Families are much more than a collection of individuals. The way your family works has a big influence on how each of you thinks and feels and acts. When one of you is struggling or changing, it has an impact on everyone.

So when one family member has a problem, it might be that the whole family is involved in it. When that happens, family counselling can be a good way to work out how everyone can get involved in solving the problems.

One common example is where a child starts getting into lots of trouble. It’s easy to think of them as a problem child. But maybe their behaviour is a response to a wider family issue. Perhaps the parents are at odds with each other a lot of the time, but unite to deal with the misbehaviour. Or perhaps it takes a crisis to create family time. Or perhaps it’s not clear who sets the limits in this family.

If you think your family might benefit by all of you understanding more about a family problem and all of you cooperating on solutions, then talk to your local Relationship Services office about the possibility of Family Counselling.