Family Counselling Services in Bluewater, ON.

Families can experience stress, conflict and fall apart at any stages of the life cycle. Blended families also pose a great deal of stress no matter what the age is of the children involved. I meet with families as a group to explore areas which are causes distress. I offer support to immediate and extended family to regain balanced family ties. Through offering everyone a chance to express themselves and reflect on problems that interfere with family relationships we will work through issues to offer resolutions and peace of mind.

Imagine a family as a tree with branches, roots, trunk representing parts of the immediate and extended family. When working with families, all elements are considered. Usually there is a request for family therapy due to one of it's members in crisis, often a child. However, when an analysis of need is done it becomes apparent that more than one member of the family needs help in adjusting, growing and learning new behaviours. Clients contact me for a variety of reasons: to improve communications, solve family problems, support in special situations such as death, divorce, marriage, illness, child or adolescent issues.

Family therapy works because each of us is really also like a small group - with parent, child, sibling aspects (part selves) within us. It’s as if you personally contain an internal family. So when your own actual family is working well, those 'sides' of the family members do learn with each other. But they can also clash... Family (or couple) therapy is about harmonizing these relationships, both in each person as well as within the family group. I have over 35 years of experience in family therapy and see positive change occur even in tough situations. Family members move past simple role routines of who Mom, Dad, son and daughter are Supposed to Be, more aware of how to live in harmony.

I am a Family therapist with experience in a children's mental health setting. I do parental coaching, helping parents find effective strategies, and I help blended families find a way to integrate those big changes smoothly. I will help you understand each other, we will identify the behavioural patterns that no longer work for you and develop new strategies for effective communication.

Are you a parent challenged by the illness of a child? Do you feel exhausted & sad at times? Has your partnership or marriage become strained? Is your family unit having trouble staying positive and enjoying one another due to stress and anxiety? I can help you develop coping strategies, restore balance, and manage the day to day challenges using brief solution focused therapy.

I believe that families should be a place where love, respect, value, care, support and encouragement are received consistently. Where children honour and obey their parents and parents are considerate and understanding towards their children as they strategically and intentionally raise their children. Through counseling, I can help to develop healthy relationships between family members in general and between parents and children specifically. It is possible to have a healthy and happy family.

I would use the Systems Theory and Narrative approach to help families communicate what they view as the concerns within their family. Also using Middle Path, from DBT, as an approach to bridge the dialectical views between the individuals in the family which is causing conflict. Validating the different perspectives as individuals and looking for the kernal of truth, allows them to see the bigger picture through the lens of other members within the family.

Working on our family relationships can set the foundation for a happier and healthier life! Our therapists will help you learn skills and process emotions that are necessary to feel more connected as a family unit. Using a variety of different tools and techniques, our clinicians help the family dyad understand the root cause of the struggle, practicing compassion and empathy. We then prioritize working on effective communication and conflict management, and help family members reconnect again in more loving and joyful ways. If you're wanting to build healthier & stronger bonds with your loved ones, book a consult or session today! www.kaleidoscopecounsellingco.com

It is not uncommon in families for patterns to be set and sometimes these patterns are not healthy or helpful for family relationships, or individual mental health. We often learn to tolerate our family members’ behaviour and have difficulty speaking up or expressing how their behaviour impacts us. In my sessions with families, I encourage open, honest communication and ensure that each individual feels validated and gets equal time to be heard. Often difficult conversations can be more successful when there is a neutral person facilitating and promoting respectful, non-confrontational interaction. If you think your family would benefit from my support and guidance, please book a free consu

Do you find that your relationships with your adult children are strained, and you struggle to form relationships with your grandchildren? Do you wish you could rely on your parents as an adult but find they have difficulty respecting your boundaries? Family therapy can help you understand one another better and help you learn to communicate so that everyone feels respected and understood.

Most family therapists inadvertently create more chaos through their well-intentioned efforts to assist a family move through a change process. Why? Brains are inherently deregulated (all of us, may I add) and most talking and dialoguing misses brain-centric problems that need more intensive help. Many times the emotional trauma created by years of solving problems ineffectively can wreak havoc on the brain's parasympathetic nervous system, not ever giving the family a break from flight or fight thinking. Contact us for an innovative neuroscience solution to family dysfunction. Kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

The ‘secret’ to successful help for distressed families is clear-eyed application of what we commonly know: although linked by blood, generations and/or commitment alone, we are much more different from one another than alike. But it can be very hard to appreciate some differences at such close range. Like when our child, partner, parent, sibling, or combinations (and with moods/ other changes, do we ever stay the same?) seem out to hurt instead of love or even like us. Some differences make that hard to attain, even impossible. Yet making sense and discovering how to ‘navigate’ these complex primary relationships is essential to our wellbeing. My experience as family therapist is reliable.

If you drive with a flat tire the whole system is affected. Your car will not go smoothly nor straight. You use lots of effort trying to get to where you want to go; and the passengers are stressed! The same happens in families. If there is a problem with one or more family members, we tend to point at him/ her/ them. We want to "fix" them. However, I believe there are more than one way to look at the same situation: it is usually a systemic problem. Join the whole family in therapy. In a safe and friendly environment, you can each be heard and seen as you really are, and together arrive at a solution. This can be a very rewarding, educational, FUN and loving experience for all.

Family therapy is a wonderful way to tackle family issues. It usually means learning to communicate differently and more effectively. Each family has its spoken and unspoken family rules. Helping these unspoken rules to become more visible or to revise current ones, can clarify misconceptions and assumptions. Since every family has unique problems, they also have unique solutions as well! Therapy can help a family to "see themselves in a whole new light" and realize they have everything they need to make their lives even better.

A family of four walks into a bar... (okay, therapist's office, fine) each with a different reason why they're there. Also, some of them don't want to be there at all! Get it! Actually, there's no punch-line, it's just normally how it goes. Regardless of what event brings them through the door, families often come in feeling divided and disconnected. That's why my job is to find the common ground so that everyone feels like they're being respected, heard, and have something to gain from the experience. My hope is that you will leave here: 1) Feeling more unified around a common goal 2) Clarity for how to move forward together 3) A renewed sense of what matters most