Family Therapy
Families are small and unique groups. Like many groups, sometimes problems emerge when there are differences with one another or when members of the family experience individual difficulties in the family context. Family therapy helps people in close relationships help each other. It enables family members to express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions safely, to understand each other’s experiences and views, appreciate each other’s needs, build on family strengths and make useful changes in their relationships and their lives.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to help a family free up their strengths; sometimes difficulties are more complex and families may need longer to find solutions that work for them.
How might it help me and my family?
Research shows Family Therapy is useful for infants, children, young people and adults experiencing a wide range of difficulties and circumstances, as well as relationship problems. These include:
- Infant, child and adolescent behaviour difficulties
- Strengthening the parent-child relationship
- Family communication problems
- Mental health problems
- Couple relationship difficulties
- Illness and disability in the family
- Separation, divorce and step-family life
- Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders
- Fostering, adoption, kinship care and the needs of ‘looked after’ children
- Self-harm
- Substance use
- Trauma and it’s effects on individuals and the family
- Difficulties related to life transitions (birth of a child, death of a loved one, child leaving the home, etc.)
My work with children and teens usually involves a component of Family Therapy at some point in the process of counselling. My experience with children and teens has taught me that working with families provides the opportunity for both the young person and family members to listen to loved ones and be heard in a safe and caring environment.
Parenting Support
Raising children in this complex and busy world is a big task. As parents, we want to raise happy, healthy, confident, self-reliant and responsible children, while maintaining a close, supportive relationship with our kids. Sometimes children present us with difficult behaviour and can challenge us like we never imagined. This along with the demands of parenting can leave us feeling overwhelmed and we find ourselves being less than effective. Often, for better or worse, we parent as we have been parented, unless we have help to parent in new ways.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the demands of parenting or you don’t feel like you’re the parent you want to be, I can help. If you want to feel closer to your child, I can help. I will help you manage challenging behaviour, social and emotional struggles along with relationship difficulties with your child. I can help you find solutions to these challenges and ultimately raise your happy and healthy child.