About Cate

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Cate trained in the UK in the 1990s, first as an individual psychotherapist at Leicester University and then as a couples therapist with Relate UK.

In 2003 she moved to County Mayo in Southern Ireland, where she further qualified as a supervisor and trainer.. She created Mayo Couples Counselling to provide a much-needed service in the west of Ireland.

Cate says:

Early in my career, I felt particularly drawn to working with couples- perhaps because my parents divorced in my early teens and I had to learn how good relationships work. I hadn’t learnt this at home or school…so not too surprisingly, I wasn’t great at relationships in my early adult life.

This transformed through my early experience of couples counselling.

That lifeline ignited my passion for helping other couples navigate their stuck relationships ….But more than that, my early feelings, of ‘if only I’d had this guidance earlier" mirrored so many of my clients' feelings.  This complled me to develop specific, user-friendly, customised courses for couples early in their relationship commitment.  This is the prime time to educate couples and this is when it makes the most difference.  Yet globally, there is very little specific help for this huge niche market of young couples...

So I developed the Relationship/Marriage Prep Course Service and a Couples Skills Intensive Programme for couples starting out in their relationship commitments.   In 2020 I embarked on The Master Mentor training with Dr. Ellyn Bader and Dr. Pete Pearson in San Francisco.  It was during that year's training that they encouraged and supported me to make my courses available to other therapists to extend the reach of this valuable service worldwide

At The Early Stage of Relationship Commitment:

• Couples are motivated and eager to protect their love. They want good skills, tools and insightful guidelines to ensure a strong and lasting relationship. This is their fighting chance to succeed.

• They don’t yet have many resentments or entrenched issues built up in their relationship. The pre-course questionnaire will help couples therapists spot any unhelpful tendencies that can be nipped in the bud before they become destructive. This saves couples from heaps of trouble down the road.

• You can raise early awareness of any destructive cycles in their families of origin and help them break these cycles.  

Four Key Areas for these Couples - 

• Each couple member has different ‘normals’ based on their unique childhood and history. Help couples explore their different 'normals'      and move them away from ‘I’m right, you're wrong” attitudes.      Instead, encourage them to know each other more deeply, especially after the 'honeymoon stage' - then they can decide on what normals to keep or discard, and they can also create some new 'normals' which honour 'both and more ....'

• Help them to know their triggers and how to calm and manage these.

• And to learn how to maintain a strong sense of self in a connected relationship – 'How to be true to yourself AND true to your relationship'

• Teach both how to take an active part in creating a solid relationship that's built to last.

Working with couples at any stage is a constant rewarding challenge and a privilege. Even with our most difficult and stuck long-term therapy clients, progress is well within their reach, if they are motivated to work. Relationships can be transformed with expert guidance; often, couples feel change happening from the very first counselling session.   

Be In Safe Expert Hands

Many counsellors who are individually trained dabble in couples’ work without any substantial training in this highly specialised field. I am very wary of this, and so should you be.  Would you go to a GP to treat a recurring heart problem, or would you feel safer with a heart specialist”  It's the same world of difference when choosing a couples therapist for your relationship.