Family Counselling Calgary

Calgary Family Counselling Overview

Takeaway: All families struggle from time to time. However, you don’t have to navigate your challenges alone. Family counselling in Calgary can give you and your family members the support you need to work together—not against each other.

Your family is having the same arguments over and over, and you have no idea how to make them stop. You are asking yourself, "Why do I bother? Nothing is going to change".

Families are complicated; family issues may differ between relationships and among family members. We may see parent-child challenges, parenting conflicts, marriage or divorce stress, a blended family, or mental health problems arise.

We want to depend on one another, enhance communication, and deal with family issues, but we have different points of view and sometimes even different goals. This can make navigating each relationship difficult, create relationship problems, enflame mental health issues, and lead to problematic behaviour for a family member.

Some families are just starting to feel the effects of unresolved conflict, while others have reached a crisis point and want to make changes by challenging long-standing patterns and dynamics. But for any family, in any state of hurt or struggle, counselling can help improve communication, resolve conflict, and build skills for a stronger family unit—the issues are never the responsibility of a single person.

At our family counselling Calgary location, we can support you and your loved ones to find peace, manage life transitions, and build healthy relationships so you actually want to come home and spend time together.

Does this sound like you?

Your family is fighting, and you feel like you have failed as a parent. You long to have peace in your home and have fun together. You are exhausted, overwhelmed, deflated from trying, and terrified your family will not be close again.

Challenges a family may be struggling with could be emotional, psychological, or behavioural, and family sessions may be helpful when experiencing transitions such as:

Sibling Relationships
Extended Family Dynamics
Parenting and Co-parenting
Conflict
Communication Challenges
Divorce
Crisis and Trauma
Life-changing Events
Chronic Illness
Grief & Loss
Family Violence
Financial Problems
Intergenerational Conflict
Substance Abuse
Family Member’s Illness

There is often stigma and shame associated with families experiencing struggles or crisis. It can be a deterrent to some families and cause them to avoid seeking help. The Shelly Qualtieri & Associates Counselling team wants you to know that experiencing conflict and challenges within a family unit is common. We will provide a safe and judgement-free environment where you can gather together to address the obstacles preventing you from creating a strong, resilient, nurturing home.

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Family therapy in Calgary can help

Perhaps you avoid going home because you feel anxious and tense walking into your house. Maybe you take a deep breath as you walk in the door, anticipating that your family is fighting.

Without guidance, it can be difficult to have open, respectful, and honest discussions with your loved ones, especially when dealing with tough and touchy subjects. Family counselling services offer a great way to express, listen, nurture, and come to a resolution together.

The therapists at our family counselling office in Calgary offer an opportunity for all members to come together in a judgment-free space. The registered psychologist or social worker will provide a neutral perspective and provide important guidance as your family works through the challenges you’re facing. Everyone will be heard and have a say in how they want to move forward, working as a team towards a solution.

When everyone feels heard and understood, it's easier to talk about ways to improve communication, have respectful conversations, deal with feelings, and make or strengthen healthy relationships. Some of the benefits of family counselling include:

Setting healthy boundaries
Defining expectations
Cultivating communication
Outlining members’ roles within the family
Enriching family dynamics
Developing strength and resilience
Learning coping strategies
Recognizing unhelpful and triggering interactions
Fostering empathy
Forming support strategies
Understanding how to ask for and give support
Conflict resolution
Setting family goals
Creating a unified family goal

Family counselling is intended to create a space where members can come together to recognize, define, and resolve areas of concern within the family dynamic. When there are breakdowns in communication, crisis, unclear expectations, violence, trauma, or mental health issues, this affects not only the home but also other areas of family members' lives.

Our approach to Calgary family therapy sessions

You can do those hard things so much easier if you’re connected to someone who can help you make sense of it all. We are family-centred, and we focus on hearing from the whole family.

The registered psychologist will meet with you all together at your first session. This is a chance for everyone to talk about how they feel and what they think about the causes of conflict and the problems that have come up. The therapist may ask how each individual sees the issues, how or why the conflict may have started, and the effects on the relationship.

Based on your family’s unique journey to find peace and wellness, your registered psychologist will design a treatment plan to help you reach your goals through family counselling services. After the first group session, your psychologist may suggest that you meet with him or her alone or in a smaller group to help the process along.

The overall goal of family counselling services in Calgary is to help develop healthy dynamics, strong communication, and strategies for conflict resolution and problem solving. Your family therapist's role is to help everyone deal with conflict that is preventing a healthy and supportive home life and build stronger relationships.

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Family therapy methods we use in our practice

Our Calgary family therapy team helps families all over Alberta in person and online. We are here to help you and your family reduce conflict at home and find peace as a group.We will tackle each of the reasons that have brought you to therapy and work holistically with everyone.

Every family is unique, as are their needs. These individual differences often determine what type of counselling technique will be most helpful. As there are so many different therapy approaches, there is no such thing as "the best type of therapy for families". What does exist, however, is a range of evidence-based modalities and a variety of different therapeutic approaches that can be beneficial.

There are five well-known types of family therapy. These types of therapy try to solve problems, build respectful dialogue, improve communication patterns, and make home life more stable and healthy.

Structural Therapy

A method of psychotherapy that addresses problems in functioning within a family or marriage to improve communications and interactions among family members and highlight appropriate boundaries to create a healthier family structure.

