Every child and family has its own unique strengths and needs. I offer counselling services based on what the individual and family are looking for.
There is so much more to parenting than just having a child. In our busy lives, we are all pressured for time and are not always able to offer our children everything that they need. When you are feeling the pangs that things are not going according to your plan, counselling can help.
Individual Counselling:
Parenting brings up many issues for parents and children. Working with young children can be very exhausting physically and emotionally. Sometimes having a supportive ear can help relieve some stress. Counselling for other unresolved issues can free you up to be the parent you strive to be.
Parents are most effective and able to give their children what they need when they themselves feel "fuelled-up".
Individual / Couple Counselling:
Our children evoke in us many feelings and emotions that we were not prepared for and have trouble dealing with. No matter how perfect our children can be, there are times when they can evoke anger or sadness in us that we may have trouble expressing appropriately.
Counselling to identify the source of the feelings and support in dealing with the underlying reasons can make the management of these normal emotions easier.
Couple Counselling:
Very often when children act out at home, they are releasing the stress they feel in their family. The real issue can be the trouble or unhappiness between parents that is affecting the child's behaviour and emotions.
Other times it takes some readjustment for a couple to move from "couplehood" to parenthood. Many roles and responsibilities need to be renegotiated. Values have to be defined into parenting practices and parents have to get together on discipline to present a united front to their children in order to create a predictable and stable home.
Working with both partners can keep the responsibilities of parenting squarely on both sets of shoulders. Therapy offers an ideal time and place for parents to get together and have meaningful conversations about the family.
Family Counselling:
All members affect and are affected by the families in which they live. Sometimes it is most advantageous and necessary to include all members of a family in counselling in order to change undesirable situations. In these cases everyone's thoughts and needs are sought and respected, and each person plays a significant role in the solution.
