Family Counselling

Each family is a system and each individual within the system impacts, and is impacted by, the others. As a parent you bring your history and experience of what it was like in your own family of origin. This includes the way you learned to attach, or avoid attachment, with loved ones; the way you learned to communicate and deal with conflict; your personal trauma history; and the beliefs and values you have come to live by. It can be challenging to combine your experience with that of whomever is sharing in the care-giving of your children, not to mention the strain of attending to the different temperaments and competing needs of your children, and the impact of external pressures, and difficult life events.  

In my practice with families, I offer education about child development; the impact of trauma, individually, as well as within the family system; conflict and communication styles; and attachment rupture and repair. I include expressive therapy techniques, such as art and play, to engage younger children in the family counselling process, as well as to invite the development of new ways of relating to each other. Together we will determine themes that are impeding the flow of your family system and work together to improve connections so the system can operate more cohesively.