West Vancouver Family Counselling
Rebuilding Connection When Everyone's Pulling Apart
Dinner used to be family time. Now everyone eats in separate rooms staring at their phones. Your teenager won't talk to you. Your spouse is more like a roommate you argue with about chores. The kids fight constantly and you're always playing referee. Or maybe something specific happened - an affair, a loss, a major move - and your family can't find its way back to normal. West Vancouver family counselling helps families stuck in painful patterns rebuild connection, improve communication, and remember why you're all on the same team instead of constantly at war.
​
We work with families throughout West Vancouver & North Vancouver - from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove - who are struggling with everything from blended family challenges to teen rebellion to parents who can't agree on anything. Family therapy addresses the whole system, not just one person's problems, because when the family heals, everyone benefits.
Benefits of Family Counselling
Individual therapy helps one person change, but when the whole family system is broken, individual change doesn't stick. Family therapy recognizes that everyone affects everyone else - your teenager's anxiety might actually be about parents fighting, or your child's behavior problems might be the family's way of avoiding dealing with bigger issues. We work with the whole system to create lasting change.
Family therapy improves communication in ways individual therapy can't. When families come in, they're often not actually talking to each other - they're talking AT each other, interrupting, assuming, defending. We teach you how to actually hear each other, express needs without attacking, and have difficult conversations without everything exploding.
​
For families dealing with specific crises, therapy provides a safe space to work through it together. The affair that shattered trust. The death of a family member everyone's grieving differently. The diagnosis of serious illness. The job loss that changed everything financially. Family therapy helps you process these crises as a unit instead of everyone suffering alone or taking it out on each other.
Blended families benefit hugely from family counselling. Step-parenting is hard. Kids resent the new parent. Ex-spouses interfere. Nobody knows what the rules are or who's in charge. We help blended families figure out boundaries, routines, and how to make everyone feel like they belong instead of being divided into "real family" and "step family."
​
Family therapy also addresses the specific challenges West Vancouver families face. The pressure to succeed academically and athletically. Parents who work all the time to afford the lifestyle here. Kids who have everything materially but feel disconnected from their parents. The comparison culture where every family looks perfect on social media but nobody's happy at home.
​
When one family member has mental health struggles - depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders - family therapy helps everyone else understand and support them better instead of enabling, rescuing, or making it worse. You learn your role in the system and how to change patterns that aren't helping.
Creekside Counselling's Approach to Family Counselling
First session, everyone comes in together - parents, kids, whoever's part of the household. We talk about what brought you here, what everyone sees as the problem (which is often different for each person), and what you're hoping will change. Sometimes the "identified patient" is actually the one who's just showing symptoms of larger family dysfunction.
​
Family therapy sessions are more active than individual therapy. People talk to each other, not just to me. My job is to facilitate, point out patterns you don't see, interrupt destructive communication, and teach better ways of interacting. You might role-play difficult conversations, practice active listening, or work through conflicts with me guiding the process.
​
We address the invisible rules and roles in your family. Every family has them - who's allowed to show emotions, who keeps the peace, who's the scapegoat, who's the perfect child, what topics are off limits. Often these unspoken rules are causing the problems. Making them visible and deciding which ones to keep or change is powerful work.
​
Sometimes we do individual sessions with specific family members when needed, then bring everyone back together. A parent might need help with their own trauma before they can show up well for their kids. A teenager might need private time to talk about things they can't say in front of their parents. We flex based on what the family needs.
​
For families dealing with divorce or separation, family therapy helps everyone handle it with less damage, especially to the kids. We work on co-parenting communication, helping children process the changes, and establishing new family structures that work even though parents aren't together anymore.
​
We also do parent coaching when parents are on completely different pages. One's permissive, one's authoritarian. They fight about discipline in front of the kids. Nobody's consistent. We help parents get aligned on boundaries, consequences, and approach so kids aren't caught in the middle or playing parents against each other.
​
Family therapy addresses the tough stuff families avoid talking about. The addiction everyone pretends isn't happening. The family member who died that nobody's allowed to mention. The abuse that happened years ago but still affects relationships now. Creating space for these conversations helps families heal instead of staying stuck in silence and dysfunction.
