Family Therapy & Counselling

Strengthening The Family Unit

The goal of family counselling is to work towards improving the health and functioning of the family. Family therapy and counselling services can be beneficial for many reasons. A counsellor or therapist will work with the family to strengthen the family unit through helping family members grow in mutual understanding, deepen connections, improve communications, resolve conflicts, and address past hurts and unresolved issues.

A family unit undergoes changes as it progresses through different stages of family development. The stressors faced by individuals, couples, and families can vary at different stages of family development. For instance, the challenges faced by a family with young children will look very different from the challenges faced by a family with teenagers, or at the stage where the children have grown up and are leaving home to start lives and families of their own.

Regardless of the stage of family development, family therapy can help individuals and families navigate these stressful times together to improve the emotional and mental health of the family members while also strengthening the bonds within the family unit.

Situations Where Family Therapy Can Be Valuable

Seeing a counsellor or therapist is recommended in situations where there are additional struggles such as:

• Raising a child with special needs

• Supporting a family member with severe illness or addictions

• Caring for a family member with mental health issues or other conditions such as dementia

• Supporting a family member experiencing a crisis or emotional struggles such as anger, depression, anxiety

• Life-stage related changes or stresses affecting interactions among family members

• Grief and bereavement in situations of loss, such as the loss of a family member

• Trauma in the family

• Divorce, separation, or transition to forming a blended family

Such challenges may strain the family unit and relationships. Actively taking steps to seek out family therapy and counselling services to help to better manage the trying situations at home can go a long way in improving family functioning and also the mental health and well-being of family members.

How Family Therapy & Counselling Can Be Beneficial

Through our counselling services, individuals and families can be supported in various ways. Benefits of family therapy and counselling include:

• Gaining a deeper understanding of the interactional patterns and dynamics in the family

• Learning more helpful ways of interacting with and supporting each other

• Developing skills and tools to better communicate with each other and to resolve conflicts and interpersonal difficulties within the family

• Deepening bonds and connections within the family

• Experiencing healing and reconciliation from past hurts

• Experiencing personal growth and seeing positive change individually and as a family unit