Families Counselling

Gwendolyn’s experience as a mother to 6 children, step mother to one and foster mother of one allows her to understand the difficulties and challenges of parenting and maintaining those strong bonds with your children. She understands the changing dynamics when children are introduced into an existing family and how difficult it can be for parents and children alike to adjust to changes.

Co parenting in separation and divorce

Divorce or separation can be stressful, sad and confusing for children.  They may feel uncertain, scared or angry. They may lose their confidence and that may impact on their behavior at home and at school. At Beside Still Waters, Gwendolyn provides an assessment of your child’s needs and is followed by a therapeutic plan tailored to your child’s needs and which may include recommendations and/or parent coaching sessions.

Gwendolyn can also assist couples to work amicably together as they navigate their way through the difficult process of separating. Finding their way through the decisions of life and knowing how to move forward can be difficult. We can assist navigating through that process.

Gwendolyn’s experiences as a parent, teacher of 30 years and counsellor has led to her passion of helping children of any age adjust to their new family situation and thrive again.

Treatments cover:

• Attachment and bonding
• Caring strategies
• Education
• Family Connection
• Discipline

Therapies include:

• Attachment & bonding therapy
• Behavioural problems
• Child-parent relationship therapy
• Discipline programs and strategies
• Family therapy
• Parenting consultations and counseling
• Parent-infant attachment consultations
• Trauma recovery psychotherapy

Trauma can occur for many reasons including; abuse, an accident, child-parent separations, death of a family member, hospitalization, medical interventions. Trauma recovery requires specialist assessment and therapeutic intervention. Gwendolyn has specialist knowledge and expertise in assisting children and their families to recover from traumatic events.

Family Relationships

Marriage and relationships can sometimes be complex and problems can cause a lot of pain and confusion. It can often be difficult to cope with the other areas of our lives when we are struggling with problems within our family.

Gwendolyn understands that parents and families who are experiencing difficulties are looking for an action plan and a way to address their problems so they can  make changes which will have a positive impact on relationships and provide a real sense of hope for each family member.

Gwendolyn's aim is to assist the development of secure and satisfying reciprocal bonds and intimate connections within the couple relationship, the parent ralationship and the family relationship. 

Gwendolyn is a qualified couples therapist and is committed to restoring hope and helping you create and enhance loving relationships that provide a safe and secure homelife in which your children can witness a healthy relationship between their parents allowing them to imitate behaviour being modelled by their parents thus enabling them to grow and thrive as they develop loving and healthy relationships. 

Treatments cover:

• Anger management and abuse
• Bonding and attachment issues
• Communication
• Dealing with changes in family roles and relationships (divorce, separation, step families)
• Enhancement of relationship
• Lack of intimacy
• Relationship breakdown
• Self esteem and social skills
• Trauma

Techniques vary according to presenting issues and may include  

• Attachment and bonding therapy
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• Counselling
• Emotion Focussed Therapy
• Emotional regulation therapy

Parenting

Parenting can sometimes feel as though you are on an emotional rollercoaster. Children can throw their arms around you producing such eternal and overwhelming love, then test your patience so intensely that you just don’t know what to do next. Psychotherapy or counseling can help you find effective strategies that are right for the whole family. Whether you are parenting in the middle years (5 to 12) or adolescence (12 and over) Gwendolyn’s specialist knowledge and expertise will provide a safe base from which you can explore your relationship with your child. Investigating the bonding and attachment within your relationship will provide the basis for specific strategies to resolve feelings and behaviours that are causing problems for you both. Gwendolyn’s goal is to help you and your child thrive within the relationship.

TESTIMONIALS

I went to see Gwendolyn because my family said I had a drinking problem. With Gwendolyn's therapy I realised I had been burying issues I had been avoiding by drinking too much, and I did have a drinking problem. With the strategies Gwendolyn gave me I was able to go from drinking 2 bottles of wine a night and more on the weekend to avoid my problems, to 2 glasses of wine, 4 times a week, because I enjoyed it not because I needed it. I would recommend Gwendolyn's gentle nature and her counselling style to anyone who has a problem they need to deal with.

J.F.April 2018

I first saw Gwendolyn because I was suffering panic attacks at work when I had to work with a person who was bullying staff. Gwendolyn helped me gain the confidence to be assertive and confront the person about their behaviour and to report them to Senior Management. This resulted in this person being moved, provided training and brought about a change in the work environment for everyone in the office. I am a lot more confident now in my daily life and decision making.
Thank you Gwendolyn for changing my life.

NicoleSeptember 2018

I highly recommend beside still waters counselling I have been a few times over these past weeks, sharing and understanding our emotions are important when we think that no one understands.. take that step and reach out it will make a difference and help you when you are feeling lost or alone...
Thanks Gwendolyn

Robyn LathamAugust 2018

I highly recommend Gwendolyn, from Beside Still Waters.
When life overwhelmed me after my relationship ended, I would go in to see her devastated and broken, and come out of the session 'fixed' and feeling ready to deal with whatever life threw at me.
Her strategies helped me overcome my circumstances and have provided me with a tool box that will hold me in good stead for the rest of my life.
Thank you Gwendolyn

RachelJune 2019

Gwendolyn has provided a support to me during various both personal and professional challenges. I appreciated her calm and practical approach to the issues and challenges I have explored.
I found her experience and flexible approach in using a range of skills and techniques helped me to achieve some personal outcomes and make more positive decisions. This has helped improve my confidence and relationships and gain a clearer direction.

