Overview



Sojourn Psychology offers marriage and couples counselling in Sherwood Park and Edmonton Area.

Romance is hard. There are many parts of relationships to balance: parenting, finances, sexuality, conflict, work, communication, careers, social needs, emotional needs, and so many more moving parts. We realize couples who come into our office are not facing easy problems, and we are confident that we can come alongside of you, or you and your partner, to make sense of the pain you are enduring.





Counselling Topics


Divorce and Separation

Families experience separation and divorce.These changes impact family members in different ways. Psychological counselling is beneficial for families to help each family member to understand the changes that are happening. 

Counselling will help with processing through individual thoughts and feelings. It is so important that children feel supported to love both their mom and their dad.

There are many issues that could arise with parental separation or divorce:

  •   Balancing Relationships
  •   Balancing Time
  •   Communication
  •   Family Conflict
  •   Family System/Roles
  •   Grief and Loss
  •   Guidelines and Expectations
  •   Co-parenting Issues
  •   Sibling Rivalry

Sojourn Psychology does not offer high conflict mediation or custody and access services. 


Prepare & Enrich

PREPARE/ENRICH is for both married and unmarried couples who want to understand and improve their relationship.  

PREPARE/ENRICH addresses each couple’s relationship stage, situation, challenges, philosophical/spiritual orientation, and personalities and tailors the inventory to assess the couple’s strengths and areas where growth will bring about the greatest benefits.  

This assessment is a tool that our therapists can use with couples to help identify strengths and progress areas.  Prepare/Enrich is commonly used for premarital counselling.


Relationship Improvement

Relationships change and evolve over time.  The longer we are in a relationship the more aware we become of the good and bad moments we share with our partner.  Bad habits can build up over time and as this happens our relationship satisfaction can continue to decrease.

The Benefits of Couples Therapy:

  • Evaluate the negative patterns of interactions/Conflict cycle/Conflict styles
  • Empathy
  • Tools to change/manage reactions
  • Understand underlying relationship yearnings
  • Awareness if different points of view
  • Communication skills
  • 5 love languages
  • Emotion management and regulation
  • Active listening
  • Trust
  • Respect
  • Acceptance
  • Tolerance

Sojourn Psychology has many well trained couples therapists.


Romance, Intimacy, and Sexuality

Sex and intimacy is an important part of marriage and committed relationships.  When a couple is caught in the business of everyday life it is common that intimacy and romance suffers.  From going on dates to pursuing your partner sexually, romance and intimacy can be very difficult to manage.

It is good for couples to learn how to talk about sex, intimacy and romance.  These are vulnerable needs in the relationship and one of our psychologists can help you to find a way for you and your partner to feel safe to talk about your relationship.

There may be complicated issues that get in the way of romance, or there can be routines, or communication problems that get in the way:

  • Abuse(s)
  • Affair
  • Anger
  • Attachment
  • Attunement
  • Broken Trust
  • Emotional Isolation
  • Communication
  • Dating
  • Depression
  • Family of origin
  • Impotency
  • Life Transition
  • Menopause
  • Misunderstanding
  • Not Feeling Safe
  • Pornography
  • Quality Time
  • Rape History
  • Routine
  • Secrets
  • Sexual Abuse History
  • Sexual Identity
  • Stress
  • Time Management

Sexuality is an important topic and it is normal to ask for help as you and your partner make sense of sexuality, romance and intimacy.  Our psychologist are respectful of these concerns and will support you in a nonjudgmental and confidential way.


Recovery & Relationships

Couples seek counselling support for substance use and recovery for a variety of reasons:

  •  Unsure if there is a substance use concern
  • Disagreeing about use of substances or behaviour management
  •  Codependency
  • Conflict and fighting due to substance use
  •  etc.

Seeking counselling is a good step to strengthen your relationship and increase the likelihood of recovery.  Couples may find it helpful to do individual counselling alongside of couples counselling.


Attachment and Earned Security with Couples

The purpose of adult attachments is to earn security.  We naturally desire to have someone come alongside of us in our adult years who will build a secure attachment with us.  When we feel insecure in our love relationship communication suffers, intimacy suffers, and enjoying time together begins to disappear.

Many couples come in to our office to understand “what are we doing wrong?” It is important that couples can explore their fears and doubts about their relationship in a non-judgemental, supportive environment.