Pricing Information
Family counselling sessions are $200 per 50-minute session (slightly higher than individual because we're working with multiple people). We typically meet weekly or biweekly depending on urgency and family availability.
​
Length of treatment depends on what you're dealing with. Specific conflicts or adjustment to family changes might resolve in 8-12 sessions. Deeper systemic issues or trauma could take 6 months to a year. We reassess every few weeks to make sure therapy's still helpful and adjust our approach if needed.
​
We provide receipts for insurance. Coverage varies - some extended health plans cover family therapy under mental health benefits, others only cover individual sessions. Check your specific plan. Many West Vancouver employers offer good mental health benefits that can help with costs.
​
Getting the whole family here can be expensive if you're paying out of pocket, but it's often way more effective than having several family members in individual therapy. Fixing the system costs less long-term than treating each person's symptoms separately.
Areas We Serve
We're located in West Vancouver and work with families throughout the North Shore. Our family therapy clients come from all West Van neighborhoods - Horseshoe Bay, Dundarave, Ambleside, Eagle Harbour, Caulfeild, Whitby Estates, British Properties, Cypress Village, Gleneagles, Bayridge, Chartwell.
​
We also see families from North Vancouver, Lions Bay, and throughout Metro Vancouver who need specialized family therapy. Some families drive from further away because they want someone outside their immediate community who won't run into them at the grocery store.
​
Virtual family therapy available for families who can all be together but prefer meeting online, or for follow-up sessions once we've established the work in person. Family counselling works better face-to-face initially so I can read everyone's body language and dynamics, but online works fine for maintenance sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Family Counselling
What if one family member refuses to come?
We start with whoever's willing. Sometimes seeing other family members change motivates the resistant person to join eventually. Sometimes we do family therapy without them and work around their absence. It's not ideal but it's better than doing nothing because one person won't participate.
Will you take sides or tell us who's wrong?
No. Family therapy isn't about finding the bad guy - everyone contributes to family patterns even if one person's behavior seems obviously problematic. I stay neutral, point out patterns, and help everyone take responsibility for their part in the dysfunction. If there's abuse happening, that's different - safety comes first.
Do our kids have to come to every session?
Not necessarily. Sometimes we do all-family sessions, sometimes just parents, sometimes just kids. It depends on what we're working on. Really young kids might not come regularly if the issues are more about parenting alignment. Teens usually need to be involved since family issues often revolve around them.
What if my family is just too broken to fix?
Very few families are truly beyond help. Even families dealing with serious stuff like addiction, abuse history, or major betrayals can heal if everyone's willing to do the work. That said, sometimes family therapy helps people realize they need to separate or set different boundaries. Not every family stays together, but everyone can heal.
How is family counselling different from marriage counselling?
Family therapy includes kids and addresses the whole family system. Marriage counselling focuses on the couple relationship. Sometimes couples need both - work on their marriage and also address how parenting conflicts or family dynamics affect their relationship. We can help you figure out what you need.
Will you make us talk about things we don't want to discuss?
I'll gently encourage addressing elephants in the room that everyone's avoiding, but I can't force anyone to talk about anything. That said, the stuff you're most afraid to discuss is usually what needs addressing most. We go at a pace the family can handle while still pushing growth.
What if we've tried family counselling before and it didn't work?
Lots of reasons previous therapy might not have worked - wrong therapist fit, wrong timing, not everyone was committed, underlying issues weren't addressed. Just because it didn't work before doesn't mean it can't work now. Different therapist, different approach, different stage of family life can make all the difference.
How do we know when family counselling is done?
When you're communicating better, conflicts don't escalate the same way, everyone feels heard, the crisis that brought you in is resolved, and you've got tools to handle future issues without therapy. We taper off slowly - going from weekly to biweekly to monthly check-ins - so you can test your new skills before ending completely.
Your family doesn't have to stay stuck in painful patterns. West Vancouver family counselling helps families rebuild connection and remember why you're on the same team. Book your consultation today - everyone deserves a family that feels like a safe place instead of a battlefield.