Family therapy (children)

When a child has difficulties, it is rarely about the child alone. The family is a system: each member is connected to the others, and change in one node always shows up in the others. Family therapy works with the whole system — with the child, the parents and the unspoken rules the family lives by.

We use systemic, narrative and emotion-focused approaches. In the first session we sketch a “map” together with the family — what is going on, which loops keep the problem alive, what would be different.

01Who this is for

• Conflicts between child and parents have become chronic
• Behavioural difficulties don’t shift despite individual sessions
• Divorce, moving, a new baby, loss — big transitions
• One parent feels they’re “not coping”
• Sibling conflict, jealousy
• Family wants to learn to talk about hard things

02How we work

The first 1–2 sessions are with the whole family (or key adults). After that the format is flexible: sometimes everyone, sometimes just the couple, sometimes the child. The therapist isn’t a judge but someone who helps see invisible patterns.

We avoid hunting for “who’s to blame”. Instead we ask what in the system pushes us to behave this way — and how to change it.

03Methods

• Systemic interviewsmapping the family and its rules.
• Emotion-focused workon attachment and safety.
• Narrative approachrewriting the family’s “stories”.
• Couples workwhen separate is useful.
• Sessions with the childindividually, between joint ones.
• Home experimentssmall changes between sessions.

04What you get

• Lower conflict in the family
• A shared language for hard topics
• Parents regain confidence
• Child stops feeling like “the problem”
• Family finds its supports in tough moments
• Relationships warm up and become more predictable

05What a session looks like

Session — 80 minutes (family) or 50 minutes (one person). Usually every 2 weeks.

06Frequently asked