If you or your children are not safe, contact your local emergency services or the police. The line listed below is a family line.
Crisis numbers in the Philippines
- MAKABATA Helpline 1383, Council for the Welfare of Children: Tel: 1383
What couples counselling is
Couples counselling is talking therapy for two people together, and the relationship is what is being worked on rather than either partner.
Titles you will see include Registered Psychologist (RPsych) and Registered Guidance Counselor. Search the registers by name at PRC - Board of Psychology (PRC-Psych) or PRC - Board of Guidance and Counseling (PRC-Guidance). Check that the name and title match and that the entry is current. If they do not, ask the practitioner why.
General Trias is in Cavite.
Approaches generally share similar features 1. The counsellor takes an active part and works on the patterns that keep a difficulty going. They build an alliance with both of you at once.
The practitioner does not decide who is at fault.
It is not legal advice, and it does not settle anything about the legal status of a marriage. It is also not only for couples in crisis. Relationship distress is one of the ordinary reasons adults look for therapy 2.
Is couples counselling the right first step?
There are cases where a joint session should not be the first appointment.
Moderate to severe aggression between partners is one reason 1. Active alcohol or other substance misuse is another. So are a continuing affair and psychotic symptoms.
A practitioner should ask about these before seeing a couple together.
Couples sessions require safety. If one partner is frightened of the other, the safety route comes first. The law here gives you one that starts in your own barangay. Seeing someone on your own is a normal first step and not a verdict on the marriage.
If the problem is safety rather than the relationship
Where a woman or her child is being hurt or threatened by a partner, the law here provides a route that starts close to home.
The route is the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act 3. Under it, the Punong Barangay issues a barangay protection order on the day it is applied for. Barangay officials and law enforcers must respond at once to a call for help, and must enforce the order.
A man abused by his partner can file a case under the Revised Penal Code instead 4.
The same Act obliges the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the local government to provide temporary shelter, counselling and psychosocial services. It also gives a right to legal help from the Public Attorney's Office.
For a child there is the Makabata helpline of the Council for the Welfare of Children 5. It takes reports of abuse and gives referral and psychosocial support.
Nearby places and related listings
- Marriage counsellors by city, the marriage counsellors page, not tied to a place
- the Philippines: Marriage counselling by city
References
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TherapyRoute is a clinician-led directory that champions independent practitioners who answer to you and their professional ethics. We don't take commissions, sell your data, or assign therapists by algorithm. You browse, compare, and choose.
Vincenzo (Enzo) Sinisi, Clinical Psychologist (HPCSA), Psychoanalyst (IPA/SAPA), Group Analyst (IGA)
