Parent
Counselling
When the context around a child changes, so does the difficulty. Very often the most effective intervention for a child is not carried out on the child.
What parent counselling is
Parent counselling is not a class in correct upbringing, nor an assessment of the parents. It is a space in which we look together at the parent–child relationship and at the patterns that have built up around a difficulty — and test what can move.
The view is systemic: a child's behaviour does not appear in a vacuum. It makes sense inside the family system, it often serves something, and it is sustained by cycles of interaction in which everyone takes part. The question is not who is at fault, but what keeps the cycle going and where it can be broken.
When it helps
- When boundaries either collapse or turn into war, and daily life has become a negotiation.
- In repeating conflicts around screens, homework, sleep, food.
- When the two parents operate differently and the child moves between them.
- In separation or divorce: how we talk to the child, how parental cooperation is maintained.
- When the child refuses to come to therapy — this is often where the work begins.
- In sibling conflict and jealousy.
- When the parent themselves feels exhausted, guilty or inadequate.
How we work
We start from specific everyday scenes — not from abstract principles. A typical piece of work looks like this: you describe an episode step by step, we look at what came before and after, we identify the cycle that repeats, and we try one small, concrete change before the next meeting.
Meetings can be with one parent or with both. Where there is disagreement within the parental couple, the work often focuses precisely there: a child finds it far harder to follow two different sets of rules than one strict one.
At a glance
- ForParents of children and teenagers
- Duration50 minutes per session
- SettingAt the practice in Ilioupoli, or online
- AppointmentsBy phone or through the contact form
- SettingOn its own, or alongside the child's therapy
Frequently asked questions
It is not essential, but it helps considerably — especially where the two of you take different lines. The work can perfectly well start with one parent and have the second join later.
Not necessarily. Very often parent counselling is a sufficient intervention in itself, particularly at younger ages. If the assessment shows that individual work with the child is also needed, we will discuss it.
There is, a great deal. Parental cooperation is a different matter from the couple relationship and can work even when the latter has ended. The work focuses exclusively on the child, not on the history of the separation.
I will suggest specific practices and explain the reasoning behind them. But putting them into practice goes through you and your own style: a technique that does not suit you is one you will not use, and rightly so.