What is

Family Therapy?

Family therapy considers the wider family context of relationships, including across generations, and at different stages of the lifecycle. “Family” includes anyone we consider to be a significant part of our lives, and families come in all shapes and sizes. Family therapy aims to help everyone to feel safe to explore difficult thoughts and feelings, understand each other’s experiences, appreciate each other’s needs, and build on family strengths.

Family therapists see symptoms as problems in interactions and communication in the spaces between people, rather than residing in faults of an individual. Problems in relationships are often related to family transitions, such as changes to the family lifecycle, bereavements, births, leaving home, and chronic illness. Families can experience distress because fundamental shifts need to be made to adapt to new contexts. Therapy aims to work together collaboratively to achieve this and move towards preferred ways of being in life.