Family Counselling Services in Clearview, ON.

Our first connection with love is with family, in its complex, colorful, and sometimes chaotic forms. It is also an area that can be the source of conflict and misunderstanding. In our Family Counselling sessions, I am not a referee, but instead I am a facilitator for difficult conversations. Together we will create a safe space where each voice is heard, everyone’s story is acknowledged, without judgment or expectation.

Family dynamics hold the key to many life experiences, both wonderful and terrible. We are deeply cellularly drawn to "work out" our family struggles. Some voices get heard and some get lost. There is often an "identified" difficult person who may be holding the tension for the whole family. Improving communication can be transformative in improving feeling of safety and connection. A family therapy session can reveal and relieve difficult dynamics that may be adding to daily stress and unhappiness. These sessions can take place in your own home as well as in my office.

Relationships are a fundamental part of our lives and well-being. It is important to understand how to be healthy and effective in our individual contributions to a relationship. Many relationships consist of conflict and misunderstanding. One of the most important goals of relationship counselling is to establish healthy boundaries and guidelines. It is important to acknowledge that relationship counselling is not limited to partner or marriage counselling. It often also refers to therapy for: family, friends, or work relationships.

It can be hard to adjust and interact with the person growing from the baby you once knew, particularly if you are motivated to help them avoid all the mistakes that you experienced in your life. For your child, it can feel impossible to be understood by you, especially when you find it hard to be understood by them. I can help you build a stronger bond through mutual respect and shared understanding by leveling the playing field that may be dominating your parent-child relationship. You might be surprised just how quickly things can change when you can engage in a well facilitated discussion that seeks to improve things, rather than trying to mold things to fit your expectations.

It is not uncommon in families for patterns to be set and sometimes these patterns are not healthy or helpful for family relationships, or individual mental health. We often learn to tolerate our family members’ behaviour and have difficulty speaking up or expressing how their behaviour impacts us. In my sessions with families, I encourage open, honest communication and ensure that each individual feels validated and gets equal time to be heard. Often difficult conversations can be more successful when there is a neutral person facilitating and promoting respectful, non-confrontational interaction. If you think your family would benefit from my support and guidance, please book a free consu

Family relationships can be complicated. All families have their own patterns, and unique sibling and parents/child relationships. Often families hang onto pain and patterns from much earlier in life. I can help your family members communicate in different ways and challange and change long standing patterns within the family unit. I can facilitate healing from past events and misunderstandings, and shift your family relationships into different life stages.

Strong families assist each member to venture into the world as responsible and confident individuals. Counselling can help families build the strong foundation of understanding that’s required to do this. In Family Counselling you’ll learn the skills of effective listening that lead to better communication, as well as the ability to do conflict resolution in respectful and helpful ways.

Being a parent is hard. There are no instruction manuals and no guidebooks. We all become parents aware that it's the most important job we'll ever do, so now is the time to stop feeling frustrated and anxious, burned out and ineffective. My experience in working with parents and my training in solid parenting theory will combine with your vision for your family and your own personal approach to parenting to create the family harmony you're looking for. End the fighting, nagging, and disconnection with personalized strategies and tools designed just for your family. Don't let another day slip by feeling as though you can't get through to those you love the most. Your family is worth it!

Depression is not something to be ashamed of , nor is it a character flaw or a sign of a weak personality. No one with depression can just "snap out of it". You wouldn't ask someone to "snap out of diabetes or some other illness, and you cannot expect it of a person with depression. Everyone gets sad sometimes - a brief blue mood, feelings of disappointment or loss. The great news is that up to 80% of people who recieve proper treatment improve as a result. There are two principle modes of treatment for depression - Psychotherapy and medication. Your not alone, millions of families and friends have felt exactly like you. Your one step closer to change

Sometimes the difficulties occurring in a family are systemic - which means that there is not really a 'problem person' but a family interaction malfunction. In family counselling, it is understood that everyone in the family impacts and affects everyone else and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It is also understood that the way to 'fix' a family problem is not by simply changing specific behaviours, but by changing the structure of the family. This can be a very important process for the many different types of families that we have in our society.

