Family Counselling Services in Madoc, ON.

The issues your family faces are our focus. Lack of communication, misunderstanding, sibling conflict, or child development issues can affect the whole family. Families can enhance communication and resolve issues through family counselling. Family counselling helps families communicate and understand each other, making conflict resolution easy. Counselling sessions enable individuals to communicate and resolve disputes while respecting everyone's opinions. Family therapy may accompany individual treatment. The goal is to improve communication, conflict resolution, and relationships. Each family is unique, and one member's problems can affect everyone.

Therapy can provide a safe environment for families that seek to repair their relationships. The problems generally stem from a much earlier time, when it was hard for family members to understand the nature of their conflict. Each person often has felt hurt and misunderstood, and these feelings have perpetuated over time. My approach is to encourage dialogue between them to help them understand the dynamics that have prevented a fulfilling relationship. I also try to establish the positive intentions of the work they are about to do. Therapy is intended to give them insight into what went wrong and how to repair the relationship while working through the difficult feelings and mistrust.

You might seek family therapy if family members are struggling with sibling or parent conflict, parenting differences, adjusting to teenage years, divorce/separation, feeling alone with your family, unable to express your feelings to your family members, feeling like you’re not meeting someone’s expectations or coping with a family member’s mental illness or addiction. Working with a family therapist can help family members feel heard and valued and bring harmony to your family system. We can help you learn to communicate effectively, set healthy boundaries and learn coping mechanisms to help manage difficult family dynamics.

Families can be difficult environments at times. We will explore family issues that are impacting the group. The family is the "client" yet each member is valued in the therapy. We can work in identifying familial roles and patterns that are negatively impacting the family unit. Through psychoeducation, validation and improved communication and listening skills we can move the family unit into a healthier spot.

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.

Families are remarkably resilient and have wonderful potential to heal one another. They typically develop patterns and structural characteristic over great periods of time that enable them to respond to both stressors from outside and inside the family. Helping families look at their patterns in novel ways, empowers them to make small and sometimes simple changes, greatly impacting outcomes. Family therapy is all about learning more about the patterns that keep families suspended when they desire change. In addition, family therapy harnesses the power and uniqueness of each family to recover and grow as a unit.

Strong families assist each member to venture into the world as responsible and confident individuals. Counselling can help families build the strong foundation of understanding that’s required to do this. In Family Counselling you’ll learn the skills of effective listening that lead to better communication, as well as the ability to do conflict resolution in respectful and helpful ways.

Sometimes the difficulties occurring in a family are systemic - which means that there is not really a 'problem person' but a family interaction malfunction. In family counselling, it is understood that everyone in the family impacts and affects everyone else and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It is also understood that the way to 'fix' a family problem is not by simply changing specific behaviours, but by changing the structure of the family. This can be a very important process for the many different types of families that we have in our society.

Family therapy is in many ways the most difficult of all therapy’s simply because you have the issues of not just one person but also all involved. There is a multiplication factor equal to the number within the family plus the dynamic of how the family organizes itself around communication, conflict, and intimacy and supports it. All successful families do two things extremely well . . . create a sense of belonging and allow for the freedom to be an individual. When I work with families I bring over twenty five years of experience to every session. Almost 100% of us across the nation . . . when asked what is the most important thing in our life, will answer ‘family’!

When working with families I aim to focus on common ground and shared hopes and goals. This sets the stage for collaboratively working through conflicts so that common goals can be achieved. Focusing on positive family experiences and strengths of the family are also helpful in reconnecting family members. Understanding relationship patterns and encouraging new ways of communicating and interacting often allows families to practice different ways of being with and understanding one another and can often alleviate tension for more pleasurable family experiences.

In my Family Counseling sessions, I provide a nurturing and inclusive environment where every family member’s voice is heard and valued. My approach is designed to address the unique dynamics and challenges within your family, promoting open communication and understanding. Using systemic therapy techniques, we will explore and resolve conflicts, strengthen relationships, and foster a supportive family unit. By working together, we aim to create harmony and resilience within your family, enhancing your collective well-being. Don't let unresolved issues disrupt your family's happiness—book an appointment with us today to start building a stronger, more connected family.

All families are unique. I work with any configuration of a family system (intergenerational, siblings, one parent, same- sex parents). My approach to therapy is to promote enhancement of individuals' strengths and family resources (support systems, membership in the community). I assist each member of the family identify changes they desire for the family and explore positive solutions for change between members. It is my hope that in the end all members feel more connected and stronger as a whole while participating positively in family life and the community. Allow me to be instrumental in guiding your family to a place of hope, healing and renewal.

