​

 

Individual

 

If you are reading this, then something must not be sitting right in your current circumstances.  Perhaps you are going through a transition and don’t know where you are headed and what you are doing.  Maybe you are engaging in behaviours you are not proud of and are looking for some help in making different choices in your life.  

 

Through counselling, you can explore what is going on with someone who does not have a personal investment in the choices you make or how you are in the world.  Friends and family can provide us with support however at times they can have a vested interest in what we say and do, in addition to making sure their own needs are met through the process.  Changing patterns of behaviour sometimes can be made easier when the person we are talking to has nothing to lose or gain by your changes.

 

 

Families

 

Family counselling addresses behaviours that impact the whole family.  Often if one person is having a hard time, it impacts everyone in the family system.  It is similar to when we injure ourselves in one area of the body; other areas begin to compensate for the injury, putting strain on different parts of the body.  In family counselling we look at everyone’s needs and see how one thing impacts the other.  

 

Families are amazingly resilient and learn to function, regardless of what is going on.  In doing so however at times a slow deterioration occurs and we don’t realize the impact it has on the system as a whole.  Family counselling can help reset the system, improve communication among family members and address everyone’s individual needs in the context of family. 

 

 

Adolescents

 

Adolescence can be an incredibly challenging developmental stage in life.  It is a time where the youth tries to explore who they are in the world, their values, their beliefs and interests as separate from the family, while at the same time keeping attached to the family. As the teenager goes through their metamorphoses, so too does your role as a parent.

 

A parent goes from being the child’s protector to changing, taking on more of a consultants role. As a parent you are now providing support and guidance to your teenager as they practice becoming an independent, functioning human being.  

 

Adolescence is a time where teenagers need to learn to fly on their own, all the while having a safe home to come back to and be supported, while they explore new skills and discover their limits.  Adolescent issues can be worked with individually, or in the context of family.  What is of utmost importance is to ensure safe attachment is fostered, while at the same time allowing the youth to explore the world in the way they learn best.