Family therapy.
We’re in this together.
If you’re reading this with a child or a loved one in mind, know that you have come to the right place and that it’s positive you’re looking into your options for family support.
Right now you might be feeling a lot of fear and maybe some panic towards the difficulty your loved one is experiencing. The anxiety and risk surrounding eating disorders can leave us feeling helpless in a situation that we’d never imagined we’d come to deal with.
Communication can become strained as we struggle to find a way to support our loved one whilst managing our own fears. At times, we might feel incredibly distant from the one person we want to be closest to.
Your experience, as a parent, partner or family member, is vitally important. You might feel an intense responsibility towards getting your loved one better, but equally important is how you are processing your own emotional response and working through this unique circumstance together.
We’re here to walk alongside you in this experience, offering a non-judgemental space that takes blame or guilt out of the equation so that we can focus on steps forward.
In Family Therapy, our families work with our expert Systemic & Family Therapy team to unpack challenges, resolve tensions, create understanding, and lean into the collective strengths of the family unit. In essence, you don’t have to do this alone.
Our approach to family therapy
The effects of an eating disorder ripple through the family. Family Therapy is a non-judgemental and contained space for a family to come together, notice those ripples, and work together to pave a shared path forward.
We believe that each family has unique strengths to lean into. We’re interested in harnessing what makes your family bond special, so that you can nurture a home environment and relational dynamic that is safe, supportive and open in communication.
With the guidance of our expert therapists, you will work together to:
- Explore and understand each others’ emotional experience and needs
- Unpack relational conflicts or challenges
- Understand your loved one’s eating disorder
- Utilise your individual and collective strengths
How family therapy works
Family Therapy is offered as part of our Outpatient Services and Day Treatment programme. It is also available online or in person.
Within the Day Treatment programme, clients and their loved ones are asked if they would like to attend Family Therapy sessions during the admissions pathway into treatment. After they have settled into treatment, our Family Therapy team reach out to the client and their family to discuss arranging Family Therapy sessions. These sessions may happen on a regular basis, or, more ad hoc.
As part of our Outpatient Services, clients can have Family Therapy offered following an assessment with our team. Parents and carers can also consider our Individual Carer Psychotherapy sessions, which are one-to-one psychotherapy sessions led by a Systemic & Family Therapist for a parent or loved one of someone living with an eating disorder.
“I think your clinical model is the best I have seen, both as a husband and parent of family members in need of this service.”
– Father of Client
Find out more about how parents and carers are supported in our treatment.
If you feel ready to embark on this journey together, reach out to us.