Community Family Therapy Service

Service description

Many families have difficulties or issues that they have struggled with and been unable to resolve. These often relate to communication and / or relationship issues. Family therapy offers families the opportunity to discuss their difficulties and work together to find new solutions, enabling them to rebuild and reclaim their relationships.

We find that when family members talk together in this way, in a neutral setting, it can lead to an increased understanding of their difficulties and of each other. It can also provide opportunities for them to harness their strengths and resources as a family, strengthen important relationships and find new ways of dealing with their difficulties.

Research shows that family therapy is useful for children, young people and adults experiencing a very wide range of difficulties and experiences including:

• Families who want to build closer and happier relationships.
• Families facing special challenges like alcoholism, mental illness, physical illness, bereavement, eating disorders, ageing, family conflicts, cultural adjustments, trauma, etc.
• Families who are worried about their children’s behaviour.
• Families who are fostering and adopting children..
• Any family who would like someone to help them talk about difficult things together in a way that’s safe, open, creative and useful.

The Community Family Therapy service is available across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Families can self-refer to this service by ringing 0116 295 2909. The administrator will gather some basic information and arrange a follow-up telephone conversation with one of the family therapists to discuss the self-referral.

Please note: There are some exclusion criteria for Community Family Therapy. The service will not usually see families in situations where:

• there is an ongoing court case
• there is a need for parenting advice or behaviour management strategies
• parents are seeking couples therapy
• the young person or their sibling is already being seen by our child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS). In this instance, the lead professional can make a referral to CAMHS Family Therapy instead.

Referral criteria

The Community Family Therapy service is for families in which children and young people do not currently meet the threshold for specialist CAMHS, but may well experience multiple risk factors that could lead to poor mental health.

Our family therapists aim to work preventatively to decrease the likelihood of children and young people developing mental health issues that could lead to referral into specialist CAMHS. Children and young people can also access community family therapy following their discharge from specialist CAMHS.

The service is available across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. You can self-refer by ringing 0116 295 2909. The administrator will gather some basic information and arrange a follow-up telephone conversation with one of the family therapists to discuss the self-referral.

Please note: The Community Family Therapy service is provided for families in which no child or young person is being seen by our child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS). If your child or young person is on the CAMHS caseload and you feel you would benefit from family therapy, your lead professional can make a referral to CAMHS Family Therapy.