Workshop Title: Navigating

Gina Dermody, Clinical Director, Child, Adolescent & Family Psychotherapist. (L) and Life Coach, Susan Treacy (R)

Complex Family Dynamics

Understanding and supporting your teen through change, challenge, and connection.

Led by Child, Adolescent & Family Psychotherapist Gina Dermody and Susan Treacy, Life Coach

What This Workshop Is About

Families are beautifully unique, and sometimes complicated. When children reach their teenage years, communication patterns, roles, and expectations often shift, creating tension or misunderstanding within the family system.

This reflective workshop explores how parents and caregivers can navigate those complexities with greater understanding and empathy. Drawing on research-led insights from adolescent psychotherapy, we’ll look at the patterns that shape family life, the triggers that cause conflict, and the small, consistent actions that rebuild trust and connection. You will leave with practical tools to support your teenager while strengthening the emotional wellbeing of the whole family.

Why Parents Need This Workshop

Adolescence often amplifies existing family dynamics, particularly around independence, communication, and boundaries. Many parents find themselves torn between the desire to guide their child and the need to encourage independence. While parents prioritise safety and stability, teenagers crave freedom and autonomy, and this push-and-pull can easily lead to tension or conflict. By understanding both our parenting style and adolescent development, we can navigate our role with greater clarity and confidence, setting boundaries that are firm yet open to collaboration and negotiation. Knowing how to move forward after disagreements is just as valuable as setting healthy boundaries and learning not to take things to heart.

This workshop helps parents:

• Recognise and understand repeating family patterns

• Learn strategies for healthy communication and emotional regulation

• Manage conflict and set balanced boundaries

• Support teens in expressing identity and independence safely

• Foster a home environment built on trust, compassion, and respect

  
  

  When family dynamics become complex, knowledge and self-awareness bring calm and direction.

  
  

Who It’s for?

Parents, guardians, and carers of teenagers who want to understand family relationships more deeply and communicate more effectively at home.