Milan Therapy

Also referred to as systemic family therapy, it is based on the research and theories of Gregory Bateson. The goal is to help people achieve livable agreements suited to their needs, interests, priorities, and concerns.

Strategic Therapy

A short-term form of family therapy, typically utilized with youth who struggle with behavioural issues.

Narrative Therapy

A form of psychotherapy that seeks to help individuals identify their values and the supports associated with them. It teaches people how to live by these values and provides them with experience so they can deal with problems now and in the future.

Transgenerational Therapy

Examines the interactions between individuals across multiple generations and family of origin issues.

Who Calgary family counselling is for

Our Calgary Family Counselling team is able to work with many different types of families, including those that are navigating blended families, co-parenting, divorce/separation, adoption, boundary setting, differences in faith or opinions, and grief and loss.

Blended Families

In a blended family, parenting decisions, conflict between children, attachment, and jealousy all have the potential to create tension in the household. Counselling helps a blended family communicate their needs, build deep bonds, and foster a family dynamic based on kindness, respect, and trust.

Co-Parenting

Co-parenting adds another layer of complexity to think about. With a family therapist's support, families gain educational and effective co-parenting techniques that promote open discussion, trust, compassion and most of all, love.

Divorce or Separation

Divorce can be a difficult process for parents and their children. Aside from grieving the loss of what was once familiar, the end of a relationship can feel scary and unprecedented, especially for the children. Family therapists can help open up the discussion so everyone feels heard, included, respected, and loved.

Troubled Children

If you have a troubled child or teenager who has experienced trauma, is being bullied, struggles with a learning or developmental disability, or has other mental health concerns, all family members may be affected. Counselling can help parents, children, and everyone come together to help each other and the child thrive in a supportive and loving environment.

Grief and Loss

Every family eventually faces the loss of a loved one, a home, a career, or a lifestyle. Grief can affect individuals differently, so it is common for everyone or a single person to have different experiences when dealing with the stress during this time. Family counselling helps grieving families process the loss, care for each other, heal, and move on together.

Adoption

Adoption can be a family’s most enriching experience, but it can also present some difficulties. Feel supported during this important transition in your life. Family therapy can help with attachment and bonding, cultural differences, parenting, trust, grief, trauma, and more.

FAQs about working with a family therapist in Calgary

Who should participate in family counselling?

Are family counselling sessions in person or virtual?

What do I do if I want to seek family counselling but my loved one does not want to?

Do we need a family psychologist or a family therapist?

No matter the professional designation you choose, the most important part of choosing a counsellor is finding someone with whom you feel safe and who is able to develop a positive and trusting connection, build self-esteem, improve mental health for the whole family, and provide a place where you feel you can open up, share, and be vulnerable.

A family therapist may be a registered psychologist or social worker trained in a family systems approach and evidence-based theories designed to understand problematic behaviour and relationship conflict. They will challenge unhealthy communication patterns and help reduce and resolve conflicts within the family system.

When trying to identify which professional to choose, book an introductory call with them to see if they are right for you and your loved ones.

We will work with you if you are in Calgary or across Alberta.

How many family therapy sessions will we need?

Some families find a handful of sessions to be beneficial, while others find value over time. What makes counselling so powerful is the ability to address all of the issues from a central point.

Everyone’s family issues and circumstances are unique. The number of counselling sessions required to resolve conflicts, discuss life transitions, and accomplish your family therapy goals depends on each family member, your desire for personal development, your commitment to sessions, and the factors driving family counselling to be sought in the first place.

The goal of therapy is to create healthy family systems, bring about healing, and help people become more self-aware, accept themselves, and find peace. Family counselling in Calgary is used to develop and maintain healthy and functional families.

You can rest assured that your family therapist will help you deal with family problems and make a treatment plan that fits your needs.

What will we learn in family therapy?

Family therapy provides the opportunity to learn how to function more effectively through gaining insight into one another’s thoughts, experiences, beliefs, and behaviours. Your therapist will improve skills such as:

Deepened and improved communication
Build self esteem and confidence
Reduce stress in the home
Create a strong parent-child relationship
Shared experience
Increased empathy and understanding
Development and maintenance of healthy boundaries
Improved ability to problem-solve by better understanding one another and finding a common path
Reduce conflict
Identify the common goals and outcomes of family therapy sessions
Build skills for life

Each family’s experience in therapy is unique, and it’s possible to resolve conflicts and enhance communication with new skills that help all ages feel comfortable through our Calgary counselling services.

Reach out today to Shelly Qualtieri & Associates and find a therapist to support your relationships by finding peace for each parent and child in your family and help you grow together.

Calgary family counselling sessions can help you grow together

It is time to unpack the sticky and tricky issues, begin to process the past, and move forward—together.

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their problems. Regardless of how you’re feeling or the challenges you're dealing with in the moment—family issues or mental health concerns—know that you’re not alone. Every family struggles at some point. The problems that can impact a family may range from small to traumatic.

Our Calgary family counselling therapists are trained to provide helpful recommendations and strategies so you can feel closer and connect more deeply with family members while finding ways to enhance communication, build trust, and develop healthy relationships.

We are accepting new clients and encourage you to reach out for a complimentary consultation to get started.