I have no hesitation in recommending Gwendolyn and Beside Still Waters if are seeking strategies and support to make better choices and have more positive relationships.

Thank you, Gwendolyn – genuinely.

P.FNovember 2019

I went to see Gwendolyn at Beside Still Waters because there were problems in my marriage. My husband refused to go, however Gwendolyn worked through the issues I presented helping me understand my behaviour and how I was contributing to the difficulties we were having. She gave me great strategies that I was able to apply and they made a significant difference in our relationship. My husband saw the benefit to the sessions I was having and agreed to use the strategies Gwendolyn gave us. This saved our marriage.
Although we still have challenges sometimes, we are now in a much better position to work through them.
Thank you so much Gwendolyn

N. BApril 2019

My partner and I went to see Gwendolyn because we were having disagreements about parenting issues. At that time we were having very volatile arguments and had several in the sessions. Gwendolyn was able to calm the situation and gave us strategies that helped us to learn to talk understand, take responsibility for and monitor our own behaviour which helped us to work through issues calmly. She also gave us great parenting strategies that have change our family. Her experience as a parent herself made the work very real for us.
We are very grateful for what we learned and know it has changed all our lives.

Thank you so much Gwendolyn

M.N and C.J.October 2018

My husband and I went to see Gwendolyn after my husband retired and became unmotivated and grumpy and would not talk to me. He was very difficult to live with and spent all his time in his office.
Gwendolyn helped him to acknowledge how much he felt upset and sad about the loss of his work life and he was able to talk about his sadness with me instead of shutting me out.
She helped us work out interests in common we had forgotten about as well as some new ones and a new way forward that is fulfilling for both of us
We now have a happy life together.

R.C and J.C.January 2018

I went to see Gwendolyn because I was unhappy in my relationship. After some sessions on my own my partner decided to go. She introduced us to the Love Languages and when we understood that and changed our behaviour we saw a huge change in our relationship. Gwendolyn gave us different strategies that improved our communication and how we behaved with each other. Although we still have challenges, we go back to the strategies we learned and are able to get things back on track. We now have a great relationship.

O.C and G.R. November 2019

My wife and I went to see Gwendolyn and tried to work through our issues for over 2 months to repair our marriage. Unfortunately we were not able to save our marriage and we decided to split. Gwendolyn helped us to negotiate our way through the separation process. I did not want to end the marriage so Gwendolyn continued to help me deal with the sadness and anger I was feeling. The grief and loss were overwhelming and affected my work and other relationships. Gwendolyn helped me to get a better perspective and to get through it. I am now stable and loving life again.

PaulOctober 2018

My partner and I saw Gwendolyn for four months because we were at the point of ending our relationship as we were arguing all the time.
She talked to us about Love Languages and also helped us see how often we were criticising each other and how defensive we were. When we followed her suggestions for changing our behaviour and trying to do things differently our relationship changed. Now we can respect that we are different and that is ok. We still have arguments but we don't destroy each other anymore.
Gwendolyn's recommendation to keep a journal with all the strategies in it has been very helpful when we slip back. Thank you for the help.

Sarah and AdamFebruary 2020

Gwendolyn has been very helpful in helping me with anxiety. Her strategies have helped me and work. Although I still get anxious about things I now have strategies to put in place and I control those feelings instead of them controlling me.

AmyApril 2019

My relationship nearly ended because I cheated on my partner. Gwendolyn helped us both take responsibility for the circumstances in our relationship that contributed to this situation. She helped us forgive each other for our behaviours and gave us ideas and strategies to change our behaviour and learn to communicate with each other better. My partner started talking about his emotions and now we can talk about anything. Gwendolyn saved our relationship.

Phil and HollySeptember 2019

When we got remarried everything was going great, well at least for a few months, that is when we could see our old marriage habits coming back, It didn't take us long to realize we needed help before we ended in a divorce again.
With the help of Gwendolyn we learnt how to listen, talk and understand each other.
As we spoke openly with Gwendolyn she could tell that it just wasn't our marriage but things from our past also.
With much patience and care from Gwendolyn we were able to overcome these issues.

D & JApril 2020

I want to thank Gwendolyn for her help after I lost my job due to Covid19 and could not afford to come to sessions. She has stayed in contact with regular calls and has talked me through a couple of situations after I called her when I was really upset. She has made my situation much easier to cope with and the strategies she gave me really helped. Thank you very much Gwendolyn.

LindaMay 2020

Gwendolyn has been amazing in supporting us through Covid19 when we couldn't afford to come to sessions. She has called each week to check in to make sure we were ok and that we were still putting in place the boundaries and consequences we created during our sessions, and that we were consistent with our kids while we were all home. Our family is in a much better place because of Gwendolyn's commitment to us.
We are very grateful and thank Gwendolyn from the bottom of our hearts for her help and we are looking forward to resuming our sessions.

Ray & RachelMay 2020

I went to see Gwendolyn after my car was stolen from outside of my home. I had several personal family items that were precious to me in the car and I felt their loss very strongly.
Although my car was found trashed in the bush, my personal items were either not found or burnt in a fire nearby.
I felt very unsafe, anxious and angry and needed guidance and strategies to help me deal with my feelings.
Gwendolyn worked through my experience and emotions with me, giving me very practical strategies that have helped me understand how my body and mind work together to create anxiety and now I can manage my anxiety so I'm not overwhelmed by my emotions,

KirahMarch 2021