Family therapy services
Family Therapy helps families and others in close relationships to find new ways to approach challenges and to help each other.
We offer family therapy services to Victorian families facing significant adversity and seeking support for their well-being and relationships.
The Bouverie Centre is a state-wide provider of family therapy services, funded by the Victorian Department of Health. This means we offer family therapy services at no cost to eligible families. We are also a practice-research-translation centre of La Trobe University, committed to integrating research across all our services, including our family therapy services.
Terms of Service
Our Terms of Service provide essential details about our family therapy services, information privacy and sharing, and your rights and responsibilities when you attend family therapy at The Bouverie Centre. Please make sure you read this before contacting us for an appointment.
A short animated video from a child to parents and caregivers
about the importance of trust in the early years.
Who we see
The Bouverie Centre sees Victorian families seeking support for their well-being and relationships, in light of challenges related to a member’s diagnosed mental health condition, or alcohol and other drug problem, and/or past trauma or abuse. We provide specialist family therapy services for First Nations and LGBTIQA+ families who are eligible for our service.
The word ‘family’ includes chosen or extended family, kinship groups, and community. At least two family members must attend together. As long as it is safe to do so, families are more likely to achieve better outcomes if all affected family members attend.
We are a small specialist clinical family therapy service, and we offer six new Walk-In Together appointments each week. At times we may be fully booked, and we do not run a waitlist. If we are fully booked when you call, we invite you to call us back as we open new appointments every few days.
First Nations families
The Bouverie Centre has a specialist team of First Nations and non-First Nations family therapists who see families in which any member identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. The section above explains our service for First Nations families.
What we can't help with
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000 or call or text 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) if this is Family Violence related.
The Bouverie Centre is not a crisis service or specialist family violence service.
Our specialised family therapy service is not funded to offer support for:
- Specialised therapy for individuals or couples.
- Active or pending Family Court proceedings.
- Services related to the implementation of Parenting Orders (Consent or Court).
- Families who are experiencing current family violence at the point of enquiry.
Family Violence services who can help
Counselling and support for your family that is specifically about family violence can be accessed here.
13-specialist therapeutic family violence organisations funded by the Victorian Government
Alternative Services
For a list of alternative services that may be able to help, visit our support and resources page.
What Family Therapy looks like at The Bouverie Centre
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First contact
When you first contact Bouverie, you will speak with a member of our service support team. If it seems like Bouverie might be the right fit for your family and we have upcoming appointments available, they will schedule a brief conversation with our Family Care Coordinator team.
The Bouverie Centre does not operate a waiting list, but new appointments become available each week. If we are full now, we will invite you to call us back. -
Family Care Coordinator
Duration: 15 – 30 minutes
Appointment availability: Monday – Friday
Telephone
The family member who called the Centre to refer your family (called the Primary Family Contact) will talk with a Family Care Coordinator. They will guide you through some questions to check that Bouverie is the right fit for your family, explain a little more about Family Therapy at the Bouverie Centre and give you a chance to ask some questions.
If you and your Family Care Coordinator agree Bouverie is the right fit, they will schedule a first session. They will send you and all family members who will attend that first session a questionnaire to complete beforehand. Your Family Care Coordinator will check you have completed this before your first session and will offer to assist you and other family members to complete this.
If it doesn’t seem like Bouverie is the right service for you, your Family Care Coordinator will speak with you about other options. -
Walk-In Together (WIT): First Session
Session Duration: 75 – 90 minutes
Appointment availability
Monday: 1:00 pm or 3:00 pm
Wednesday: 11:00 am or 2:00 pm
Thursday: 1:00 pm or 3:00 pmLocation: Online via telehealth (in person may be available by request)
All families begin with what we call a “Walk-In Together” session. This is online for everyone, using a secure ZOOM link. Family members can sit together or be on different devices.
In this session, your family members will meet with two experienced family therapists. Sometimes one or two interns or trainees also join our WIT sessions. They will introduce themselves to you at the start of your session, and then turn their cameras off.
Your therapists will help each person to share what they would like to achieve from this first conversation. Throughout the session, everyone is given the opportunity to have their say. With everyone’s hopes for the session in mind, your therapist/s will also share their ideas about what might help, and help you prioritise things to be discussed on the day, so you can achieve your shared goal for the session.
Our Walk-In Together session doesn’t fix everything. But, for many families, this one, single session is powerful enough to get them moving in new, productive directions to solve or better manage their challenges, without further help from us. We always review progress with families, and help you decide what if anything else is needed.
To help you review your progress, at the end of your WIT session, your therapist will send everyone who attended a brief questionnaire to complete about how helpful the session was and what might be needed next. Then, your therapist will set a date to call the primary family contact, to follow up, about two weeks after this first session.
