family therapy and conflict resolution


Family Therapy helps people in a close relationship help each other.

It enables family members, couples and others who care about each other to express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions safely, to understand each other’s experiences and views, appreciate each others needs, build on strengths and make useful changes in their relationships and their lives. Individuals can find Family Therapy helpful, as an opportunity to reflect on important relationships and find ways forward.

Family therapy is particularly effective in helping family members:
-  Develop new ways of understanding difficulties together
-  Improve communication and closeness when moving through difficult life transitions 
-  Develop a parenting/ behaviour management plan tailored to your children/ adolescents specific temperament
-  Heal together from grief and loss
-  Establish clear boundaries with each other, i.e. negotiating the input and impact of extended family/ friends on your couple
   relationship, as new parents, or when needing extra support (single parenting)  
-  Heal past relationship 'injuries' and maintain relationships into the future   

Research shows Family Therapy is useful for children, young people and adults experiencing a very wide range of difficulties and experiences, such as:
-  Couple relationship difficulties
-  Child and adolescent mental health issues
-  Adult mental health issues
-  Child, adolescent and adult behaviour difficulties
-  Parenting issues
-  Relationship conflict resolution
-  Illness and disability in the family
-  Separation, divorce and step-family life
-  Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders
-  Fostering, adoption, kinship care and the needs of ‘looked after’ children
-  Domestic violence and abuse
-  Self-harm
-  Drug and alcohol misuse
-  The effects of trauma
-  Difficulties related to ageing and other life cycle changes.

Family Therapy aims to be:
-  Inclusive and considerate of the needs of each member of the family and/or other key relationships (systems) in people’s lives
-  Recognise and build on peoples’ strengths and relational resources
-  Work in partnership ‘with’ families and others, not ‘on’ them
-  Sensitive to diverse family forms and relationships, beliefs and cultures
-  Enable people to talk, together or individually, often about difficult or distressing issues, in ways that respect their experiences, invite
   engagement and support recovery.

Sourced from: Association for Family Therapy & Systemic Practice UK




Steve Marriott provides counselling and psychotherapy services to individuals, couples, families, children and adolescents who live in the Northern Rivers of NSW, or online.