Narelle Williams is Bethesda Counselling’s family therapist in Perth. She is passionate about supporting, healing and nurturing families in their many forms.
As society continues to redefine the family unit, her response is to focus on the strength of the family being found in its function even when its structure can vary significantly from the traditional design. She highlights that there are many constructs of the family unit in society these days. “I see blended families, single parent families, families where children are adopted and fostered, families that do not have children, and families where close friends are considered part of the unit. At the heart of the family, is relationship and identity.”
Family relationships, however they come, are an important factor in psychological health. Narelle is dedicated to supporting and strengthening all aspects of the family unit and provides counselling for marriage and family relationship problems, parenting challenges, blended families, FIFO families and those experiencing the pain and grief of separation or divorce.
Family therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on the relational aspects found within family units. It has a strong bias towards systems theory which views the functioning of the individual in the context of his/her social relationships. Simply put, we can think of a child’s mobile that hangs from the ceiling; if one part of that mobile is moved, all of the other parts of the mobile start bobbing up and down until the mobile in its entirety is re-balanced. The function and health of the family system is similar; all of the members are connected to and act in relation to one another.
Family therapy ultimately seeks to facilitate couples and the other relationships found within the family unit, to heal from relational pain and injury through repair and reconciliation.
Bethesda’s family therapist will seek to nurture and promote change and development within your family system that will benefit your family members and unit as a whole. Therapy is structured around relationship counselling to catalyse relational healing, strength, wisdom and support within the unit.
Often family therapy services are extremely useful in supporting individuals and adolescents who are struggling with issues of low self-esteem, depression, grief and loss, drug/alcohol abuse, self-harm, anger issues and other mental health issues. Working with the whole family together or a few members of the family together, can often initiate healing opportunities that would not otherwise be accessed through individual therapy. Family therapy aims at improving the space between members within a family unit so that each member is better supported and the family itself can function more healthily.
“A family that is functioning well is more likely to experience fewer tensions and conflicts, greater satisfaction and better mental and physical health for all of its members (both adults and children). Those units that are not functioning as well, tend to be prone to greater conflict, violence, separations, divorce and more mental and physical health ailments” (Yarhouse & Sells, 2008 Family Therapies, A Comprehensive Christian Appraisal)
Contact Narelle today to enquire about family therapy counselling in Perth or to book a session.