In my master's thesis, I will focus on professional counselling for couples at social
work centres. Intimate relationships are especially important to humans. They can be a source
of happiness and satisfaction, but they can also be filled with suffering and pain. When the
situation becomes unbearable or when the partners no longer see a common future, the
relationship ends with divorce or the dissolution of the partnership. My goal is to focus on the
time in a partnership when the partners still have hope and want to improve their relationship
and fight for it. Professional counselling for couples is a free service offered at social work
centres, but unfortunately, most people are not aware of it or do not choose it because they have
already decided to divorce. In my thesis, I will provide a more theoretical overview of a
partnership is and the problems that partners most often encounter, the topic of violence in
intimate partner relationships, the field of social work with families and the approaches to
professional counselling for couples at social work centres. I will also emphasize the importance
of self-care for, supervision and self-help the legislation for professional counselling for couples
at social work centres. In the second part of my research, I conducted a study with professionals
who work in the field of counselling for couples at social work centres. I used interviews as a
method of data collection and analysed the data qualitatively. I was interested in the topics that
come up in counselling sessions, how professionals cope with stress, what knowledge they
possess, what approaches they use when dealing with highly conflicted couples, and how they
respond when violence is disclosed. I found that partners have the most trouble with
communication, professionals are overworked, but still manage stress well, possess a lot of
knowledge when working with highly reactive couples, and respond appropriately when
violence is disclosed.
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