Family Therapy Sydney

Does your family have sticking points that sometimes feel impossible to work through? 

 

Does your struggle to understand your child’s experiences, views, and needs seem more difficult than that of a typical parent-child relationship? 

 

Family therapy or family counselling may be able to help you work through these issues together.

 

Family therapy (or family and systemic psychotherapy) helps groups of closely related people express themselves, explore past traumas, and find constructive ways to move forward. These groups may be parents and children. However, grandparents, blended families, and couples can also benefit from family therapy.

 

Individual psychotherapy has benefits for understanding one family member’s mental health and symptomatic behaviours. Family therapy goes a step further by placing an individual's symptoms into a social context. By taking the spotlight off of one individual, family counselling considers every family member’s needs. A family therapist helps individuals and the group explore the group dynamic and experiences of one family member’s symptoms, including how those symptoms impact other members of the family.

 

Families need to understand that a family therapy session doesn’t seek to cast blame on any member of a family. Instead, the therapist provides a neutral space and serves as a facilitator for communication and conflict resolution. Everyone’s voice has a place and every experience receives time, attention, and respect.

 

Family psychotherapy provides a safe avenue to talk about difficult issues that may cause hurt or distress. It recognises and respects each participants’ experiences. More importantly, the family works together to find ways to build on existing strengths and find tools to promote relationships systems.

 

How can a family therapist help your family?

 

• Providing support to a family member with mental health issues (children, adolescents, and adults)

• Promoting interpersonal development for families

• Building an alliance with the adolescent or with the parents

• Recovery from eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, etc.)

• Facilitating conversations to resolve attachment ruptures

• Improving cohesion in blended families

• Promoting autonomy and competency in the adolescent

• Working past domestic violence and abuse

 

To learn more about the benefits of family therapy, get in touch with our family counselling service in Sydney, NSW and Eastwood, NSW.

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