Family therapy and family counselling in Dubai

Family counselling in Dubai: who is it for?

You don't need a diagnosis to come. And no one has to be "the problem". Families often come when:

• a parent and a child or teenager keep clashing
• parents disagree about rules, screens or school
• a child has had an ADHD diagnosis or an autism diagnosis, and the family wants to understand what it means for everyone
• parents are separating, or two families are becoming one
• the family has moved to Dubai and is still settling in
• a new baby, an adoption or a relative's illness has changed daily life
• grown-up children and their parents want to talk things through

Family life in Dubai has its own pressures. Grandparents and old friends may be far away. One parent may travel a lot for work. Children may grow up between two or three cultures. A family therapist can help you talk about all of this together.

UK guidance from NICE also lists family therapy among the options for children and teenagers with depression. Read about our depression treatment.

What happens in a family session?

A family session is a conversation, guided by the therapist. Their job is to make sure each person is heard, including the quietest one. The therapist may:

• ask each person how things look from where they stand
• notice patterns, like the argument that always starts the same way
• slow a hard conversation down, so people can really listen
• look at what is going well, not only at what is hard
• suggest something small to try at home before next time

At the first session, the therapist hears from each person who comes. They ask what you'd like to be different. Then you agree together what to work on. Later on, your therapist may suggest meeting the parents alone, or one person alone, if that would help.

Our page on therapy and counselling in Dubai explains the other kinds of therapy we offer.

Who comes to the sessions?

There's no fixed rule. It might be the whole family, both parents, or one parent and a teenager. Over time, the therapist usually wants to hear from everyone involved.

What if someone doesn't want to come? That's common, especially with teenagers. You can start with whoever is willing. Others can join later, when they're ready.

How young can children be? It depends on the psychologist. Have a younger child? Ask us on the free call, and we'll talk it through.

Does my child need their own sessions too? Sometimes. Alongside family sessions, a child or teenager may also see a child psychologist on their own.

Help for parents

Sometimes the most useful step is time for the parents alone. You might want to agree on rules and routines. Or you might want to understand what's behind your child's behaviour.

Our psychologists support parents with parenting worries, with adoption, and on the path to building a family. One of them is an accredited Triple P provider. Triple P stands for the Positive Parenting Program. Family systems work is part of it too: it looks at how each person in a family affects the others.

Is the strain mostly between the two of you as parents? Then couples counselling may be the place to start.

One clinic for the whole family

Our child and adolescent psychiatry team works in the same clinic as our family therapists. So if your child already sees one of our psychiatrists, family sessions happen in the same place.

One of our psychiatrists also offers family therapy.