may help couples explore emotional connection, communication, recurring conflict, trust, and how partners respond to one another.
Research supports several forms of couples therapy. Studies have found improvements in relationship satisfaction, communication, and emotional intimacy for many participating couples, although individual outcomes vary. Research also continues to identify limitations in the evidence for comparing treatment models.
No single approach is necessarily the best choice for every relationship.
It can be helpful to ask your counsellor how they understand the difficulties you are experiencing, what guides their clinical work, and how they would approach your concerns.
Emotional Safety and Complex Relationship Difficulties
When couples have experienced betrayal, persistent conflict, trauma, or significant attachment injuries, counselling may involve more than learning new communication skills.
A couples counsellor with relevant experience can help you explore how each of you has been affected, what contributes to familiar relationship patterns, and how difficult conversations might become more constructive.
Safety is essential. When intimidation, coercion, or abuse is present, an appropriate clinical assessment is needed to determine whether couples counselling is suitable. Individual support or other specialized care may sometimes be a safer starting point.
Questions You Can Ask When Choosing a Couples Counsellor
- What training and experience do you have working specifically with couples?
- How do you approach recurring conflict, trust difficulties, or emotional disconnection?
- How do you make room for both partners’ concerns, especially when we disagree?
- How do you assess trauma-related concerns and whether couples counselling is appropriate?
- What are your session fees, online and in-person appointment options, and affordable or reduced-cost alternatives?
You should feel welcome to ask these questions. Understanding the care available can help both partners feel more comfortable taking that first step.
Getting to Know Our Couples Counsellors at Gentle Currents Therapy
At Gentle Currents Therapy in Langley, Dr. Michael “Mike” Dadson works alongside counsellors who bring different professional qualifications, training, and clinical perspectives to relationship counselling.
We share a commitment to compassionate, evidence-based care and expert trauma-informed practice while recognizing that different couples may benefit from different kinds of clinical experience and approaches.
Here is an introduction to four of our couples counsellors.
Dr. Michael “Mike” Dadson — Trauma, Attachment, and Complex Relationship Difficulties
Dr. Dadson holds a PhD in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia and is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC #1467), Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC #10007387), and Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (F.ISSTD).
He has practised clinical counselling in Langley since 2000, working with couples and families as well as individuals navigating trauma, attachment injuries, and significant relationship difficulties.
His specialized training includes Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, AEDP and its application to couples counselling, PREPARE/ENRICH, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Therapeutic Enactment.
Dr. Dadson was part of the original clinical development team for COPE (Couples Overcoming PTSD Every Day), an experiential, group-based trauma recovery program developed for Wounded Warriors Canada. He implemented the first COPE group, helping establish a programme through which veterans, first responders, and their partners could work toward understanding, adjusting to, and healing together from the effects of operational trauma.
His couples counselling work is particularly informed by understanding how trauma, attachment experiences, emotional regulation, and relational injuries can affect trust, communication, conflict, and emotional connection.
Couples facing complex relationship histories, recurring conflict, trauma-related difficulties, or attachment injuries may find his specialized experience particularly relevant.
Learn more about Dr. Michael Dadson
Carlie Dinwoodie — Attachment, Family Relationships, and Relational Healing
Carlie Dinwoodie, MA, is a Clinical Counsellor and Clinical Supervisor with extensive experience supporting individuals, couples, children, and families.
Her clinical strengths include attachment, family systems, trauma-informed counselling, grief, and reproductive loss. Her training includes EMDR, attachment-focused approaches, family systems, and nervous-system regulation.
Carlie brings a warm, collaborative approach to understanding how family experiences, emotional patterns, and earlier relational injuries may influence relationships today.
For couples, her experience can be particularly relevant when relationship difficulties are connected to attachment concerns, family transitions, parenting, significant loss, or challenges reconnecting after painful experiences.
Her work recognizes that relationship difficulties often exist within a broader family and personal history. Understanding these experiences can help partners discover different ways of relating to one another.
Learn more about Carlie Dinwoodie
Jason Evans — Communication, Conflict, and Relationship Repair
Jason Evans, M.C., RCC, CPHR, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with advanced training in the Gottman Method Couples Therapy model, attachment-based approaches, emotionally focused interventions, and trauma-informed practice.
His work includes communication breakdown, recurring conflict, emotional disconnection, trust concerns, and intimacy difficulties.
