My mission is to inspire deeper appreciation, emotional connection, intimacy, and attraction in your relationship.
As a Relationship Attraction Specialist and couples counsellor, I help couples understand the deeper patterns that influence love, connection, and desire. Many couples still care deeply for each other but find themselves stuck in cycles of conflict, distance, misunderstanding, or emotional disconnection.
It is incredibly rewarding to witness couples heal old wounds, strengthen their attachment, and rediscover the partnership they once shared. I love seeing couples move from treating each other as adversaries to becoming collaborators who support, understand, and choose each other.
I believe meaningful change happens in a safe, empathetic, and authentic counselling environment. My approach combines evidence-based couples therapy with warmth, compassion, and even humour when appropriate, creating a space where couples can feel comfortable being honest, vulnerable, and real.
I help couples navigate challenges involving communication, emotional safety, trust, intimacy, attraction, and relationship patterns that may have developed over time. Together, we can create a pathway toward greater understanding, connection, and a relationship that feels alive again.
Is Fear Stealing Your Happily Ever After?
Over time, every couple faces a choice:
Fear or Faith.
Fear can create:
• Distance
• Protection
• Blame
• Control
• Resentment
Faith can create:
• Courage
• Vulnerability
• Responsibility
• Compassion
• Connection
Fear + Distance = Loss of Attraction
Faith + Connection = Restored Attraction
Discover where fear, ego, and old patterns may be blocking connection — and how emotional safety, surrender, and faith can help restore balance, intimacy, and desire.
Take your free Relationship Archetype Quiz:
https://www.mmarriage.ca/archetypes
I invite you to explore my website and learn more about how counselling can support your relationship. I appreciate hearing from you and offer a free 20-minute consultation to help you decide if we are the right fit.
Client Focus
Session Format: Couple, Family, Group, Individual sessions.
Age Specialty: Adult
Demographic Expertise: Men, Women clients.
Languages: English
Treatment Approach
- Adlerian Therapy Focuses on understanding a person’s sense of belonging and purpose. It helps people overcome feelings of inferiority and create healthier relationships.
- Behavioral Therapy Uses learning techniques like reinforcement and practice to change unwanted behaviors. It is often applied to phobias, anxiety, and habits.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) One of the most widely used approaches, CBT helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and replace them with healthier patterns. It is effective for anxiety, depression, and many other concerns.
- Developmental Therapy Looks at how childhood and developmental experiences affect current challenges. It aims to repair unmet needs and foster healthy growth.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Combines CBT with mindfulness to help regulate emotions, tolerate stress, and build stronger relationships. Originally designed for borderline personality disorder, it’s now used more broadly.
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Focuses on strengthening emotional bonds in couples or families. It helps people identify negative cycles and create more secure connections.
- Family Systems Therapy Looks at problems within the context of the family as a whole. It aims to improve communication and balance in family relationships.
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy Based on decades of research, this method gives couples tools to improve communication, manage conflict, and strengthen intimacy.
- Jungian Therapy Draws on Carl Jung’s ideas about archetypes, dreams, and the collective unconscious. It helps people explore deeper layers of meaning.
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Combines mindfulness practices with CBT to prevent depression relapse. It helps people notice thoughts without judgment and respond more calmly.
- Narrative Therapy Encourages people to view problems as separate from themselves and reframe their life story. It helps build resilience and self-identity.
- Psychoeducational Therapy Provides education and coping tools about mental health conditions. It empowers clients with knowledge and practical skills.
- Reality Therapy / Choice Theory Focuses on present choices and taking responsibility for actions. It helps clients create more fulfilling relationships and lives.
- Relational Psychotherapy Emphasizes the healing power of the therapist-client relationship. It uses trust and safety as a foundation for change.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) Focuses on solutions and future goals rather than past problems. It is practical, short-term, and goal-driven.
Fees & Insurance
Fees
- Average Session Fee Couple & Individual
- Affordable sliding scale therapy: apply if you may be eligible.
- My Sliding Scale focuses on lower-income families. I will assess, give you a rate based on my assessment and what I can offer.
- Accepts Insurance
- I provide receipts for you to claim directly from your insurance provider.
Education & Credentials
Simone Merkl Marriage Counselling RTC
- Female
- License # 2731
- Licensed in BC.
- Practicing Since 2020
Education: Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused, Relational Life, Couples Institute or Developmental Model Therapies, Non-Violent Communication, and Gabor Mate Therapies.
Simone Merkl Marriage Counselling Practice Details
Therapy Sessions
- Available In-Person in Langley Township, BC V2Y 0L3 and White Rock, BC
- Available Online for residents of British Columbia
- Online Therapy Details: I use an easy to use online platform or by phone. (Doxy.me)
We all need love, connection, and the feeling that we truly matter to our partner. One of the most painful experiences in a relationship is feeling alone while sitting beside the person we love most.
Research on romantic relationships shows that love is deeply connected to attachment. Our romantic bond with our partner activates the same emotional systems involved in our earliest attachments. When we feel disconnected, rejected, or unsafe in our relationship, the emotional pain can feel overwhelming because our brains respond to relationship distress in ways similar to physical pain.
The good news is that connection can be rebuilt.
As a Relationship Attraction Specialist and couples counsellor, I help couples understand the deeper patterns that create distance, conflict, and loss of intimacy. I teach couples practical ways to reconnect, repair emotional injuries, and communicate their needs without creating more hurt or defensiveness.
Love can last when couples learn how to create emotional safety, understand each other's inner world, and repair after moments of disconnection.
My approach integrates evidence-based couples therapy methods, including Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the Gottman Method, Relational Life Therapy (RLT), Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy from The Couples Institute.
I begin by assessing each couple’s unique strengths and challenges using the Gottman Relationship Checkup questionnaire. This allows me to better understand your relationship patterns and provide the most effective tools and strategies for your specific needs.
The Gottman Method, based on over four decades of research with couples, provides practical tools for strengthening friendship, managing conflict, rebuilding trust, and creating lasting connection.
My goal is to inspire couples to deepen their appreciation, emotional connection, intimacy, and attraction. When partners feel safe, valued, and understood, they can stop seeing each other as adversaries and begin becoming true collaborators in their relationship.
Together, we can move from:
Conflict to Connection.
Distance to Desire.
Struggle to Strength.