Has anyone had any experience of family therapy or Child Guidance?

[Greensleeves]

We had a meeting with ds's nursery head teacher today and he recommended that we be referred for family therapy, and Child Guidance. I am quite worried, I don't know what to expect from this. Does anyone have relevant experience? And is it likely to be quite soon?

I am rather out of my depth at the moment

Bump

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Bump - but this is a quiet time - teatime.

True - will try again later

Cheers for bumping Blu

Greeny - it is a way of addressing a child's problems by looking at family dynamics, and seeing how each person's strengths can be best used to help the child. So if a mother is good with words, she will be encouraged to read to a child, and a critical father may be asked gently, to offer more praise. I think there is quite a long waiting list so won't be soon, but it is nothing horrible.
Hope that helps.

Thanks Oranges. Is that the family therapy, or the child guidance?

Er, I think its family therapy. Child guidance focuses more on the educational needs of the child. But they usually go together. DOoyou have specific questions - I don't want to give you wrong info, but this is precisely what my mother does, so I could ask her more details if you like.

my son went to cafs (child and family services) for some problems he was having . we were a bit worried about what it would all involve and whether or not they would think we were bad parents, but everyone was great (no looking down on you) and it was a reall positive experience for the whole family. good luck with everything

Bump for Greeny!

Hiya G. i have a diploma in family therapy and I'm not that scary, i promise. In fact, I don't think I've ever met a scary family therapist- they are often v fluffy types. Basically family therapy looks at relationships, roles, family stories/themes, life cycles and stages, attachments, structures and organisation within the family and thinks about how these might influence the experiences, feelings and behaviour of family members. It's difficult to be more specific as every therapist will have a different emphasis and every family will have their own unique circumstances but I do think it can be a useful way to think about things, change less helpful approaches and rethink family themes that are keeping you stuck. I hope you end up with a good therapist (or therapists- some schools of ft like teamwork.

Child Guidance is a bit of an old fashioned term these days. Could encompass anything from parenting advice to some kind of individual therapy for your boy to some kind of individual therapy for you. It's all around offering you the most effective interventions to manage your boy's needs. I bet you are doing pretty well already in many ways- this should be about buiding on your strengths as much as anything else. You are the expert of yourself and your son. The person you are allocated will work with you to see what is working and what can be done about anything that isn't working.

I think you will probably be referred to a child and adolescent mental health team (CAMHS) for both and there may well be waiting lists, I'm afraid.

btw- I read gess's post on the other thread and i think she is right about highlighting the possible ASD issues too. CAMHS teams do know about such things and can and do work with them but people are sometimes wedded to their specialisms a bit too much and it will do no harm to remind them to bear possible ASD in mind.

Hope you will get some top help. You definitely deserve it and you and your boys have always sounded rather wonderful and interesting to me. I think the team who gets you guys is very lucky and I hope they are worthy of the honour.

great post scummy.

they are there to help all of you, definitely not scapegoat you as parents. with a smidge of luck in getting a decent therapist it could be a seriously life changing experience, in a positive way.

greensleeves, it is a huge opportunity to stop cycles, that are so often unconscious and build on your already considerable effort and work in moving away from destructive past stuff.

don't be scared...be excited, if you possibly can!

Greeny - I know nothing about what it is...BUT I take DS for physio to a child health centre where there is a family therapy room, and we share a waiting room. All I can say is that the families who go in and come out all look un-distressed, so it can't be too daunting!

Good luck