Family counselling is a very specialized skill set requiring proper training, credentials and years of experience in order to qualify and perform this type of counselling.
Family counselling is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to reduce distress and conflict between family members. While family therapists often seek to have all family members (affected by the problem) in session, that is not always possible or necessary.
This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting and fine tuning, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person or persons. This is why family counselling is often referred to as a strengths based treatment.
Common reasons for seeking family therapy include:
- When a child is having a problem following rules at home or at school, experiencing conflict with friends/siblings, experiencing low self-esteem, anxiety, depression
- A major trauma or change that impacts the entire family (i.e. relocation to a new house, natural disaster, incarceration of a family member)
- Unexpected or traumatic loss of a family member
- Adjustment to a new family member in the home (i.e. birth of a sibling, adoption, foster children, a grandparent entering the home)
- Domestic violence
- Divorce
- Parent Conflict
Family counselling:
- Develops and maintains healthy boundaries
- Fosters cohesion and communication among family members
- Promotes problem solving through understanding of family patterns and dynamics
- Builds empathy and understanding.
- Reduces family conflict
Duration and Costs:
The number of family counselling sessions depends on the situation and type of problems that exist for the family, but the average number of sessions are between 4 - 20. A family is not billed more for a session, even when there are multiple participants in the room. The cost of a family counselling session is the same as a regular therapy session.