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Macedon Ranges · Telehealth Australia-Wide

When the cycle
runs deeper than
words can fix.

Emotionally Focused Therapy and Gottman Method — integrated to work at the level of the bond itself, not just the behaviour. For couples at every stage, in every kind of pain.

Book Free 20-Min Consult See Our Services
ACA Accredited Gottman Method EFT Trained Victorian Father of the Year BBH Certified IPNB-Informed

"We still love each other. We've just lost the ability to reach each other — and every time we try, it turns into the same argument."

The most common thing couples say in a first session

70–75%
of distressed couples recover with EFT — gains maintained at follow-up
90%
predictive accuracy — Gottman's research identifies breakdown risk
67%
of couples report significant relationship decline within 3 years of having a baby
9×
increase in conflict during the transition to parenthood — the most under-supported crisis in adult life
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Emotionally Focused Therapy Gottman Method Polyvagal Theory Interpersonal Neurobiology Attachment Science Bringing Baby Home ACA Accredited Victorian Father of the Year Macedon Ranges Telehealth Australia-Wide Emotionally Focused Therapy Gottman Method Polyvagal Theory Interpersonal Neurobiology Attachment Science Bringing Baby Home ACA Accredited Victorian Father of the Year Macedon Ranges Telehealth Australia-Wide
01 — Who We See

Do you recognise
your relationship here?

We see couples before the crisis, inside it, and in the long aftermath. No situation is too complicated. No couple is too far gone.

Most Common
01
The couple in quiet disconnection

"We don't really fight anymore. We just don't really talk. We're polite. We parent fine. But somewhere the actual relationship disappeared and neither of us can say exactly when."

— Polite distance · parallel lives in the same house
— Intimacy fading without drama or crisis
— Love present — connection missing
Very Common
02
Pursuer and withdrawer

"Every time I try to raise it, they shut down. I push harder. They go quieter. Same argument on repeat, never resolved. I feel like I'm losing my mind — and they feel constantly attacked."

— One escalates, one withdraws — neither can stop
— Criticism and defensiveness as default
— Repair attempts that land wrong every time
Common
03
One foot out the door

"I love them but I'm not sure I'm in love anymore. Or maybe I am and I've just forgotten what it feels like. I genuinely can't tell which it is."

— Ambivalence — not ready to leave, not sure how to stay
— Trust broken — emotional or physical breach
— One or both partners considering separation
Deep Specialisation
04
Since the baby, everything changed

"We were solid before the baby. Now we can barely be in the same room without tension. I don't know who we are anymore — or if we still want the same things."

— Disconnection that arrived with parenthood
— Invisible labour, identity rupture, building resentment
— Co-parenting functional — couple relationship gone
Our Parenthood Specialisation →

"No situation is too complicated. No couple is too far gone. The work meets you exactly where you are."

See All Services Take the Assessment
02 — Our Clinical Approach

Heart. Understanding. Skills.
In that order — always.

Most couples don't need better communication skills. They need to understand the emotional logic underneath the argument — and feel genuinely safe with each other again. We start there.

E
Step 01 · We Start Here
Emotionally Focused Therapy

EFT gets underneath the argument to the emotional truth. Before couples can build new patterns, they need to understand the emotional logic of the old ones — naming the cycle without blame, accessing the primary emotions beneath the surface anger, the fear beneath the pursuit, the longing beneath the withdrawal.

Negative Cycle Primary Emotions Attachment Injury Hold Me Tight
A
Step 02 · The Understanding
Attachment & Neurobiology

Attachment is a neurobiological system active throughout adult life. Polyvagal Theory explains what's happening in both nervous systems during the cycle. When couples understand this, they stop experiencing each other as the problem — and that reframe is often permanent.

Adult Attachment Polyvagal Theory IPNB Window of Tolerance
G
Step 03 · The Skills
Gottman Method

With emotional safety established and attachment understood, Gottman's tools become genuinely usable — not rehearsed scripts, but real skills on a foundation of mutual understanding. Forty years of research. Precise, learnable tools for what to do differently in the moments that count.

