Addiction & Family Support

When someone you love is struggling with addiction, it can affect the whole family.

You may find yourself constantly worrying, trying to help, managing crises, questioning what to say or do, or feeling responsible for keeping things together. Over time, your own needs can become lost amongst the uncertainty.

You might feel angry, frightened, exhausted or resentful while still deeply loving and caring for the person. These feelings can exist alongside one another.

Therapy offers a confidential and non-judgemental space where the focus can be on you — your experience, your relationships, your boundaries and what you need.

When Addiction Becomes Part of the Family

Addiction can gradually change the way relationships and families function.

Without necessarily realising it, family members and partners can find themselves adapting around the addiction — covering for someone, trying to prevent consequences, monitoring their behaviour, avoiding conflict, taking on additional responsibilities or constantly anticipating what might happen next.

These responses often come from a place of love, concern and a desire to keep things safe.

Over time, however, it can become difficult to know where supporting someone ends and taking responsibility for them begins.

Therapy can provide space to gently explore these patterns and consider what is, and isn't, within your control.

Finding Your Own Boundaries

Setting boundaries with someone you love can be difficult, particularly when they are struggling.

You may worry that saying no means abandoning them, that setting a limit will make things worse, or that prioritising yourself is selfish. Previous experiences and family dynamics can also influence how comfortable we feel expressing our own needs.

Together, we can explore what boundaries mean for you and how you might begin to communicate them in a way that feels clear and authentic.

The aim isn't to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. It is to help you better understand your own needs, limits and choices within the relationship.

Making Space for Your Experience

Living alongside addiction can bring many different emotions — grief, anger, fear, guilt, shame, sadness, hope and sometimes relief.

It can also be isolating. You may feel unable to talk openly with friends or family, or find that conversations continually return to the person who is struggling rather than how the experience has affected you.

Therapy gives you a space where you don't need to manage anyone else's emotions or have all the answers.

We can explore how the relationship has affected you, the patterns you may have developed in response, and what you need to feel more grounded and connected to yourself.

Support for Partners & Families

I have several years of professional experience working in the field of addiction across inpatient and outpatient settings. This has included working alongside individuals experiencing addiction as well as understanding the impact addiction can have on relationships and family systems.

My approach is relational, trauma-informed and grounded in contemporary Gestalt therapy. Rather than focusing solely on the person experiencing addiction, our work centres on your experience and wellbeing.

Whether your loved one is actively using, considering change, in recovery, or experiencing setbacks, you are welcome to seek support for yourself.

You don't need to wait for them to change before you begin looking after you.

Face-to-face sessions in North Strathfield and Telehealth Australia-wide.