Services

Family Therapy

Families who come to see me often feel emotionally exhausted and sometimes are stuck in a ‘blame cycle’. Sometimes things are going pretty well but they would like support working through a particular issue. Often they would like to feel emotionally connected to each other but find that behaviours or interactional/conflict patterns keep getting in the way of the relationships that they want with each other.  With families, I may sometimes see the whole family and at other times parts of the family (caregivers alone, dyad work with one caregiver and one child, etc.). I work with your family to explore what the issues are and what is the best approach to address it. Family therapy is a great approach to address:

• Family Conflict

• Life changes (moving, divorce, death and illness of a loved one, changing schools, difficulties related to a child’s developmental stage, etc.)

• Communication or relationship difficulties/breakdown

• Family impacted by one family member’s mental health, addiction, etc.

• Past abuse

Parent Support

As a parent of two young children, and with years of experience providing support to parents of youth with mental health challenges, I have come to appreciate just how difficult parenting can be. 

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My work with parents includes a 3-pronged approach:

1) Explore the context/holistic picture of the challenges to understand the factors contributing to the difficulties, the why, where and how things are stuck. This helps us all get on the same page about how to move forward and is based on the principle that problems are dynamic and multi-layered and require solutions that are also dynamic and multi-layered. 

 2) Understand what is getting activated in you as the parent/parents because of the difficulties and what healing of your own could be helpful in opening up healing for the family. This is based on the principle that parents are doing the best they can and that sometimes our own histories can highjack us out of alignment with our parenting values/approach. Sometimes as parents we are aware of this dynamic and sometimes it is outside of our conscious awareness.  

 3) Specific tools, strategies and work with your child/ren to shift patterns towards harmony, better functioning (both for your child/ren and for the family as a whole) and deeper connection.

I have supported parents in addressing many concerns including:

• Difficult behaviours in your children

• Supporting a child with mental health difficulties

• Relationship ruptures and other relationship difficulties

• Getting on the same page as your partner in your parenting approach (whether as a couple or as co-parents)

• Addressing the blocks or challenges that get in the way of your desired parenting approach