Langley Therapy accept self-referrals for Family Therapy as well as referrals from GPs or the Children and Adult Mental Health team.
How do you decide if you need family therapy? That is such a difficult question.
Most of the time within our families we have a system that works. Usually we all have our roles to perform and we know what to expect from each other. Sometimes something will happen to upset that system. It could be a loss of some sort, an issue, a conflict. As a result of this something in the system can change. So someone will start behaving differently, or they won’t be able to fulfill their part in the system in some way. Imagine the wheel of a bike, if something snaps or bends then the rest of the wheel has to take the strain. This could cause extra pressure on the rest of the wheel, or the system, or in this case the family.
We often don’t know that this is happening. At times we can get used to a new way of being as a family and not realize that a part of our family system has broken down. Whatever happens this change puts extra pressure on all family members and at some point something has to give. This is a good example of when Family Therapy can be really helpful.
It may feel as if one member of the family has the ‘main problem’, but when this is traced back we discover the heart of the issue was something entirely different.
So if something feels wrong within your family system, or a breakdown of relationships and communication is happening within the family, this is a good indicator that Family Therapy can help you uncover what might be going on.
Another reason for Family Therapy might be when a young person or child is already in therapy and the therapist feels that it would be beneficial to include the rest of the family in the work. This can often happen when a child or young person has done as much work as they can individually in therapy, and to make any further changes they need support from their family members in some way. Perhaps routines can be discussed together or boundaries reset, or maybe feelings can be aired to enhance caring relationships again.
At Langley Therapy we often invite parents to attend with the child or young person in these cases. Sometimes we also invite siblings and the family attend as a whole.
The types of issues we have worked with in family therapy are bereavement, life changes – divorce, remarriage, redundancy – fertility issues, moving house/country, and many more.
The fees for Family Therapy are:
£65 per session,
The first session will be 90 minutes long, then 60 minutes after that