Family Counselling Services in Lions Bay, BC.

Family relationships can be complicated, and problems with parents, adult children, in-laws, blended families or other family members can create significant stress in your life and your relationship. While I don’t provide family therapy with multiple family members together, I do help individuals and couples work through difficult family relationships. Together, we can understand the patterns and emotions underneath conflict, strengthen boundaries, improve communication and explore how family experiences may be affecting you or your partnership. My approach is warm, practical and emotion-focused, with the goal of helping you navigate family challenges while protecting the relationships that matter most.

Family is where it all begins; where connection happens and wounding occurs. Each member is a part of the whole. I believe we all are doing our best to connect, with the resources we have, but we inadvertently hurt and get hurt in our families, and we each make different choices around how we deal with our emotional pain. In Family Therapy we build on the principles of safety, honesty and unconditional acceptance from an understanding that healing begins in relationship to self and others. While we can heal the individual pain that stems from family relationships in individual therapy, if members of a family are willing to work through issues together some of the deepest healing can occur.

Family dynamics can be a complicated and sensitive balance within a home. This can be made increasingly complicated by divorce, blended families, individual parenting, spiritual values, health issues and much more. Counseling can provide family members a neutral voice and a place to be heard when fighting and arguing is impacting daily functioning and happiness, of one or more family members. We also help develop necessary tools to resolve conflict in a healthy way, bringing peace and harmony back to everyday lives.

Family counselling involves creating a safe environment where each family member is given opportunities to share their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Once each member is heard, issues are addressed, processed and examined. Barriers and pitfalls such as communication are explored together. Along with the guidance, support and empathy of the Counsellor, family members work on creating solutions to problems. I have over twenty years of experience with working with children and families, I look forward to using my "client-centered" approach to help families move toward increasing their communication skills, valuing the input of each other and living happier and healthier lives.

Real Solutions to Real Challenges. Common Sense Techniques. Martin very much enjoys working with families and children. Families are systems operating in close quaters, therefore upsets and miscommunications are natural and should be expected. They can be a source of extreme disappointment and pain or they can be opportunitiesfor growth. Martin is trained in Adlarian family therapy and uses Gestalt approaches to families. He has facilitaed parenting groups and worked with children as young as three years old and granparents who were in their eighties. It is his experience that families can enjoy, help, and grow together and most of the time it takes far less work than what they expected.

Working with families is complex, yet an essential part of building a healthy foundation for all family members. Using a Family Systems's approach to therapy helps members of a family understand that all people in the family affect the quality of the relationships within the family unit. Families are like a mobile, as one part moves, all the other parts are affected to some degree. Using the concepts of the Drama Triangle is valuable in helping family members understand the role he/she/they typically plays when interacting with others. Emeshment and triangulation are explored. One person is not viewed as the scapegoat but rather seen as one spoke in the "family wheel" of a larger system.

I work with families to help them see and understand each other's unique perspectives. We sometimes get stuck trying to communicate, listen and talk without actually understanding what our family member is saying. My counselling space creates an open, non-judgmental and safe environment to improve communication and understanding with your family member(s).

Parenting is hard—especially when your child is struggling. If anxiety, behavioral challenges, or emotional disconnect are creating tension at home, I can help. I specialize in strengthening the parent-child bond by helping you understand your child’s emotional world and develop strategies that build trust and security. When parents feel supported, children thrive. Let’s work together to create a calmer, more connected family life.

My approach to family counselling uses a family systems approach to understand complex family dynamics to promote relational competency. I hold the perspective that families are an emotional unit interconnected system comprised of interdependent members who influence one another. Recognizing behaviour patterns that create imbalance and generate dysfunction can be achieved by exploring each member’s role and adjusting to foster a healthy family. I can help the family create specific goals and improve communication. I offer support for family members to resolve conflict, improve parent-child interactions, support family transitions, and help family members deal with mental health conditions.

Family therapy is the cornerstone to how we cope with relationships in our lives. This process focuses on relationships within the family unit. It looks at how the family has helped to form communication styles, relationships and conflict. As a therapist, I help people find connections between their present relationships and the ones within their family of origin. I work with the whole family system to help mediate concerns, and create more peaceful relationships.

In therapy, I help you explore your family system and history to uncover patterns and dynamics that may be influencing your current thoughts, feelings, and relationships. By looking at how roles, beliefs, and communication styles were shaped within your family, we can gain valuable insight into how these experiences show up in your life today. This process allows us to identify your strengths, address unresolved issues, and challenge patterns that may no longer serve you. Through this exploration, my goal is to help you foster self-awareness and create healthier relationships, leading to a more empowered sense of self.

Family counselling takes on many forms. The goal is to bring together the family to create understanding and harmony. Each family member is unique with their own values and perspectives. Family counselling gives each member the opportunity to understand their perspective and their role within the family and then the perspective and roles of the other members.

Families are very intricate systems. Like other systems, families unconsciously like to maintain the status quo and keep the existing patterns. This is the primary reason why many families remain stuck in dysfunctional patterns for years. My goal is to help families recognize the patter they are stuck in, the role each person plays in the pattern, and how they can change that role.