Our Mission
At Swabey Family Counselling we know that life stressors and challenging behaviours can result in family tension and conflict. That’s why we help families build responsive relationships, develop core life skills, and reduce stress levels – because that’s what science tells us helps families to thrive. We want children, teenagers, and parents working together to learn how to truly listen to one another, communicate respectfully, and engage in collaborative problem solving. Our Family Counsellors teach skills that leave parents feeling confident, kids thriving in their environments, and families experiencing more fun and connection.
Our Approach
When we work with families, we take a parents first approach – this means we start with parents and want parents involved in the process every step of the way because parents make a BIG impact. As Family Counsellors we can help children and teens build many skills within the counselling room; however, we know that they will need the support of their parents to be able to utilize them effectively. We know that parents struggle too in knowing how to best support their children and teens with their concerns. That’s why we help parents build foundational responsive parenting skillsets. These are skills that help parents feel more confident in responding to their child or teen’s challenging emotions or behaviours, and help build safety and trust – which creates change within the entire family.
Whether you are coming in for services for yourself as a parent, or bringing in your child or teen, here is what getting started looks like:
First Steps:
Learning All About Your Family
We always meet with parents first as we want to learn the ins and outs of your family’s dynamics, routines, strengths, and challenges. In the first few sessions your Family Counsellor will:
- provide information about the counselling process including what to expect, risks and benefits, rights and responsibilities, and confidentiality,
- gather detailed information about the concerns that brought you to counselling and develop a clear understanding of your needs,
- explore preliminary goals for counselling,
- determine when to meet the child or teen.
Second Steps:
Meeting Your Child or Teen
When meeting your child or teen your Family Counsellor’s focus is to:
- provide information about the role of a Family Counsellor, what happens in sessions, how and when parents are involved, client rights and responsibilities, and confidentiality,
- gather information into the child or teen’s understanding of why they are coming to counselling,
- explore the child or teen’s goals for counselling, and
- introduce different handouts and resources used in sessions.
It’s important to note that when children or teens are attending sessions, they get to decide who is present for the session: some children want their parents in the room the whole time, while others want their parents to wait in the waiting room.
Next Steps: Creating Change
Once the Family Counsellor has met you and your child or teen, they will support you in developing a plan for change. This plan will guide the work done in sessions. At this point sessions are flexible and may be parent focused (you may request parent sessions at any time), child/teen focused, or family focused (parents and child/teen together). Your Family Counsellor will keep you informed of the next steps. In sessions your Family Counsellor will:
- inquire about positives and progress towards goals to assess what is working and to help highlight the many things that are going well,
- explore any roadblocks and challenges that might be getting in the way of meeting your goals,
- develop and strengthen various skillsets to help create and maintain change, and
- identify what to work on outside of session.
Fees and Insurance
Fees for services are $145 per 60-minute session, which includes email support between sessions. Accepted forms of payment include debt, credit, cash and e-transfer (e-transfers must be sent prior to session or immediately after). If you will be utilizing insurance to pay for services, it is your responsibility to verify with your insurance provider that services are covered. When checking with your insurance provider you need to ask which credentials they cover for counselling services, not just if you are covered for counselling. Some providers will specify that for counselling to be covered, you would have to see one of the following: Psychologist, Social Worker, Psychotherapist, or Clinical Counsellor. Green Shield is the only insurance provider that allows us to bill directly, for all other providers you must pay for services and submit your receipt. If you have questions about insurance coverage, please ask and we will do our best to answer your questions.
LET’S GET STARTED!
Fill out the form below and I will connect with you within 48 hours to discuss the next steps in getting you support.