Jason also brings Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1 training and experience with workplace mental health and occupational stress. These perspectives can be helpful when demanding professional responsibilities, emotional regulation difficulties, or life pressures affect a couple’s relationship.
His approach combines understanding relationship patterns with helping partners develop more constructive ways of communicating, responding to conflict, and rebuilding emotional connection.
Couples looking for support with repeated disagreements, communication difficulties, trust, intimacy, or the effects of occupational stress may find his clinical experience especially relevant.
Manreet Buttar, MCP — Attachment-Focused and Culturally Responsive Relationship Counselling
Manreet Buttar holds a Master of Counselling Psychology (MCP) from Adler University. She brings a warm, attachment-focused, collaborative, and culturally responsive approach to relationship counselling.
Her work draws on Emotionally Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and other evidence-informed approaches.
She considers how early relationships, family experiences, cultural backgrounds, identity, and personal expectations may influence how partners understand themselves and respond to one another.
Rather than relying on one approach for every person or relationship, Manreet adapts her work to the concerns, strengths, values, and circumstances clients bring.
Couples navigating emotional disconnection, recurring relationship patterns, family or cultural expectations, and difficulties understanding one another’s experiences may find her approach particularly relevant.
Learn more about Manreet Buttar
Finding the Right Counsellor for Your Relationship
These introductions offer a picture of the different perspectives our counsellors bring. They are not rigid categories, and many relationship concerns overlap across their areas of experience.
You may recognize something of your own relationship in more than one description. You may also be unsure whether your difficulties are connected to communication, trauma, attachment, family expectations, or something else entirely.
You do not need to make that determination on your own.
We welcome your questions and can help you consider which counsellor’s experience, approach, availability, and fees may be suited to your circumstances.
Meet the People Behind the Care at Gentle Currents Therapy
Affordable, Reduced-Cost, and Accessible Couples Counselling
Finding the right counsellor also means finding care you can realistically access.
We understand that seeking counselling can be a significant financial commitment, especially when you and your partner are already managing work, family responsibilities, or other pressures.
At Gentle Currents Therapy, we offer several pathways to care.
Regular couples counselling: Sessions generally range from $175 to $220 per 50-minute appointment, depending on the clinician. Sessions with Dr. Michael “Mike” Dadson are $200.
Affordable supervised graduate practicum counselling: Sessions range from $40 to $120. Suitability for couples counselling depends on the clinicians available, the needs involved, and the supervision and clinical support appropriate to those needs.
Reduced-fee counselling with experienced clinicians: A limited number of reduced-fee appointments may be available, depending on individual circumstances and current availability.
No-fee counselling in special circumstances: We recognize that some people face financial barriers that make even reduced-cost care difficult. In certain circumstances, counselling may be provided at no fee, depending on individual needs, clinical suitability, and available capacity. These appointments are limited and cannot be guaranteed.
We may also be able to discuss biweekly or monthly appointments where clinically appropriate and explore eligible third-party funding arrangements. Decisions about funding or extended-health reimbursement are made by the relevant provider.
We offer online and in-person counselling, with clinic hours seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Our Langley offices provide step-free entry, automatic doors, an accessible washroom, curb cuts, and free on-site parking.
We want to understand your circumstances, answer your questions, and help you explore what may be possible.
Explore Affordable and Reduced-Cost Counselling at Gentle Currents
Begin With a Conversation
Choosing a couples counsellor should not feel like another problem you and your partner have to solve alone.
We want to understand what brings you to counselling, what matters to each of you, and the kind of support you are hoping to find.
Whether your relationship difficulties involve recurring conflict, broken trust, trauma, family pressures, or uncertainty about your future together, we welcome the opportunity to answer your questions and help you explore an appropriate next step.
Explore Couples & Marriage Counselling at Gentle Currents Therapy
Meet the People Behind the Care
Contact Gentle Currents Therapy
Research and Professional Resources
BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. Registered Clinical Counsellor public register. A resource for checking current RCC registration and professional standing.
Roddy, M. K., Walsh, L. M., Rothman, K., Hatch, S. G., & Doss, B. D. (2020). Meta-analysis of couple therapy: Effects across outcomes, designs, timeframes, and other moderators. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(7), 583–596.
A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (2024). Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 13(2), 81–99.
Empirically Supported Couple Therapy Models for Couple Relationship Distress: A Replication and Update (2026). Systematic review of research support for different couples therapy models.
