Systemically-Informed

Our relationships are essential to our wellbeing. Our brains are quite literally developed in the context of our earliest relationships and this forms the basis for how we relate to ourselves, other people and the world.

Therefore, the nature and quality of our relationships is an essential part of understanding what affects our mental health and wellbeing.

In practice, this may include bringing the important people in your life into your therapy sessions and/or reflecting on how your past and present relationships have affected you. If we think it would be helpful to invite others into the therapy, we will always discuss and agree this together.

Taking a systemic approach can also include considering how wider social and cultural factors have influenced you. It can be important to consider how aspects of your identity (e.g. sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age) intersect with each other. The power dynamics associated with different aspects of our identities vary with social and cultural contexts and impact on our experiences of ourselves, others and the world.