Learn how to talk about the important stuff that really matters.
Know how to tune into what your kids need emotionally.
Be the family where your kids come to you, even with the hard stuff
Parenting is a Privilege – Even When Things Get Tough
Time goes quickly... Moments with your family should be about building fun and happy memories together, not struggling to maintain the peace or feeling exhausted and discouraged when you can’t.
There is a better way. You can have a home filled with love and joy.
At The Relationship Centre, we use an approach called Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
This modality was developed to help families, and is one of the most successful approaches to family therapy. EFT helps with parenting challenges, children and teen issues, and separation & divorce.
Is your child struggling with something you aren’t sure how to handle?
As a parent it is hard helping your child cope with everything, especially emotional challenges, difficult life transitions or trauma.
Choosing to talk with a therapist can be a solution that helps you both. They will learn how to manage what they are going through, and you will gain the support necessary to parent them through it all.
The therapist working with your child can help you understand what is developmentally typical, identify areas of concern, and develop strategies to help them grow and thrive.
How to know if your child needs help:
Some changes in your children may be obvious, such as refusing to go to school, significant changes in their typical habits or routines, or extreme mood changes.
However, other changes may be more subtle leaving you questioning if it is a just a normal part of their development. Some of these changes could include:
Loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy
Spending more time alone
Irritablility
Change in peer group
Change in eating and sleeping patterns
Change in school or athletic performance including underperforming or perfectionism
You know your child best. And if something doesn’t feel right, trust your instinct and reach out for help.
A therapist can help you understand your child’s behaviour and emotions so you can confidently support them with whatever they are going through.
How We Help
Young Children
Our work with young children is play based with parents present in the session.
Kids engage in play with the therapist who uses techniques to gently gather information in a way that is comfortable for your child.
Books, art supplies and various toys are used to help children engage and interact with the therapist. Your child’s comfort is our main priority which sets the pace for the sessions.
Teens
Our work with teens recognizes this as a challenging time when the needs of teens and parents are often at odds creating conflict and heartache.
A teen’s desire for independence and parent’s fear of letting go can create a perfect storm for conflict.
Therapists will spend time meeting with the parents and teen together and also the teen on their own to develop the best plan to find your way through this challenging stage.
Parents will also receive support and the right tools to meet the needs of their children.
“The best security blanket a child can have is parents who respect each other.” ~ Jan Blaustone
Specialized separation and divorce therapists will assist you as a parent, to understand how to support your children through the separation and divorce; talking to children about separation and divorce, helping navigate the emotional challenges presented by children, and finding the way to co-parenting in a healthy way.
Many of our therapists are trained to work directly with children through this difficult transition.
