FAMILY COUNSELLING
FAMILY COUNSELLING
Family Counselling is a service for anyone you define as your family – be it your family of origin (your birth/adoptive family) or your family of choice (family you’ve had as an adult, not necessarily biologically related).
Holding Hearts Family Counselling Service uses a systemic approach because this focuses on the way people live and share their lives together.
A SYSTEMIC APPROACH
- Explores the network of significant relationships within which people are involved.
- It moves away from internal processes to interpersonal relationships
- It is interested in the invitations people make to one another in communication.
- It explores patterns at the level of beliefs and actions and sees behavior in context, which gives it meaning
- It focuses on the resourcefulness of clients to create alternative stories and more useful accounts, interactions and behavior, moving away from “problem talk.”
- It attempts to create a context in which “the voice” of the child(ren) can be heard.
- It pays attention to and challenges dominant themes in the family
THE FOLLOWING ARE CONTRA - INDICATORS FOR FAMILY COUNSELLING
- Family breakdown because of any form of violence or abuse directed at any member of the family which is currently the subject of a child protection investigation or legal proceedings.
- Families where domestic violence or abuse persists
- Families where a psychiatric or psychological assessment or diagnosis is required by a third party
- Families where reports are required by third parties for criminal legal proceedings, custody cases, assessments of parenting, care proceedings, etc.
- Families where mental illness, alcohol or drug dependency requiring specialist intervention may represent an inappropriate referral. On-going work may be possible if client(s) are accessing support from an appropriate agency and/or health professional. Attention should be given to ensure that services do not overlap and therefore create difficulty or confusion for client/s
THE COUNSERLLORS ARE EQUIPPED TO WORK WITH THE FOLLOWING RELATIONAL ISSUES
- Family members – by family we mean any group of people who describe themselves as a family.
- Parents.
- Sibling groups – children or adult.
- Extended family members – grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
- Blended families
COUNSELLORS ARE EQUIPPED TO WORK WITH THE FOLLOWING CLIENT GROUPS
- Family members – by family we mean any group of people who describe themselves as a family.
- Parents.
- Sibling groups – children or adult.
- Extended family members – grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
- Blended families
LIKELY REFERRAL SOURCES
- Self-referral
- Internal referrals from other Holding Hearts counsellors where Family Counselling is regarded as the appropriate service
- Social Services – It is important to note that any referral accepted from Social Services should be done with the understanding of on-going support for the family from the Department
- General Practitioners – It is important to ensure that the focus is relational. Holding Hearts cannot embark upon individual work to do with mental health issues in the family counselling context. In all Holding Hearts work, access to a GP may be required in an emergency, and therefore clients are asked to name their GP in their initial session
- Friends and Family may seek to refer one another – It is important to check that those seeking to attend are fully aware of the appointments. This may require a provisional appointment to be made and confirmed at a later date
FAMILY COUNSELLING & FAMILY THERAPY
- An important distinction is to be made between Family Counselling and Family Therapy.
- Family Therapy may include psychiatrists, psychologists, community psychiatric nurses, social workers, family therapists, child psychotherapists and others. This group of professionals can make a range of assessments including psychiatric and psychological diagnoses, which could be required for external organisations such as Social Service Departments, the legal arena, etc.
- Family Counselling is a service provided by Holding Hearts counsellors who have completed at least one year of training in Systemic Therapy training (foundation year). They are certificated and experienced counsellors. The focus of work will be relational and explore communication patterns between people, but will not involve any diagnoses or formal assessments. We aim to work with people to improve their relationships and communication
