Couples & Family
Family Systems Therapy as a Couples Therapy Approach at ShiftGrit
Overview
Family systems therapy is a family of psychotherapeutic approaches that treat the family as a single interdependent emotional unit rather than locating difficulty solely within one individual. It holds that a person's symptoms and behaviour are shaped by recurring patterns of interaction, roles, and relationships among family members, so the family as a whole becomes the focus of assessment and change.
How it works
Drawing on systems thinking, the approach examines how communication patterns, boundaries, alliances, roles, and feedback loops within a family maintain or relieve distress, often working with several family members together in session. The therapist helps members recognize these patterns and shift them, addressing constructs such as differentiation of self, emotional triangles, family structure and boundaries, and the intergenerational transmission of behaviour.
What it is used for
It is applied to relational and family difficulties including parent-child conflict, couple and marital distress, and communication breakdowns, and is used as part of treatment for child and adolescent behavioural and emotional problems, eating disorders, substance use, and mood and anxiety presentations. It is also used to support families coping with chronic illness, life transitions, and a member's serious mental illness.
Origins and evidence base
The field emerged from the family therapy movement of the 1950s and 1960s, with foundational contributions from psychiatrist Murray Bowen, whose Bowen family systems theory grew out of research at the Menninger Clinic and the National Institute of Mental Health and was published in the 1960s; Salvador Minuchin, who developed structural family therapy; and Virginia Satir, associated with experiential family approaches. Empirical study has grown substantially since the 1970s, with research supporting family-based and systemic interventions for a range of presentations, though the evidence base varies across the different schools and specific constructs such as differentiation of self.
How ShiftGrit Uses Family Systems Therapy for Couples
The patterns that strain a relationship are rarely built by one person on their own, and the two people in a couple can quietly keep them alive, which is exactly where Family Systems Therapy earns its place in our work. Our clinicians may reach for it as a couples approach, working with the relationship itself as the focus rather than treating one partner as the problem. It looks at the couple as a connected unit, tracing the recurring roles, reactions, and back-and-forth that keep a difficult cycle turning between sessions without either partner meaning to. There are two ways couples work can unfold with us. We may use a couples approach like this one as the couples therapy itself, or we may guide each partner through their own pattern work first (each with a different ShiftGrit therapist, separate from and outside the couples sessions, so the couples therapist is not the same person doing either partner's individual work) and then bring the two of you back together. When we work at the individual level, that work rests on the ShiftGrit Core Method™, where Pattern Theory™ maps the loop and the reconditioning work goes after the limiting belief sitting beneath it. A belief like "I am not understood" can shape how someone shows up in a relationship, and naming it can make the cycle between partners easier to see. By following how everyday interactions still feed that cycle, we help couples make the pattern clearer and easier to loosen. We bring Family Systems Therapy in thoughtfully, matched to what a couple needs, so the two of you have a path that fits the way your relationship actually works.
Illustrative example
A client might come in feeling burnt out and anxious, with the belief "I don't matter" sitting underneath. That belief was often first learned in a family where care had to be earned by looking after everyone else, and present-day relationships can keep rewarding the same over-functioning. We may use a family lens to make that pattern visible, and the belief itself is then reconditioned at the root so the change holds.
Based on: von Sydow, K., Beher, S., Schweitzer, J., & Retzlaff, R. (2010). The efficacy of systemic therapy with adult patients: a meta-content analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials. Family Process, 49(4), 457-485. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01334.x [source]
Couples therapy at ShiftGrit
The ShiftGrit Core Method™ is an individual therapy. For couples, our clinicians work with established couples approaches like Family Systems Therapy, or do focused individual pattern work with each partner before bringing them back together. Our couples therapists:
If Family Systems Therapy is specifically what you are looking for, tell us during matching and we will pair you with a clinician who offers it. Meet our couples therapists.
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Find Your PatternTrusted by Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations Across Canada
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Trusted By Alberta’s Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Alberta and Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Regulated and affiliated across Alberta’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
Regulated and affiliated across Canada’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
The descriptions and examples on this page are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. They explain how this couples approach is used at ShiftGrit and do not describe a specific client, represent a testimonial, or promise any particular result. These approaches are offered at the discretion of individual clinicians, and whether any approach is appropriate for you is determined together with your clinician, within their professional judgement and scope of practice.
