Family Counselling Services in West Point Grey, BC.

My approach is centered on fostering open communication, understanding, and cohesion among family members. Recognizing the unique dynamics within familial relationships, I tailor interventions to address the complexities of diverse family structures. By emphasizing effective communication strategies, conflict resolution, and the cultivation of a supportive family environment, my goal is to strengthen the bonds that connect each family member. Through a collaborative process, clients benefit from developing practical tools to navigate challenges, build resilience, and foster a harmonious family life.

Family therapy can provide each family member with a voice. It gives families an opportunity in a safe environment to be heard and understood. Family therapy guides and supports each family member to understand their role in the family and how their actions impact the other members of the family. Charlene has worked with many families to change negative patterns and bring harmony back into the home. Call to set up an appointment for an initial consultation.

My hope for clients who are experiencing challenges in their family relationships is that they will create greater understanding and acceptance of one another. Clients will build healthy communication skills that will assist them in resolving current issues, as well as preventing future conflicts from occurring. It is my hope that each family member will develop a willingness to accept the uniqueness of the other members in the family, as well as a willingness to listen and understand one another. Through this process of learning how to come together with openness, each person will be affirmed that he/she matters and has a voice in the family.

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.

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.

Most family therapists inadvertently create more chaos through their well-intentioned efforts to assist a family move through a change process. Why? Brains are inherently deregulated (all of us, may I add) and most talking and dialoguing misses brain-centric problems that need more intensive help. Many times the emotional trauma created by years of solving problems ineffectively can wreak havoc on the brain's parasympathetic nervous system, not ever giving the family a break from flight or fight thinking. Contact us for an innovative neuroscience solution to family dysfunction. Kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

Most of us do not live in a vacuum. We live among people, so sometimes therapy should involve those people, too. I have a lot of experience working with parents and children, and have had great success in helping parents see the very best in their children, and helping children open up more to the love of their parents. There is nothing more satisfying to me.

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.

I approach family work using ‘systems’ principles. Each family member is part of the whole – the system. When any one part of a system changes, the impacts of this change ripple out to all of the other parts - regardless if any other part is seeking to change or not. I believe the key to healthy family systems lies in the process of ‘differentiation’ - how can each member of a family become differentiated (their full individual self), while maintaining intimacy and connection with the others (see Bowen’s work). Family cohesiveness involves practically learning to respect each other, set boundaries, and develop assertive communication skills.

As a mother of two, I am constantly witnessing my theoretical background as a counsellor flying out the window. Parenting tests our mettle by the minute, and even the hardiest of us all, get bent. I use an attachment based parenting approach, whereby our bond and connection to our children is primary. Together we work to establish this trust and connection, and all else follows, not necessarily easily, but with conscious choice and understanding of our actions and reactions. I use a collaborative approach for older families, attempting to engage all family members in responsibility and unity.

Family therapy provides the opportunity to explore how unfinished business or unhealed loss in your family of origin affects how you cope with life challenges in the present. We will explore family history and major events in your family, sometimes going back generations, to find out how family members were affected by those events, and how you may be affected by them in your life now. We also have the opportunity to find the health, strength and wisdom in the family through the generations.

Family therapy is important for those that are having a hard time connecting with someone in your family(partner, sibling, parent, child) and it can be quiet distressful. It also is important that if you are alone working yourself and others family members have similar therapeutic goals. My treatment plans involves understanding the belief system of the unity, and how people within that system communicate and relate to one another. We peel the onions together, and bring on healing to create unity and uniformity within the family system.

Despite the best intentions of ourselves and our family members, we are often tangled in patterns of invalidation, rejection, frustration and blame. It can feel so messy that we operate in a constant state of fear and a crippling sense of unworthiness. In 2008 I started my counselling career as a family therapist. A combination of individual and joint sessions will take place to allow the space for all voices to be respectfully heard, while helping to identify bigger ‘systems’ patterns that keep you stuck in pain and finger-pointing. I will help to smooth out communication, make room for wants and needs and to heal the old wounds holding you back from having a healthier relationship.