Communication.empathy and forgiveness work are a primary focus in family therapy with me. We work with many modalities including Traditional talk therapy: Giving space for the family to explore and express feelings, own awareness’s, transform thoughts, grieve, vent, and neutralize guilt, anger and fear. New understandings and thus new neural pathways and patterns begin to form. This is a profoundly transformational set of tools that can bring families to stronger places of connection and union.

In order to gain a better understanding of a person's situation, their behaviour is explored in the context of Family Systems Therapy (FST). FST looks at the family as an emotional unit and identifies the patterns of interactions that are maintaining the challenges, including the patterns of communication & language used to discuss the challenges. This helps to better understand the impact of family dynamics, family values, beliefs about gender roles, status or power of family members, and cultural & ethnicity on a person's self-perception. I also use strengths-based practices with families in order to transfer strengths of individuals & family systems into therapeutic awareness.

Families come in all shapes and sizes and it is not uncommon for families to go through times of turmoil, uncertainty, or disconnection, as family relationships can be complex. In my practice I work in the following areas to help families:the analytical tools to trace the roots of your anxieties, and the confidence to take decisive action to overcome them. -Parent-child/teen relationships -Co-parenting after separation -couples therapy -Parent coaching -Divorce counselling -communication with children after divorce/separation

I am passionate about working with perinatal mood disorders and parenting issues. I feel this is an under-served population that needs more recognition and resources. Parenting can be an incredibly rewarding yet challenging journey. Starting from the challenges of pregnancy and the postpartum period to the teenage years, parents often feel adrift in navigating the terrain. I work with parents to help uncover their values, while providing them with skills and resources to feel more in control.

Our families and those around us shape who we will become and our thought patterns. We learn our language, habits and how to view the world through the influence of our families. When we have healthy family relationships it is easier to maintain healthy relationships within and outside of our family. Family therapy helps families develop and maintain healthy and functional units. I employ aspects of Bowenian and Structural therapy to work with families to help deal with domestic violence, depression, anxiety, grief, child/adolescent behavioral issues to name a few.

Family relationships are the ones that form us and often have the most meaning in our lives. My approach to family therapy begins with respect for each individual in the family with the realization that each person’s behavior affects the whole. I am an empathetic listener as well as a facilitator of healthy relationships and communication. I enjoy helping families work through conflict and develop the insight and skills needed to improve their relationships and their personal well-being.

Dr. Ellen's Thrive is a fresh approach to family therapy, equipping families with a great capacity for change, renewal and vision. With the belief, “What you pay attention to grows!” I do not focus on "fixing" children or deep problem analysis, but I centre inquiry on what is working and how to move forward. I will listen deeply to your concerns, ask supportive questions to open up your understanding, share with you new ideas and a fresh perspective, and offer considered suggestions. This process is about self reflection and building relationships in the family; moving you toward the family you want to be!

I look at family therapy as a pattern from the family of origin, if growing up was dysfunctional; faced issues such as abuse, substance abuse, poor health, or poverty, did not adequately demonstrate love, that person may experience difficulties in these areas later in life and show up in their family. They might also, have developed coping strategies or related strengths in the face of a difficult upbringing. Without an awareness of how these issues affected them, it is likely that the negative pattern may be repeated over time. A child who witnesses parents make certain choices or engage in certain behaviors may develop a tendency to behave in a similar manner.

Family dynamics are complicated. Each family has established patterns, such as how everyone communicates within the family system, how they deal with stressful situations and conflict, their roles in the family unit and how members seek support from one another. While I do not offer family therapy sessions, my clinic, Psychotherapy Collective has many child and family therapists availability to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to ensure they are the proper fit for your journey. Visit our family therapy page to find a therapist https://www.psychotherapycollective.ca/services/child-and-family-therapy