Family Sessions

Working with bigger family systems is very rewarding as it brings clients a deeper understanding of the way the family system operates.

Having children present in the room provides a deeper reflection on the dynamic’s families struggle with in the home environment highlighting loyalties and alliances, ways of relating, the impact individuals have on the other family members, how differences are communicated and negotiated.

Working with children in the therapy adds an element of playfulness, which I often use developing age-specific ways of relating to them bringing the most out of the young participants.
The model I often use is based on a Single Session Family consultation treating each session as an individual entity and focusing the agenda for the meeting on the family expectations and the most important presenting priorities.

Other influencing models include:

• Structural therapy mapping the family rules, patterns of behaviours, the family structure and existing hierarchies. This enables more targeted work on boundary-making and reframing the problems while creating adjustments in the way the system operates along with navigating expectations within the system in consideration to the hierarchy existing between parents and children.
• Transgenerational therapy examining the interactions of clients across generations unpacking influences of the families of origin and how they influence the current situation, the way individuals relate to each other, solve problems and communicate.
• Bowen model based on multiple techniques incl. genograms helping to reduce anxiety permeating the family by promoting the clients’ awareness of the functioning of emotional systems, impact it has on individuals and others, as well as increasing differentiation from family members by helping clients makes changes within themselves
• Trauma and attachment–based models recognising the impact of the early attachment experiences on the way we relate to each other and view ourselves, which then conditions our emotional responses and regulation of distress during critical moments of crisis, stress and uncertainty. Techniques used by me promote greater awareness of different attachment styles and how they interplay with each other, greater awareness of early signs of dysregulation, distress and promotion of self-soothing, and regulating strategies enhancing better problem solving and communication skills.
• Impact of culture and diversity as a way of understanding multicultural differences and differences in interpretations. Being a multilingual therapist, I often assist families with navigating cultural differences influencing their ways of solving problems, relating to each other, expectations and connection they share.