Couples therapy · Berlin-Mitte
Couples therapy in Berlin, in English – 2:2 with a couple
Two therapists who are a couple themselves. Couples therapy and counselling in English, in Berlin-Mitte or online: learn to listen again, talk about feelings, find your way back to each other.
Get to know us first: a free 10-minute call
When you can't reach each other any more
You work well as a team: everyday life, children, appointments, the household. But that is almost all you talk about. You no longer really know how the other one is doing. You live side by side, perhaps without big fights, and miss what you once had.
Or it grinds at the same spots again and again. One says: "You don't listen to me." The other replies: "You don't listen either." Sometimes a single sentence, a tone, a look is enough, and the evening is over.
That is no sign that you are wrong for each other. Usually something simpler is missing: a way to really tell each other what is going on inside you, and to hear what reaches the other.
We work with couples who want to find their way back to each other. If you want to separate and need to settle arrangements, mediation is the right path; we don't offer it.
Where did the butterflies go?
At the beginning, being in love carries you. Then things become familiar, you feel safer, and that is exactly when things come up that bother you. This is normal and not a step backwards.
Closeness reveals what each of you brings from earlier relationships and from your own childhood: imprints, hurts, expectations, sometimes old wounds. That is why the people we love most hit us in our sorest spots. If this goes unrecognised, the old pain lands on the partner: "It's your fault I feel like this."
There are ways out. You can learn to talk to each other differently.
The 2:2 format
With us, you don't sit across from a single therapist. Each of you has a person at your side. Nobody is outnumbered, and nobody has to wonder whether the therapist is on the other one's side.
With four people in the room, the dynamics between you become easier to see, including those you can't see yourselves in the middle of an argument. This makes the work more focused. It takes place in our practice in Berlin-Mitte or online.
Who works with you
We have been working with couples together since 2023.
Dr. Caroline Böttiger
through understanding
Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy (German licence) and neuroscientist with a doctorate from the Charité. Caroline explains what is happening inside you and why you react the way you do, and you learn to calm your nervous system yourself.
Andreas Weller
through the body
Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy (German licence), focus on psychosomatics. Your body and your unconscious often know where an issue comes from. Andreas makes this accessible and explains clearly what is going on, without you having to tell everything.
Why we work with couples as a couple
We are a couple ourselves. We know from our own experience how a relationship feels: the beautiful parts and what can become difficult. We have both been married before and are divorced. So we also know the pain when it doesn't work out, and we bring what we learned from it.
We are both therapists, with a focus on complex trauma, psychosomatics and family constellations. This helps at one point in particular: when an argument actually touches an old story, we recognise it and can look there with you.
And we don't sit there as spectators. What we show you, we practise ourselves, every day, in conversation with each other.
What it is about
At the centre is what couples need most and have least: a conversation in which both may show themselves and the other listens.
- Connection. We look at what holds you together and strengthen it. Connection creates trust, and trust creates closeness.
- Learning to listen. Letting the other finish, without reacting on reflex, without defending yourself. It is hard, but it can be practised.
- Talking about feelings. Many couples argue about things and mean feelings: fear, shame, disappointment, longing. You learn to say it without blaming the other.
- Dialogue. A simple, fixed form in which one of you speaks for a while and the other only listens, then you swap. We practise it in the session so that you can continue on your own at home.
What happens in the sessions
We start with a joint conversation: what weighs on you, where do you keep ending up at the same spot? Depending on what is needed, we work with conflict patterns (attack, withdrawal, avoidance), triggers, projections, unspoken wishes and needs, inner child work, family constellations when a theme from your families of origin shows up, and hypnosis if it suits you.
Typical topics: entrenched patterns of arguing, jealousy, infidelity, reproaches, money, sexuality, codependency, and entanglements with the families you come from. Our aim is that in the end you don't depend on us: you leave with tools to continue in everyday life.
Behind a couple's conflict there are often topics each of you may look at alone: an attachment experience from childhood, an old trauma, physical complaints. For this, each of you can also have individual sessions with Caroline or Andreas. They are confidential, and an offer, not an obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Do both of us need to be fluent in English?
It is enough if you both feel at home in English. Mixed couples often find that English is the shared language, and that is exactly how we work with you.
Do we both have to want the same thing?
No. Often one wants it more than the other, or one comes along hesitantly. This is what the 2:2 format is for: each of you has someone at your side. What matters is that both are willing to try.
Is couples therapy possible after an affair?
Yes. Infidelity is one of the topics couples come to us with. We listen to both sides without judging and look with you at what happened and how you can rebuild trust.
Married, unmarried, same-sex – does it matter?
Not for the work. We work with couples regardless of how you live together and who you are.
Does couples therapy work online?
Yes. Sessions are possible in our practice in Berlin-Mitte or online by video, whether you sit together in one place or in two different ones.
What does couples therapy cost?
A couples session with the four of us lasts 90 minutes and costs €300. We bill privately, not through public health insurance. Whether your private insurance reimburses anything, you clarify with them yourself.
You don't need to know how it goes on. It is enough that you are both willing to listen to each other again.
Get to know us first: a free 10-minute call
The booking calendar is in German. Questions? kontakt@mitte-praxis.de