The Relationship Centre today announced an increase in demand for its relationship counselling service following the festive break. Holiday stress leads to many couples seeking counselling and January is often the busiest time of year for The Relationship Centre and its sister organisation, Scottish Marriage Care.

The stresses of the festive season can place a great strain on a couple's relationship and exacerbate existing problems. Scottish Marriage Care's statistics highlight that communication breakdown is the most common reason for clients seeking counselling, with 69% of clients citing this as a major issue in their relationship.

Communication issues can take a variety of forms, with some couples unable to discuss their difficulties, for example issues around sex or power. Others, however, can find themselves continually arguing over the same things and are unable to resolve the conflict until they've dealt with the underlying issues.

Relationship counselling can help couples by offering practical advice on how to improve communication and manage potential arguments. People who go to relationship counselling feel better about themselves afterwards and tend to develop more sharing and affectionate relationships. Counselling improves relationship satisfaction equally well for both men and women and all social backgrounds. Importantly, counselling helps unhappy relationships quickly, with clients attending an average of just four sessions.

Clients come for counselling at all ages and stages in their relationships. There is no most common age group or length of relationship to seek counselling. Less than one-fifth of clients report that their relationship has ended following counselling and clients report a high level of satisfaction with the service they receive.

Chief Executive, Mary Toner said: "counselling can help couples to explore the issues in their relationship, so that they are able to come to a reflective decision about how to work through these. This has a positive impact on all areas of a person's life."