Relate Avis 177

I don't think I could recommend more strongly against this service. Jane at Relationship Works, formerly Relate Avon (relationship-works. co . uk) was judgemental from the outset. She made me feel bad, judged and had a complete lack of empathy. I went into the counselling hoping for lifeline for my marriage and in the end the process accelerated my wife deciding to separate and divorce. In each session I was made to feel like everything was my fault and was offered little in the way of support or things to do during a time of intense emotional turmoil. I was talked at as though I was a child and instead of discussing and working through the things that I was struggling with, I was made to feel small and pathetic. I felt isolated, alone and like it was all my fault. I acknowledged that there were issues with my marriage and I was turning up to do the work and get things to a better place. Instead I was made into the monster and punished for having understandably emotional reactions to the most difficult period in my adult life. It was at this time I needed support and all I got was a biased and unsympathetic “counsellor”.
I can't express how much this process was neither constructive nor supportive and would tell anyone to steer well clear of the service and Jane in particular in the Bristol area.

I can't believe that they're still in business. We used their 'services' earlier in the year. The counsellor, Beatte decided early on that I was to blame for my partner's affairs. She even said that if you go to a supermarket and they haven't got what you want, you're going to look elsewhere! She claimed that if we could 'talk kindly' it would fix things. No mention of accountability, honesty or transparency. Give them a wide berth. My experience is that they are awful.

If this was my first experience of counselling then I would never do it again.
Terrible service, made the situation worse by their lower quality counselling than previous counseling I have had and poor communication from the counsellor.
Would not recommend, try find a local counsellor instead

Good support. Quick in-person response to question & enquiry.
Well thought out toolkits.

Great topics bringing clarity and changing my outlook on this subject. I am thankful for the availability, very useful information!

I ordered a relate toolkit and put my bank details in. It came up as 'something went wrong' and nothing was sent, but they took the money out of my account anyway. There isn't a phone number to ring and chase this so I have emailed I have not heard back, yet anyway.

Money taken twice and then numerous phone calls, thankfully refunded.

First Relate Counsellor was appalling. Offered zero techniques how to improve communication or resolve conflict. Offered a different person.

Second was better, but by then we had resolved most matters ourselves, so it was easy.

Had further sessions a year later with second counsellor privately. I was also having independent private specialist therapy alongside, to help cope with partner's poor MH. This time, the Relate counsellor was highly unprofessional, slated private therapist on more than one occasion and brought up extremely personal information to prove his point from his own personal life, to try to discredit the private specialist therapist. Too detailed to put on here. Suffice to say further sessions were cancelled. Overall, extemely poor.

I thought the product was a little sparse on detail. I thought there would be more information in the pack that I bought

We reached out to Relate for support with our failing relationship. An initial assessment costing £145 was cut short due to the counsellor not feeling well. We were advised that this would be taken into account on our next session. The next session was a different counsellor who basically went through everything we had discussed initially. Another £145. We booked a third session at £145 only to be contacted on the day to say the counsellor was unavailable and we could reschedule for the following week or chat to yet another, different counsellor at our allocated time. Basically we are 5 weeks down the line and absolutely no further forward in trying to save our relationship. Feeling very let down and disappointed by this organisation. We are now seeking help closer to home at a dramatically reduced cost.
Would absolutely NOT recommend Relate to anyone needing help. I'm actually more stressed and upset than I was before we started 🙃

I bought the self guide kit of being cheated on and it was £10 amd came straight through by email.
I haven’t gone through much of it as it is still quite traumatic. But over time I can
Look through to help me.

After a few disastrous sessions with Relate's couples counseling I was recommended some solo counselling sessions.This was also held at the same therapy centre in Baddow Road, Chelmsford. After around 8 visits at £70 at time I decided enough was enough. It was with a guy called Stuart. I started from my childhood and worked up to here and now. It got to the point that I'd run out of things to say and was repeating myself to the point where I was just talking about my recent holiday. I'd lossed my parents, 3 of my dogs, I'd been taken advantage of and treated badly,to mention a few issues. All I got from Stuart was "and how does that make you feel". I needed advice on how to stop being a soft touch and to stop looking bad at the negative things in my past. Apparently he doesn't give advice or guidance but he had empathy for me lol. I'd have been better off just by talking to friends. Honestly it was pathetic but I kept going thinking it would get better but it never did. I asked him "how would you feel" because anyone that had these experiences would feel pretty bad. I also asked him "what difference does it make with your need to know how I feel if your not going to offer any advice". I told him I'd got nothing from the sessions and I was going down the self help route by reading some good books. He emailed me back to say the books wouldn't help me. Well he wouldn't have qualified if it wasn't for books and that could be said if many professions. What a stupid thing to say. I've just started reading "The Let Them Theory"by Mel Robbins, it's brilliant. I gained more insight on how to stop other people affecting me adversely just by reading the introduction to my new book than I gained from 2 months of therapy. They're good listeners but nothing more. I'd suggest a good book or two to reset
yourself. Failing that I'll ask you how things made you feel for half the price lol. Seriously, don't waste your time or money. At the end of the day it's down to us, no one else fix our issues. Even by been pointed in the right direction would help but as Stuart said "it's not how they work". It's not work at all it's just listening and not being judgemental.

None of any of the workbook related to anything were struggling with.
At all.
And I paid money for worthless tat thats not fot for the waste paper bin.

Bought two products. Only received one. Have emailed and contacted Relate on social media, asking for the missing item to be sent or to be refunded and have been ignored. Would not recommend.

I brought 2 dresses at Lottie Loves Tavistock end of April for my holiday in June wore it once whilst on holiday and once o the 25/8/25.I then noticed there was a fault in the material in several places so I took it back to the shop In Tavistock as I live in Plymouth I didn’t have the receipt however I had it on my bank statement showing the two purchases.I was told by a young girl that it no longer comes under the faulty goods act as I have worn the dress and don’t have my receipt.Im pretty sure they could check back and my bank statement should be proof .I have since found that if it less than six months the shop has to assume it was faulty at purchase and should return the dress to the shop as it is covered under the consumer act 2015 and that burden of proof is on the shop to prove it wasn’t faulty at time of purchase.I never take anything back and have shopped in Lottie Loves in Cornwall lots of times I’m extremely disappointed with this service I am now going to trading standards.

I bought the Couple relationship audit on the 27th of July, transaction of £10 confirmed, but I never received a copy via email (yes I checked my spam). I tried to contact them via Instagram, but it's been 4 days and I haven't heard back yet. I don't really want to have to download Facebook too, to try to reach them, and there is no email address. How does one get in touch with Relate?

We were given a very young counsellor- and as an older couple we found it difficult to relate to her. Her input was superficial- and we felt seriously hesitant to do follow up sessions

Enquiries are meet quickly, but unfortunately I was not given the help I need. I can not join an online meeting and there aren’t any face to face meeting…I was very disappointed as I desperately need professional help. I bought the leaflet and I’m making my way through it, but it is a poor substitute to the help I need.

Please save yourself time, stress and money. Terrible organisation. They took our money and never came back to us , we were really struggling and needed help.. we could have gone somewhere else .

Dont waste your time and money.

Had relationship counselling when my partnership was on the brink of separation. We separated completely after our first together-session with our counsellor. She pitted us against each other and took sides. A good counsellor will challenge clients if they are trying to get them to see another perspective; she was just confrontational. It caused so many more arguments and tension between me and partner. We had one more session and decided she was unprofessional and making things worse. She made us into enemies. Was far too strongly opinionated in how we parented our daughter and even mum-shamed me at one point. We are now stronger than ever after we left Relate and joined a different service with a much better counsellor.