Family Counselling Services in West Point Grey, BC.

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.

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 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.

Every family has it's strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes despite our best intentions we get stuck in cycles that cause wounds that can undermine unity and peace. I use Emotion Focused Family Therapy to help you identify the stuck patterns, build on your strengths as a family, and works on creating new ways of relating so that you can face the challenges together. As a Father and husband I am with you on this journey, knowing I'm far from perfect. Through extensive training I have learned and applied these skills in my own life, and I know they can help bring your family from chaos and conflict to peace and harmony. I'd be honoured to travel with you on your journey.

In family therapy everyone has a voice. Going around the circle in the family and hearing everyone's opinion and thoughts about the situation that the family is dealing with is how healing occurs. Families are viewed as a system, what one family member does or does not do impacts the whole family. Understanding this is how family members help heal each other.

When there is conflict within our family system it can feel heartbreaking and have major effects on each individual’s health and wellness. Finding harmony as a family ultimately comes down to finding effective ways to communicate and working to understand each other’s unique perspective. During family therapy sessions I seek to make sure each individual feels heard and understood by their family members by giving them the opportunity to express themselves in a safe space. From here we can build the skills necessary to express our needs and desires while maintaining everyone’s stated boundaries.

Family therapy provides a collaborative space for families to address relational challenges, improve communication, and foster understanding and cohesion. Systemic approaches are used to explore family dynamics, roles, and patterns of interaction. Through interventions like genograms, structural techniques, and narrative therapy, families gain insight into their strengths and areas for growth. By promoting empathy, enhancing communication skills, and facilitating conflict resolution, family therapy supports families in navigating transitions, healing wounds, and building stronger, more resilient bonds.

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.

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.

Relationships are hard work and sometimes families go through ups and downs and lets face it - it gets overwhelming. I will work with family members to address your struggles, stressors, breakdown in communication and unhelpful patterns. I take a very direct yet solution-focused approach to family therapy to help you find a more positive way forward together.

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.

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.

Can some one PLEASE give me an example or definition of a DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY? I think it might look like the families we've all grown up in. What does your family of origin look like? How does that affect how you function in your family today? Lets look together at ways of communicating, listening, and loving each other. "But your families different you say?" I welcome the challenge. Let's all put on gloves and high rubber boots and jump into the muck together - shall we? Lets face it, families are WORK, real WORK!! It is better to work smarter not harder. Let me share my tool box with you, and see if you would like to adapt to using some of these tools in your family dynamics.