Four Horsemen Bids for Connection Repair Attempts Sound Relationship House
Dan Siegel
Interpersonal Neurobiology · Mindsight · Relational Brain
Stephen Porges
Polyvagal Theory · Neuroception · Safety First
Allan Schore
Regulation Theory · Right-Brain Attunement · Affect
Bowlby · Johnson
Adult Attachment · Secure Base · EFT Foundation
03 — Services

Every format,
every stage.

In person in the Macedon Ranges or telehealth across Australia. Evening appointments available Wednesday to Friday until 8pm.

Core Service · Most Enquired
Couples
Counselling

Gottman Method and EFT integrated — for couples at every stage from first signs of disconnection to the conversation about whether to stay. Warm, direct, evidence-based. Most couples see meaningful shift within 6–10 sessions.

Learn More About This Service →
70–75%
of distressed couples recover with EFT — gains maintained at 6-month follow-up
90%
predictive accuracy — Gottman's research identifies breakdown risk
6–10 sessions
most couples see meaningful shift — intensive format available for faster movement
🏠 Couples Workshop · Next Intake June 2026
Bringing Baby Home

The Gottman Institute's gold-standard perinatal couples program. Evidence shows significantly lower relationship decline, better co-parenting outcomes, lower postnatal depression rates. 8-week course or weekend intensive.

Register Interest → 🤱 Deep Specialism
Parenthood Transition

Antenatal couples work, new parent therapy, and post-crisis relationship repair — for couples navigating the most predictable, most under-supported relational transition in adult life.

Explore → 🔥 Intensive Format
Relationship Rebalance Intensive

A structured 2-day intensive for couples who need to move faster than weekly sessions allow, or who are at a genuine decision point. Full Gottman assessment, EFT restructuring, follow-up session included.

Enquire → ⚖️ Discernment
Discernment Counselling

Not couples therapy — a structured process for couples where one or both are ambivalent about whether to stay. 1–5 sessions. No pressure in either direction. Clarity — not persuasion — is the goal.

Enquire → 💻 Online · Australia-Wide
Telehealth Couples Counselling

The same clinical quality — Gottman, EFT, neuroscience-informed — via secure video across Australia. Evening appointments to 8pm. Ideal when one partner travels, or for regional and rural couples.

Book online → 🪑 Individual · Couples-Oriented
When One Partner Comes Alone

Your partner won't come, or isn't ready yet. Individual couples-oriented work shifts the relational system — and frequently brings the other partner in within a few months. A strong place to start.

Enquire →
📍 In person · Macedon Ranges 💻 Telehealth · Australia-wide 🕐 Evenings available to 8pm
Book Free Consult →
Our Deepest Specialisation

The parenthood transition is
the defining relational crisis
of adult life.

67% of couples report significant relationship decline within three years of having a baby. Conflict increases 9× in the first year alone. And almost no one supports couples through it specifically — until now.

Our Parenthood Approach Bringing Baby Home Program
04 — The Science

Not just referenced.
Integrated.

These aren't background references. They're the map that makes sense of everything couples experience in the room.

Dan Siegel
Interpersonal Neurobiology
The Relational Brain

The brain develops and continues to be reshaped through relationship throughout adult life. Integration — linking differentiated parts — is the neurobiological substrate of mental health. Couples therapy, done well, changes the brain.

Stephen Porges
Polyvagal Theory
Neuroception & Safety

The nervous system scans for safety or threat below conscious awareness. A partner's tone or posture can trigger a threat response in milliseconds. Couples cannot think their way out of a state their nervous system entered first.

Allan Schore
Regulation Theory
Right-Brain Attunement

Emotional communication between partners is fundamentally right-brain to right-brain — implicit, fast, and non-verbal. Attunement is felt before it is understood. Presence and tone carry more therapeutic weight than any technique.

Bowlby · Ainsworth · Johnson
Attachment Theory
Adult Attachment

Attachment is a neurobiological system active throughout adult life. When the attachment system activates during disconnection, rational thought becomes secondary. Secure attachment — the foundation of EFT — can be earned at any age.

John Gottman
Relationship Research
Predictable Breakdown

Forty years of observational research. 90% predictive accuracy for relationship breakdown. The Four Horsemen, Bids for Connection, the Sound Relationship House — not theories. Empirically-derived tools from the most rigorous couples research ever conducted.

Ruth Feldman
Biobehavioral Synchrony
The Physiology of 'We'

Connection is not a feeling — it is a physiological state of synchrony between two nervous systems. When couples restore this synchrony, the felt sense of "we" returns before any words are exchanged. Therapy targets this state directly.