An environment to understand the emotional needs of ourselves and our partner and to build a method to safely express our vulnerability.  It is equally important to experience forgiveness and reconciliation in our love relationship. A counselling setting can facility such dialog.


Communication and Conflict

Relationships are constantly changing.  It can be helpful to have psychological counselling on how to grow and change with you partner.

Some communication themes you may face with your partner are:

  • Affairs
  • Anger Management
  • Attachment
  • Attachment Injuries
  • Balancing Relationships
  • Boundary Setting
  • Communication Skills
  • Conflict Management
  • Emotional Support
  • Emotion Management
  • Empathy
  • Empty Nest
  • Extended Family
  • Forgiveness
  • Friends
  • Guidelines For Relationship
  • Honesty
  • Intimacy
  • Listening Skills
  • Love Languages
  • Respect
  • Sexual Identity
  • Sexuality
  • Trust
  • Violence
  • Social Skills
  • New Parents

One of our psychologists is here to support you and your communication


Couples Divorce and Separation

Couples experience separation and divorce.  Psychological counselling can help you to understand the changes that are happening and to process through your thoughts and feelings alongside one another:

  • Anxiety
  • Balancing Relationships
  • Balancing Time
  • Communication
  • Conflict
  • Dating Again
  • Depression
  • Family System/Roles
  • Feeling Misunderstood
  • Financial Pressure
  • Grief and Loss
  • Guidelines and Expectations
  • Impact On Work
  • Lack Of Support
  • Co-parenting Issues
  • Sibling Rivalry

Separation and divorce counselling may require splitting the family up into dyads, sibling groups, parents alone, or parent/child.

Feel free to give us a call to see if we can support you as your family goes through this process.


Forgiveness and Repair

Forgiveness and repair are vital to love relationships.  We are going to experience conflict and struggle in our adult love relationships.  Having a method to provide forgiveness, as well as a method to receive forgiveness, allows love to flourish.

Skills for repair and forgiveness can be developed with psychological support, give us a call to connect with one of our therapists.


Mental Health

At times it is important to consider: Does my partner or I have a mental health concern?  Some concerns that you may face:

  • Abuse(s)
  • Attachment Injuries
  • ADD/ADHD
  • Anxiety
  • Asperger’s
  • Depression
  • Eating Disorders
  • Giftedness
  • Intimacy Concerns
  • Learning Disabilities
  • OCD
  • Personality Disorder
  • Phobias
  • PTSD
  • Pornography
  • Self-Harm
  • Sexual Identity
  • Social Isolation
  • Suicidal Thoughts
  • Trouble with the Law
  • Recovery

No matter what you or your partner may be facing it is important to consider finding psychological support if any of the above concerns are showing up.  

One of our therapists is here to support you and your partner.


Emotion Management

At times we may be struggling with emotions, other times we may notice our partner struggling with emotions.  It can be very confusing to see yourself or someone you love struggle.

 It can be a great resource for you and your partner to have support from a psychological counsellor to help evaluate your experience and build tools for emotion management.

Sometimes we may question if we really need therapy for emotion regulation, stress and emotional concerns.  You or your partner may not fit the criteria for a mental health issue. We see many couples who come in for an emotional check-up. 

Emotional concerns you or your partner may face:

  • Aggression
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Embarrassment
  • Excessive Tearfulness
  • Fear
  • Guilt
  • Helplessness
  • Hopelessness
  • Life Changes
  • Loss of Job
  • Misunderstands
  • Overwhelmed
  • Passiveness
  • Rigidity
  • Sadness
  • Shame
  • Work

Our team is here to help you make sense of your emotions.


Life Changes and Transition.

The longer a couple is together the more changes and experiences they go through.  Through the good times and the bad there are many emotions that can be stirred for each individual.  It is helpful to find ways to discuss these changes with your partner.

Our Registered Psychologists are excellent at helping couples gain understanding and empathy for each other through a variety of life transition issues:

  • Abuse(s)
  • Child Transitions
  • Elderly Parents
  • Goal changes
  • Illness of a Loved One
  • Illness of a family Member
  • Job Loss
  • Loss of a Loved One
  • Loss of a Family Member
  • Moving
  • Parental Separation and Divorce
  • Retirement
  • Separation
  • Trauma

Consult our intake team to see how we can support you during this time/

Our Therapists Specializing in Couples Counselling