At Evolving Roles, we offer Family Therapy to help families address concerns and issues that are eroding family communication and relationships. With years of experience, extensive training in a unique combination of disciplines, Jane Maher has crafted a practical, dynamic and empowering approach to Family and Couple therapy.
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Our focus is on better shared understandings, better communicating, better understanding & acknowledging of each other’s backstories, better awareness & acceptance; better understanding of the history of the family, the triggers and the feelings that have lead to unhelpful beliefs about each other, that lead to frustrations, withdrawal and/or conflict.
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The frequency, severity, duration of conflict can be reduced over time. Couples and families can get better at repairing their relationships on their own. You can enjoy more quality times together.
Who can benefit from participating in Family Therapy?
Family Therapy can really help:
- at different life stages – different life stages throw up new challenges. For example: the arrival of a new family member in the home; the transition from infancy to childhood or to adolescence; into study or work or to retirement
- when kids, siblings, parents are in conflict and communication has become negative and destructive
- when family members have become withdrawn, disconnected and are growing apart
- when big and difficult changes have occured and there is a need to re-organise family dynamics and re-create new ways of being together
- when there has been hurt and relationships need to be healed
- when new family structures, norms and rhythms need to be co-created
- when changes in where you live or work or how you work eg hybrid work
Sometimes, Family Therapy can be beneficial for teens participating in our Teen Groups, to provide effective support to the teen at home as well as in the groups.
A Family Therapy session is also recommended prior to enrolling in the Tuning into Teens/Kids parenting program.
Family therapy can involve Child Focused Parent Sessions that empower parents to provide new types of support. Parents can be the most important force for healing of past hurts for their teens. Emotion Coaching and Autism focused parent coaching are also offered.
How does Family Therapy work?
Evolving Roles offers confidential and supportive Family Therapy sessions for families who are struggling to resolve relationship difficulties. Our focus is on the family as a whole, rather than any individual member, and we strive to create a safe, non-judgmental space where everyone’s experiences and perspectives are valued and respected.
Family therapists doesn’t take sides – we are on everyone’s side. We encourage accountability, responsibility, and clear communication without blame. Together, we work towards the goals for how you want your relationships to be different, and what changes you are willing to work towards together.
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In some cases, a single extended session may be enough to achieve significant change, while in others, multiple sessions may be necessary to fully explore the underlying dynamics at play. Regardless of the number of sessions, our ultimate goal is to facilitate greater mutual understanding, effective communication, and creative problem-solving within the Family/Couple unit.
We believe that after completing Family Therapy, families will feel more empowered and confident in their ability to handle future challenges that arise in their journey together.
Addressing common concerns
Sometimes family members can feel fearful and sceptical about coming to these sessions. That is understandable. It takes courage and a leap of trust to open up about vulnerabilities. It can feel like a risk to hope that something helpful can come from taking the risk of opening up. Family members may worry that they might be judged, criticised, not respected, not understood or not listened to.
Parents, teens, siblings, kids and extended family members can assured that it is our job to ensure you are each supported, that everyone’s safety is managed, that contributions can be made respectfully and participation can be safe. Families are honoured for the courage it takes to face their difficulties and take the leap to come to a family therapy session. Jane Maher has developed a unique approach to making the first session easier than expected for all family members while enabling an effective start to treatment. Getting started in a good way means future sessions can be approached with more confidence and more productive work can be done together.
Family Therapy can be separate parent sessions and also parent-child sessions. Parents can be more influential with their teens than they realise. Sometimes parents can be the only people who a teen will accept input from. Separate parent and parent-child sessions enable parents to be guided to parent more effectively. When teens refuse other therapeutic approaches parents can be the only ones who can make a difference. Parent sessions can help parents communicate and connect with their family more.
Getting Started
You don’t need a referral from a professional to organise Family Therapy (although this is sometimes how families find us). To get started, simply book an initial appointment with Jane Maher. At this meeting, Jane will meet with you and your family, discuss your current situation, what your family would like to achieve from participating in family counselling and how we can proceed. This meeting will take approximately one hour. If you would like to start with an extended session please call Jane first to discuss a longer session or book 2 x 1hr sessions.
Please note, in response to COVID-19, Family Therapy sessions are currently being conducted online via Zoom. These have been very effective and can be more convenient for families but they can also be harder to coordinate in the home setting. When life returns to ‘normal’ we will resume “In Person” sessions for those who prefer in person. During the Initial session we can think together about a plan for what will help based on what we work out together.
Fees*
| 2023 Fees by Sliding Scale | $AU ex GST |
| Initial 1hr session | $170 – 290.98 |
| Family Group session | $120- 220 per hour |
| Reports, referrals and letters of support | $193.99 per hour |
*There are no funding or healthcare rebates available for participation in this program. Some parents have been authorised to use NDIS funding to do this program. We encourage you to pursue this option with your NDIS Local Area Coordinator or your Support Coordinator.
Evolving Roles 