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Follow-up phone call
Duration: 20 minutes
Appointment availability: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (normally conducted on the same day of the week as your WIT appointment)
Telehealth
We ask that the primary family contact attends the follow-up phone call, and we also invite any other family members to attend, should they choose. During this brief call, your therapist will check in about progress made during and since the first session. You can decide together if that session was enough for your family right now, or whether further sessions would help, or referral to other services.
If one session was enough for you and your family, as it is for many families, your therapist will close your file and send you a few questions to complete. If after 3 months, you feel further family sessions would help, you are welcome to contact The Bouverie Centre again, and we will reassess your family’s needs and our service availability at that time. -
Multi-session
Session duration: 60-90 minutes
Appointment availability: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm
Number of sessions: up to 10 sessions over 12 months (most families attend less than 6 sessions)
In person and online via telehealth
If after this Walk in Together session, you and your therapist decide that continuing sessions are needed, your therapist can offer up to 10 sessions over the space of a year. These are generally spaced 2-4 weeks apart depending on your family’s needs.
Because we work to empower your family to solve your own challenges, half of the families we see attend for only 1-2 sessions. Very few families need more than 6 sessions. But if you do need this level of support, it’s there. -
Finishing up
If your family attends our multi-session program, we leave the decision about when to stop family therapy up to you, in consultation with your therapist. When you stop attending and there has been no contact with The Bouverie Centre for three months, we are required to close your file.
You are welcome to contact our Centre again in the future, and we will reassess your family’s needs and our service availability at that time.
Cancellations
We are a small specialist service and have a limited number of new Walk-In Together appointments each week. If you need to cancel your first appointment, we ask that you give a minimum of three business days' notice so we can offer your place to another family. Please note that we may not be able to offer your family another appointment in the immediate future. You will be asked to contact us again to book a time to speak to a Family Care Coordinator, who will assess first appointment availability and suitability at that time.
Our specialist team of First Nations and non-First Nations family therapists see families where any member of the family identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
The Bouverie Centre sees Victorian families seeking support for their well-being and relationships, in light of challenges related to a member’s diagnosed mental health condition, or alcohol and other drug problem, and/or past trauma or abuse. Within this, we provide specialist family therapy services for First Nations and LGBTIQA+ families who are eligible for our service.
The word ‘family’ includes chosen or extended family, kinship groups, and community.
Workin' with the Mob
We have a dedicated team called Workin’ with the Mob who see First Nations families, where any member of the family or extended family identifies as First Nations.
We support your family to develop resilience, resources and capacity which can have a healing effect on your family members and on future generations.
Culture is at the heart of the healing process. We want this to be a safe experience for you and your family. You and your family are given space to work out your own goals. We listen to all family members and encourage you to talk through problems in ways that help make your family relationships stronger and more open, whilst avoiding blaming any member of the family.
What to expect
When you first call us, our reception team will ask you whether you anyone in your family identifies as First Nations. If you prefer to see a First Nations therapist, we will offer that where possible.
To find out more about what to expect, visit our Family Therapy Services page here or contact us to arrange a phone appointment with our clinically trained Family Care Coordinator.
*First Nations refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
New availability for families in our Family Therapy Teaching Clinic.
Referrals are currently welcome for our Family Therapy Teaching Clinic. Each year, our team of experienced Senior Family Therapists provides eligible Victorian families access to this clinic, which runs within the Centre’s Master in Clinical Family Therapy program. This clinic is suitable for families impacted by mild to moderate mental health difficulties. Suitability for this clinic will require a brief assessment with a clinician from our Family Care Coordinator team.
These family sessions present a unique opportunity for families to receive support from a skilled reflecting team, which consists of a senior Bouverie Family Therapist working with a small group of advanced trainees. These trainees are already qualified in their field (e.g. psychology, social work, counselling, or family support work), undertaking the second or third year of a Master’s degree in Clinical Family Therapy at La Trobe University.
Many families who have attended this clinic express that the work of the reflecting team was the most impactful aspect of their therapeutic journey, with some families requesting to return to the clinic in subsequent years.
To watch a short video on a Bouverie family attending a session with a reflecting team, click here: https://player.vimeo.com/video/80521628
Session Details
When: Family sessions can be scheduled on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
- Morning: 7:30am until 11.30 am
- Afternoon: 3.00 PM untin 7:00 PM
Location: Sessions can be held online or a limited number of in-person appointments are available.
Cost: No cost to families
Further enquiries: If you are interested and your family can commit to attending sessions at the same day and time throughout the academic year (between March and November), don't hesitate to contact our reception on 8481 4800 to arrange a 15-30-minute telephone consultation with a clinician from our Family Care Coordinator team to assess your family’s suitability for the clinic.
Support and resources
The Bouverie Centre uses Zanda as its family therapy appointment scheduling platform.
