Family therapy in Málaga
When someone in the family is not doing well, the whole house arranges itself around how that person is. We work with systemic intervention at our center in the Carretera de Cádiz area: we look at what happens between you all, not at whose fault it is.
- In person or online in Málaga
- Free first 15-min call
The first 15-minute call to get to know each other is free and with no obligation.
When one of you is struggling, you all struggle
When one member of a family is not doing well, everyone else fits their day around how that person is: what kind of day they are having, what can be said and what cannot, whose turn it is to cover for them. You walk on eggshells. And without anyone deciding it, everybody’s mood ends up depending on the mood of one.
If you are the one who has been holding that person up for a long time, you may have forgotten about yourself along the way: you have canceled plans, you have covered up problems, you have said yes meaning no. None of that makes you part of the problem. You have done it out of love, and it shows. What we want to tell you is that there is another way of supporting someone, one that does not leave you empty.
If what is going on is mostly about the two of you, as a couple, we have a page dedicated to it: couples therapy.
Asking for help together is usually the first decision you have really made as a team in a long time.
How we work: looking at the system, not pointing at anyone
The way we do family therapy is systemic intervention. The idea behind it is simple: sometimes distress does not live inside one person, it lives between people. So instead of asking ourselves “who is failing here?”, we ask what pattern has settled in between you and what keeps it running.
Nobody comes out of this singled out. The dynamics that hurt are built between everyone and without anyone choosing them: one person chases and the other shuts down, one keeps quiet so as not to bother anybody and the other reads that silence as distance. Naming them in front of a psychologist, calmly and without reproaches, already changes the conversation. In the sessions we work, among other things, on:
Communication
Learning to say “this hurts me” instead of “you always do the same thing”. It looks like a small nuance and it completely changes what the other person is able to hear.
Boundaries
Saying no without a war coming after it, or a week of guilt. We work on concrete sentences for everyday life: how to say that today you cannot without it turning into an issue, how to ask for space without it sounding like rejection.
Roles
The one who rescues, the one who keeps quiet, the one who carries messages between two people who are not speaking. We identify which part has fallen to you in particular, and what would happen if you stopped holding it up this week.
Supporting without overprotecting
There is a difference between helping someone and doing for them what is theirs to do. Both come from love, but the second leaves the other person without the chance to take charge of their part. Learning to tell them apart is a relief on both sides.
Family therapy is part of how this center works, combining individual, group and family spaces according to what each case needs. It is explained calmly in how we work. In the first assessment interview we look at your situation and suggest where to start; you do not have to arrive knowing.
Who it is for
Families
Tense households, stages of change (a difficult adolescence, a separation, a bereavement) or an unease that has been in the house for a long time and that nobody knows how to bring up without setting off a spark.
Relatives of someone with emotional dependency or an addiction
It is this center’s specialty, and the family is almost always affected: anyone who loves someone caught in a relationship that hurts them, or leaning on the phone, shopping or work as a refuge, suffers in the shadows. In session we learn to support without carrying it all, and there is room for you as the caregiver too: to put down some weight and get back your own life, which still matters.
Not sure whether what you need is couples therapy, family therapy or something individual? Tell us just as it is and we will point you in the right direction; if another space is a better fit, we will say so just as clearly.
How to start
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Free call · 15 min
You tell us what is going on and we explain how we work. Ask whatever you need and decide calmly, with no obligation.
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First sessions
You start therapy with your psychologist: you put what brings you here into words and set clear goals from the outset.
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A process that adapts
We adjust the process to your situation and review it with you as it goes. Everyone moves at their own pace.
Who will support you
Laura Nhate Intchanhe Mendes
You will be supported by Laura Nhate, who runs the practice, in person and online. A specialist in trauma and addictions, she graduated in Psychology from the University of Málaga and specialized in Health Psychology at the International University of La Rioja. She co-founded PsicoDiversa with María Zuleica, also a psychologist.
- EMDR · IFS Training
- AO12783 Membership no.
- ES · EN Languages
Shall we talk?
Tell us what is going on at home, without preparing it much. The first 15-minute call is free and commits you to nothing.
You can also call us at 600 21 57 83.
Frequently asked questions
Do you do couples therapy?
Yes. It has its own page, with all the detail of how we work: couples therapy. This page is about the family as a whole.
What if my partner or my relative does not want to come?
You can start on your own. It is a very common situation and it does not block the work: when one person changes the way they communicate or set boundaries, the rest of the family moves too. And if you love someone who is going through a dependency, you also deserve a space of your own to unload and to learn how to support them without wearing yourself out. That space exists even if the other person never sets foot in the practice.
Are we going to end up being blamed? I do not want a session of reproaches.
We understand, and it is the opposite of what we do. Systemic therapy does not look for someone to blame: it looks at the patterns that have formed between you, which nobody chose and which can be changed between you all. The psychologist makes sure each of you can speak and be heard; the session is not a trial, and it is not a place to vent against anyone.
Do we all have to come to every session?
Not necessarily. In the first assessment interview we look at your case and propose a plan: there are moments for joint sessions, and there can be individual ones or ones with only part of the family, and sometimes family therapy is combined with an individual or a group process. We go through the specifics of how often and how long when you get in touch.
How much does a session cost?
A family therapy session costs €120, whether in person or online. You will find the full price list on our services page, and asking commits you to nothing.
Are the sessions in person?
Family sessions are held at our center, at C. Mendoza, 6, dcha, in the Carretera de Cádiz area (Málaga), and also online if that suits you better. If it is hard for all of you to be there at the same time, tell us when you write and we will find a way to organize it.
Take the first step
Book a free 15-minute introductory call. We explain how we work and you decide, with no obligation.
Tell us what brings you here, in your own words, and choose how you would like us to reply.
Or if you prefer, book your call on WhatsApp or by phone.