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Couple & Family Therapy

 

People seek Couple and Family Therapy for a variety of reasons and often underneath these reasons there are number of underlying issues and causes for relationship problems. The relationship and interactions that you form with yourself and with others mould who you are today.  At Mindful Relationships we believe that without exploring and understanding these relationships and interactions, a fundamental piece of the puzzle is missing. We recognise you as a part of a 'system' that is closely interconnected, so a change in one part has an affect on another part! While we work with you as an individual, we are interested in and place considerable importance on the you who is a wife, a husband, a parent, a child, a friend or an acquaintance. 

 

We know from research, experience and observation that your psychological health is directly linked to the relationship that you have with yourself and the relationships that you have with your family, friends, work colleagues, schools and everyone else that you have contact with. We believe that you are your relationships and if these aren’t working well then you may be more susceptible to individual, family dysfunction and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. So, we are passionate about helping our clients grow healthy relationships that foster positive attachment, warmth, trust and love. We see the BIG picture!

 

At Mindful Relationships we use a branch of psychotherapy known as Couple and Family Therapy and Family Systems Therapy. This branch of psychotherapy views problems as systems of interaction between couples and family members. That is the problem is not considered as embedded in the individual but rather a play of interactions that can include early attachment, differentiation, conditioning, beliefs, feelings and emotional processes.

 

How Does Couple and Family Therapy Work?

 

Our staff use a number of Family Therapy theories and techniques to guide and inform our work. These include Attachment Theory, Bowenian Family Systems, Cognitive Behaviour Family Therapy, Contextual Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, Milan Systemic Family Therapy, MRI Brief Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Psychoanalytic Therapy,  Rapid Exposure Tapping, Strategic and Structural Family Therapy.

 

We will support and encourage you to nurture positive change and development in your couple and family relationships and help you to identify conflicts and develop strategies to resolve them. Identifying your own strengths will help you to manage the conflict.

 

Couple Therapy

At Mindful Relationships we will provide the opportunity for each of you to express, honestly and openly, what you believe the problems and issues have been in your relationship. We will support and encourage each of  you explore the dynamics of your relationship and  we will reflect back to you the patterns of thinking and behaviours that are keeping you stuck in your current situation.  By taking a systemic approach our therapist are able to help you move away from blame and focus on forming an alliance to work out the problems together.  

 

While our work with you is future oriented, we believe that in some cases it is important that we help you take care of and repair and address past hurt and resentment (this may be in individually or together). We will ask you to think carefully about  all the positive things you would like and expect in a loving couple relationship and work with both of you to negotiate and  achieve as much of this as possible.

 

Your individual communication style and language of love will be explored to help you understand and accept each other more. Our aim is to help both of you develop more goodwill, deeper understanding and increased mutual respect for each other, so that you can be in a positive a positive space again. 

 

Do Couple and Family Therapy Work?

 

Yes! Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it! It works for a number of reasons. Firstly, because we believe that problems stem from a breakdown in relationship systems, individuals (including children and adolescents) may be reacting to a problem within the couple and family system. There can be a number of reasons for the root cause of a problem, including change, communication breakdown, abuse and addiction. If the root cause is addressed and eliminated quickly then equilibrium is restored to the couple and family system. Even when certain negative feelings and behaviours are not a direct result of couple or family problems, unhelpful responses from other individuals within the system can make the problem worse.

 

We know that in individual counselling, a member of a couple or family can say and believe anything about their partner or siblings or their life at home. Indeed, sometimes individuals need to have this individual space to explore their own feelings and emotions and to grow stronger and to be independent. However, in couple and family therapy our staff get a bigger picture where both sides of the story is heard and vetted and we can deal with the problem more directly and immediately within the session. Through therapy, individual memnbers of the system are supported and empowered to speak their truth and be heard. Relationships between individuals are strengthened and often the strategies that are learnt in therapy are used elsewhere.

 

 

Can We Help You? 

 

Yes, our staff provide a safe and supportive environment where all couple and family members can listen to and talk with each other. Even the most non-communicative member is able to contribute and say something!  All your concerns, including the pink elephant, will be acknowledged, explored and addressed. The process of couple and family therapy will help you learn and practice more effective methods of  communication.  We will help you establish patterns of positive feelings and behaviours that will not only increase your self-confidence but will determine lasting, strong and healthy relationships.