Gabriel Carazo — Relationship Counsellor and Family Therapist
Gabriel Carazo
ACA-Accredited Relationship Counsellor
& Family Therapist
ACA Accredited Relationship Counsellor Gottman Method Trained EFT Trained (Externship) Bringing Baby Home Certified Facilitator Victorian Father of the Year 2025 Presenting — Australian Fatherhood Research Symposium 2026
05 — About

The parenthood transition is
the defining relational crisis
of adult life. Almost no one
supports couples through it.

Gabriel is a Gottman Method trained, EFT-trained, ACA-accredited Relationship Counsellor and Family Therapist — and a Bringing Baby Home certified facilitator. He was named Victorian Father of the Year in recognition of his clinical and community work supporting couples and families through the parenthood transition.

"The couples I see aren't broken. They're in a cycle — a predictable, neurobiologically-driven pattern that has nothing to do with how much they love each other. When they understand that, everything changes."

His couples practice integrates Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Polyvagal Theory into a coherent framework — going from emotional safety to neurobiological understanding to lasting behavioural change. He works with couples at every stage of the relationship, with a particular clinical depth in the parenthood transition.

Gabriel also founded RAD DADS — Australia's first council-funded father-specific bush playgroup program — and presents original research on father engagement, activation relationship theory, and the role of fathers in child development. He is presenting original research at the Australian Fatherhood Research Symposium at Deakin University in May 2026.

Available in person in the Macedon Ranges and via telehealth Australia-wide.
Wednesday to Friday 9am–8pm · Saturday 9am–12pm.

For Referring Professionals Book a Consult
05b — Fees

Transparent
fees. No surprises.

All prices GST inclusive. Every enquiry begins with a free 20-minute consultation — no clinical intake, no obligation, no cost. Payment plans available for those experiencing financial hardship.

Full Pricing Details Book Free Consult
Service
60 min
90 min
Telehealth
Secure video — anywhere in Australia
$180
$210
In-Person — Kyneton
Includes $20 room hire
$205
$235
Outreach — Macedon Ranges
Gabriel comes to you
$250
$280
🆓 Free 20-min consult — no obligation
🤝 Hardship plans — just ask
⏰ 15% after-hours surcharge may apply
06 — Common Questions

Before you
reach out.

Most couples have the same questions. Here are honest answers — no clinical language, no sales pressure.

Book Free 20-Min Consult
It's one of the most common situations we work with. Individual couples-oriented sessions work with one person on the relational system — and frequently shift the dynamic enough that the other partner becomes willing. Sometimes one person doing the work is exactly what the relationship needs first.
Most couples' experiences with therapy that didn't work involved a general practitioner without specialist couples training. Couples therapy is a distinct clinical discipline — Gottman and EFT are specific, evidence-based frameworks developed from forty years of research. The approach here is different in kind, not just style.
Couples counselling is not covered by Medicare in Australia, and most private health funds don't cover it. Individual sessions within the couples process may be claimable in some circumstances — worth discussing at the free consult. No commitment required at the consultation.
EFT works at the emotional and attachment level — identifying the negative cycle without blame, accessing the primary emotions beneath it, restructuring the bond. Gottman works at the behavioural and structural level — specific skills, the Sound Relationship House, Four Horsemen antidotes. We integrate them in sequence: EFT creates the safety for Gottman skills to actually land.
Ambivalence is welcome here. We don't take a position on whether you should stay together — that's not our role. Discernment counselling holds that question without pressure, helping both partners reach a considered decision rather than one driven by exhaustion or peak conflict. Clarity is always the goal.
A 20-minute phone or video call — no clinical intake, no assessment, no obligation. A conversation about where you are and whether this is the right fit. Book through Calendly — no referral required. You'll leave knowing clearly whether this practice can help, and what the next step looks like.
Take the First Step

You don't have to know
what you need. Just reach out.

A free 20-minute phone consultation. No pressure. No clinical language. Just a conversation about where you are and whether we're the right fit.

Book Free 20-Min Consult For Referring Professionals
📞 0406 020 577 ✉ info@rangescounselling.com 🕐 Wed–Fri 9am–8pm · Sat 9am–12pm