Parents and families – are you at the end of your tether when it comes to connecting with your child, due to the challenging behaviours and struggles to communicate?
If you are based in Birmingham or the West Midlands and cannot access any other means of support, our individual family therapy could be just what you need. Our expert therapeutic support can help you make sense of your child’s needs and strengthen relationships.
Fill in our enquiry form to apply. To find out more about exactly how we can help, read on!
Who do we help with individual family therapy?
- Families in Birmingham or the West Midlands
- Families who can’t access support through other means
- Families facing immediate and urgent challenges with child connection and behaviour
- families impacted by big changes like separation, divorce or bereavement
- Neurodivergent families (diagnosed or otherwise)
- Displaced or resettling families. We help Arabic-speaking families (find out more with Project Salam ) and also help Ukrainian, Pashto and Dari speaking families.
If you can’t access other support and you need to start building connection with your child as a matter of urgency, please get in touch.
Is this individual family therapy for parents, children, or both?
One of our differences is we never work with children alone. Imagine you take your child to therapy and sit outside for 12 weeks – how does that help you, the primary carer?
We only work with parents and children.
Sometimes we only work with the parent.
We believe that when we help you, the parent, make sense of the needs driving your child’s behaviour, you are often able to improve your relationship and feel more connected.
Want to access One-to-One therapy?
The family unit as a whole can benefit when you focus on yourself as an individual too. A family is considered a system of different parts, so a change in one part (you) will create a change in the whole.
How do we help?
Behavioural change involves offering supportive relationships that foster changes. Through therapy sessions we support parents to build a family environment that supports trust and communication.
We use a range of approaches in our therapy to support children and parents to create and build better relationships with each other. These include:
- Neurobiology which helps us to understand how the brain and the nervous system
- Attachment theory which focuses on the bonds connecting children and parents
- Child development theories which give an understanding of the capacity of the child within their environment .
You can find out more about our relational and play-based therapies below.
What’s involved in the process?
Following an initial conversation, and before working with children, we meet with parents to find out more about their needs and the perceived needs of their children. These sessions typically last around an hour.
After this, we observe you and your child completing some activities together to make an assessment of how we can best help. We do not make diagnoses. Our aim is to help parents and caregivers make sense of their child’s behaviour and what they may be trying to communicate through their behaviour in order to help build relationships.
Individual sessions with parents or caregivers and children last 45 minutes. During the session, a therapist works with the parent or caregiver and the child to explore thoughts, feelings and relationships through interactive, child-led play. This work helps children to accept the role of their parents or caregivers, helps parents to understand their child’s developmental needs and helps families to develop, rebuild and repair relationships.
For individual sessions, it is always tricky to indicate how many sessions are required as each child and family is different. We meet regularly with parents or caregivers to discuss and review progress. It is during these sessions that parents are able to offload, reflect and build new narratives and possibilities.
Where appropriate, we also work with siblings and additional family members as necessary. The Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) based ways of relating used during the sessions can also be used at home.
All information is confidential* and stored securely. We are also registered with the Information Commissioner.
You can find our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions here.
*Please note, like all other organisations working with children, we are obliged to inform the relevant authorities if we feel there are serious welfare or safeguarding issues which may affect the mental, physical or emotional wellbeing of children.
About our relational and play-based therapies
Many of the techniques we use are derived from Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).
Theraplay®
Developed over 50 years ago, Theraplay® has been recognised by the Association of Play Therapy as one of seven seminal psychotherapies for children. It “builds relationships from the inside out”. Theraplay®-based sessions include playful activities to create emotional, loving, rewarding and supportive connections between parent and child.
Theraplay® focuses on four essential qualities found in healthy parent-child relationships:
- Structure
- Engagement
- Nurture
- Challenge.
Structure organises a child and sets limits creating safety. Engagement lets a child experience being seen, heard, felt, and accepted by a parent. Nurture soothes and calms a child, allowing them to feel good about themselves. Challenge allows a child to develop new skills which helps develop confidence with the support of their parent.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)
DDP was created by clinical psychologist, Dan Hughes. It helps families make deeper emotional connections with each other. This form of therapy is particularly helpful for adoptive families. Often, children who are adopted or fostered and have been let down by the adults who cared for them or had to leave adults who have cared for them well. DDP helps children who have lost trust in adults to develop and build positive relationships.
Central to DDP is a way of thinking which deepens the emotional connections in our relationship with others referred to as PACE.
- Playfulness brings enjoyment to the relationship.
- Acceptance creates psychological safety.
- Curious exploration within a relationship expresses a desire to know the other more deeply.
- Empathy communicates our curiosity and acceptance, as we recognise and respond to the other’s emotional experience.
In our sessions, we’ll listen to you carefully.
Because our therapy sessions are dyadic, or about two people, as a parent you’ll be part of our sessions with your child. After all, it’s the concerning and worrying behaviours of your child that bring you to therapy.
In every session we feel it’s essential to listen to families to truly understand how day-to-day feelings and behaviours are linked in your own circumstances.
Listening to you, as parents, and building a shared understanding ensures that changes move from our sessions into family homes.
We prioritise relationships, not behaviours
Attachment is about a child’s emotional bonds and informs how they understand, trust and thrive in their world. Their behaviours are how they communicate their needs.
We’ll focus on how we think the child is understanding their world, and work with you as a family to strengthen relationships, leading to a change in behaviour. This can be very important if children have diagnoses or if you suspect these are necessary.
How we help families learn through play
Play is another way children communicate. During playful interactions we can help your child experience relationships as safe and supportive. This is central to experiencing joy and connection and it allows everyone in the family to respond to the potential of your relationships.
How many therapy sessions can you get?
Every family is different and needs unique support. When families are offered a certain number of sessions, it can feel like failure if things haven’t changed in that time.
The number of sessions required is based on progress and agreed upon by the therapist and the parent or caregiver.
Working relationally means we are there for you as a family as and when you need us. This means that throughout your child’s life and development, your family can return to therapy as necessary.
Enquire about individual family therapy today
At Beacon Family Services, we are committed to building strong, healthy, resilient relationships which can benefit your child right through to adulthood.
Fill in our enquiry form to apply.