Families are small and unique communities. Like all communities they sometimes get into difficulties through their differences with one another, or feel the strain when members experience troubles.

Family and Systemic Psychotherapy – often called Family Therapy - helps people in close relationship help each other. It enables family members to express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions safely, to understand each other’s experiences and views, appreciate each other’s needs, build on family strengths and make useful changes in their relationships and their lives.

Sometimes it does not take much to help a family free up their strengths; sometimes difficulties are more complex and families may need longer to find solutions that work for them.

Family and Systemic Psychotherapists are highly skilled professionals, trained to work with children, young people, adults, carers and other professionals.

Their aim is not to take sides, blame or provide simple answers. Rather, they aim to engage family members in sharing understandings and exploring ways forward that work for them.

Some Family Therapists work in teams or in partnership with colleagues. Others work as individual therapists.

Family Therapists acknowledge the importance of peoples’ different beliefs, cultures, contexts and life experiences, and will adapt their ways of working according to family members’ ages, needs, resources, and preferences. Sessions involving children, for example, will often include play and drawing. The Family Therapist will discuss with you and your family how you might wish to work together.

Wherever possible, decisions about the number of sessions and the intervals between appointments are made collaboratively between the therapist and family. The number of appointments offered will depend on the service setting and family members’ needs. Most sessions last between 45 minutes and one and a half hours. 

No. They may see children and adults individually and/or in family member groups. They may work with couples, or with other groups and communities. When a family is involved with several different agencies, Family Therapists may work with the network of professionals as well as with family members to ensure their input is co-ordinated and helpful. Some Systemic Psychotherapists use their understandings of relationships to work with organizations. Many use their skills in family-sensitive working to supervise other professionals.

Family Therapists recognize that different cultures and groups have different ideas of what ‘family’ means. They take ‘family’ to describe any group of people who care about each other and define themselves as such. As well as parents and children of all ages, they may work with grandparents, siblings, uncles and aunts, cousins, friends, carers, other professionals – whoever people identify as important to their lives.