Family dynamics hold the key to many life experiences, both wonderful and terrible. We are deeply cellularly drawn to "work out" our family struggles. Some voices get heard and some get lost. There is often an "identified" difficult person who may be holding the tension for the whole family. Improving communication can be transformative in improving feeling of safety and connection. A family therapy session can reveal and relieve difficult dynamics that may be adding to daily stress and unhappiness. These sessions can take place in your own home as well as in my office.

Life is particularly difficult for families these days. With the challenges of both parents working, the confusing world of social networking and technology, social peer relations conflicts, confusing alignments in the separated/divorced and blended parenting roles, it is no wonder that families get lost. In my sessions, a trusting warm and safe environment is established where clients feel that they can share their concerns and be heard. Through CBT and mediation, the family is given strategies to assist them in getting their family unit working together with the goal of “getting back on track”. Organizational tools and reasonable expectations are important key strategies also given.

Our first connection with love is with family, in its complex, colorful, and sometimes chaotic forms. It is also an area that can be the source of conflict and misunderstanding. In our Family Counselling sessions, I am not a referee, but instead I am a facilitator for difficult conversations. Together we will create a safe space where each voice is heard, everyone’s story is acknowledged, without judgment or expectation.

Family members play an extremely important role in our health and well-being. Supportive and connected families will optimize our health and happiness. My goal is to help you and your willing family members to obtain connection, support, and fulfillment in each other via openness, honesty, boundary setting, compromise, and understanding. We will explore your families' culture, meaning systems, history, goals and individual thoughts and feelings in a respectful and thoughtful way so that you will all come to understand one another and get past the resentment and anger that often weighs families down.

The cliché goes “we don’t choose family, they are chosen for us”. All families experience difficulties in their relationships with each other. This is normal as multiple personalities are at play. Family counselling incorporates the use of different theories with the task being to define the problem from individual’s perspectives. Ultimately the goal of attaining cohesiveness within the family is reached by every member acknowledging and understanding each other’s feelings and perspectives about unresolved issues.

Too often, communication stands in the way of good relationships. With families, this is compounded by a number of other issues. Through family therapy, we unpack the preconceived ideas and family roles that we often feel compelled to fall into, we work together to examine relationships. Using a combination of Solution Focused Therapy, client-led exchanges, and role-playing, together we develop new and healthy ways to communicate.

I provide a nurturing and inclusive space where all family members can come together to explore and heal relational dynamics. By fostering open communication, promoting empathy, and strengthening family bonds, I work collaboratively with families to address conflicts, improve understanding, and cultivate healthy patterns of interaction. Through this transformative process, clients can experience improved family cohesion, enhanced problem-solving skills, and a deeper understanding of one another. Family therapy offers an opportunity for growth, healing, and the building of stronger, more resilient relationships that can positively impact the entire family system.

Families come in all shapes and sizes and it is not uncommon for families to go through times of turmoil, uncertainty, or disconnection, as family relationships can be complex. In my practice I work in the following areas to help families:the analytical tools to trace the roots of your anxieties, and the confidence to take decisive action to overcome them. -Parent-child/teen relationships -Co-parenting after separation -couples therapy -Parent coaching -Divorce counselling -communication with children after divorce/separation

Family dynamics can be challenging to navigate even during the best of times, and family therapy can help each member of the family unit find new ways to relate, connect, and communicate with each other. Giving each family member the chance to feel heard and valued while also navigating external stressors like work and school can be a struggle, so I work collaboratively with clients to identify and explore patterns of interaction that they want to strengthen or change, while highlighting each member’s contributions, and celebrating the family’s successes. Book a free consultation to learn more about my approach and explore if we are a good fit.

Family issues can make you stuck in unhelpful patterns of interaction. Sometimes it is hard for families to deal with these issues on their own because emotions are high and perspectives can be so different. It can be helpful to seek support from an objective therapist. I can help you look beyond your individual hurt and anger so that you can find the root of your issues and work collectively toward your shared goal of mending and understanding each other.

I believe that relationships are a key determinant to one’s mental health. I focus on unpacking dysfunctional relational dynamics commonly experienced in one’s family of origin such as: enmeshment, co-dependency and people pleasing. Together, we may explore early attachment styles, underlying trauma wounds including intergenerational trauma and communicating healthy boundary setting

Through my sessions, I can help you improve troubled relationships with your partner, children or other family members. You may address specific issues such as marital or financial problems, conflict between parents and children, or the impact of substance abuse or a mental illness on the entire family during sessions that you and I can design together to meet your best needs. Email me or Call me for a 15 min free initial consult; I am accepting new clients !

Sometimes the difficulties occurring in a family are systemic - which means that there is not really a 'problem person' but a family interaction malfunction. In family counselling, it is understood that everyone in the family impacts and affects everyone else and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It is also understood that the way to 'fix' a family problem is not by simply changing specific behaviours, but by changing the structure of the family. This can be a very important process for the many different types of families that we have in our society.