Family Counselling

At Bergen & Associates Counselling, we value the role of family in a person's life.  The interactions that occur between members of a family can feel destructive, or conversely, potentially profoundly healing.  We value working with families which may include children, adolescents, adults, and/or seniors  

    Parent/child Relationships

Structured family sessions can be arranged in which problem solving between children and parents is facilitated by the therapist through discussion of family goals, building on past successes. Alternatively, the therapeutic use of music, art, and play can enhance a child’s self-esteem, since children express their feelings through play the way adults express theirs through words. When offered choices of art, music, sandtray and other forms of therapeutic play in a safe therapeutic environment with a minimal number of rules to ensure safety, challenging problems and conflicts between parent and child often spontaneously resolve.

    Sandtray

In sandtray work, children choose from hundreds of small figurines and arrange them in a sandtray which has the bottom painted blue to represent water. This process enables children to make a “sand world” in which they are free to identify with the heroes of their choice. The figurines include animals, birds, insects, trees, rocks, shells, superheroes and villains, dinosaurs, comic strip characters and various other miscellaneous objects that may elicit feelings. Selecting what they wish to use in their sandtray at any given time empowers children by allowing them to visually express their feelings through their choice of image and to identify with the ones that they consider strong, good, valuable or successful.. Because the figurines are small and the child is big, feelings of powerlessness are replaced by confidence and a new sense of control over their world. It is truly exciting, delightful, and inspiring to witness the energy, enthusiasm and concentration that children put into creating and explaining their “sand worlds”.

    Therapeutic Play

When children are able to choose whether they want to express their feelings through, talking, art, music, or sand work, and when a caring adult gives their undivided attention to the child without any attempt to direct or influence their choice of expression, children develop confidence in their own ability to make good, meaningful, and interesting choices for themselves.  The word “therapy” actually comes from the Greek “Therapeia” which means “to be attentive to”. Children receive undivided attention from the therapist during the therapeutic play process, and parents receive guidance and training to become able provide this intervention at home in order to keep this gentle, respectful, nondirective, yet powerful process of healing alive once the therapy comes to an end.  The number of sessions required for children who come to therapy varies, though the usual time for this brief therapy intervention is approximately one session per week over twelve weeks.

    Adolescents

Adolescence is a time of transition that can be a struggle for the youth as well as the parent-child relationship.  It is natural (though often unsettling) that the youth is struggling to become an individual with independent thoughts and feelings.  It is also common that parents are challenged to guide this process by avoiding being too directive and restrictive and also avoiding being too unstructured and relaxed. Broadening our understanding of this developmental stage and how to navigate it can be a constructive process.  There is an expectation that the first session occur not only with the teen but also include the adults that live with the adolescent. The attendance of parents at future sessions is determined by the therapist in a collaborative way with the teen and parents.

    Family Therapy

“Family” is can really take on many forms in addition to  set of parents with young children or with grown children.  Family can also be led by a single parent, or even a grandparent or older sibling.  Brothers and sisters who have long “grown up” and live in their own homes are still another form of family.  Sometimes even people who are not biologically related consider themselves family.  At Bergen & Asssociates Counselling, we work with families of any type who seek assistance in finding more effective ways of relating to each other.