Indeed, most families experience serious difficulties sometimes. When the family seem stuck in repeating patterns of hurtful or harmful behaviour and it feels like family relationships are suffering to the extent that you are no longer sure what to do for the best of the family or individual family members, Family Therapy may help. The aim of Family Therapy is to enable family members to express and explore difficult thoughts and feelings safely, understand each other’s experience and opinions in relation to current problems in the family and hence appreciate each other’s needs. A family therapist supports the family in finding constructive ways to help each other and build on family strength so that changes can take place in the family. It not only supports changes with individuals but also affects their relationships within the family and beyond.
Families are small communities which sometimes get into difficulties through their differences in age, character, opinions, life-stage, health, and outlook on life. Often the whole family feels the strain when one or more family members experience trouble such as
• Difficult family relationships and changes in family life
• Child and adolescent behaviour difficulties/including problems with attention and over-activity
• Child and adolescent mental health problems
• Adult mental health
• Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders
• Parenting issues
• Emotional disorders including anxiety, depression and grief following bereavement
• Fostering, adoption, kinship care and the needs of
‘looked after’ children
• Drug and alcohol misuse
• Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders
• Self-harm
• Illness and disability in the family
• Separation, divorce and step-family life
• Domestic violence
• Self-harm
• Supporting children, young people and adults post-trauma
• Difficulties related to ageing
• Family communication problems
• Couple relationship difficulties