Most families hit a stretch where something stops working. The same row on repeat, a teenager who has gone quiet, a decision about a parent's care that nobody can agree on. Online family relationship counselling gives you a private space to talk it through together, by secure video, from wherever you are in Ireland.
Therapy for Family Relationships
A neutral space for families to talk through what has stopped working, with an accredited therapist by secure video.
Accredited therapists
Fully confidential
Evening & weekend times
Everything is confidentialWhat you say in a session stays in the session.
Secure video, Ireland-wideFrom wherever you feel comfortable, on any device.
No GP referral neededBook online in a couple of minutes.
Evening and weekend timesSessions that fit around work and family.
What is online family relationship counselling?
It is professional counselling for a family, delivered by secure video call rather than in a room. A trained counsellor helps you understand what keeps happening between you, and helps you find better ways of saying things to each other.
Most family work takes a systemic approach. The counsellor looks at patterns rather than picking a culprit: who speaks first, who goes quiet, the roles people slip into, and the pressures sitting around the family such as work, money, illness or bereavement. Nobody gets set up as the problem.
Who takes part varies a lot:
- A whole household together
- Parents and a child or teenager
- Adult siblings, or adult children and an ageing parent
- Step-parents and children in a blended family
- Only the two or three people most caught up in the difficulty
Working online matters more than it sounds. Nobody drives an hour after work, and families in counties where there is no local family therapist can get the same support as families in Dublin. Evening and weekend times are usually easier to arrange too.
What family issues can online counselling help us with?
Families tend to get in touch when talking has stopped working and everyone has taken up a position. That covers a lot of ground:
- Recurring conflict, communication breakdown, loss of trust, emotional distance, or nobody really listening
- Parenting disagreements, separation and divorce, co-parenting arrangements, and the friction that comes with blended families
- Sibling relationships and intergenerational conflict, including the tensions that surface around care, money or property
- Bereavement, serious illness, trauma, or when one person's anxiety, stress or depression is affecting everyone at home
- Big changes such as a move, a job loss, emigration, or adjusting to the needs of a child or relative with a disability or additional needs
Family counselling is not always the right fit. If what you describe would be better served by individual therapy, a specialist service, or urgent support, the counsellor will say so at the start rather than take you on regardless.
Not sure if this is the right fit?
A first session is just a conversation.
How does online family counselling work in Ireland?
The process is fairly ordinary. You make a confidential enquiry or fill in a counselling form, someone comes back to you, and there is a short conversation about whether this is the right support before anything is booked.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Enquiry or counselling form | You describe the difficulty and who is involved. No GP letter is needed for counselling in Ireland; you can self-refer. |
| Initial contact | A brief conversation about what you are hoping for and what is going on now. |
| Suitability check | Whether family counselling fits, who should attend, and any safety considerations. |
| Booking and fee | Appointment time agreed and the fee confirmed before you commit. |
| Secure video link | A private, encrypted link arrives by email. Nothing to install. |
What you need at your end is straightforward:
- A reasonably stable internet connection
- A device with a working camera and microphone
- Headphones if other people are in the house
- A room where you cannot be overheard, with the door closed
Family members can sit together in one room or, where the counsellor judges it suitable, join from separate locations. Before the first session, identity and contact details are confirmed, everyone attending gives their consent, and each person confirms where in Ireland they will be. That last one is not red tape. It matters if support ever needs to be arranged locally.
Who should attend, and what happens in the first session?
The counsellor will talk through who should be in the room. It depends on the issue, the relationships involved, the ages of any children, and whether each person actually wants to be there. Willingness counts. So does safety, and if there is any history of abuse or intimidation, joint sessions may not be appropriate.
A first session usually covers:
- Introductions and how the sessions will run
- Why you got in touch now
- Each person's version of it, without interruption
- Some history of the relationships and what has already been tried
- What you would each like to be different
It is a balanced conversation. The counsellor is not there to decide who is right, and everyone gets the chance to be heard, including the quietest person present.
How long does it take? That honestly varies. Some families need a handful of sessions to shift something specific; others keep going for months through a bigger change. Rather than promising a fixed number, you review progress together every few sessions and decide whether to continue.
How can we choose a qualified counsellor and protect our privacy?
Ireland has more than one professional body, and titles can be confusing. Worth checking:
- A recognised qualification in counselling or psychotherapy
- Specific training in family or systemic therapy, not just individual work
- Experience of working online, which is a distinct skill with several people on screen
- Accreditation with a professional body such as the IACP or the Family Therapy Association of Ireland, and current professional insurance
- Experience with your particular concern, whether that is separation, bereavement or additional needs
Statutory registration for counsellors and psychotherapists is being introduced through CORU. Until those registers are fully in place, accreditation with a professional body is the practical marker to look for.
On privacy: sessions run on a secure, encrypted platform, notes are kept securely and confidentially, and you should be told how they are stored. Worth agreeing between yourselves, too, what gets repeated outside the session. That conversation saves a lot of trouble later.
Where children or teenagers attend, consent is handled in a way that fits their age, and parents or guardians stay appropriately involved. A young person still needs to feel the room is safe enough to speak in.
Confidentiality has limits, and these should be explained at the outset rather than buried in a form. A counsellor may need to break confidentiality where there is a child protection concern, a risk of serious harm to someone, or a legal obligation such as a court order.
One thing to be clear about: routine online counselling is not an emergency or out-of-hours service. If anyone is at immediate risk, contact these instead:
- Emergency services on 112 or 999, or your nearest emergency department
- Samaritans, freephone 116 123, any time of day or night
- Pieta, freephone 1800 247 247, or text HELP to 51444
- Text About It, text HELLO to 50808 for a free 24/7 text service
- Your GP, or the HSE for local mental health services
Frequently asked questions
How much does online family counselling cost in Ireland?
Most family counselling in Ireland is private and paid for by the family, and fees differ between practices, so ask for the figure before you book. There are other routes worth knowing about.
| Option | What to know |
|---|---|
| Private counselling | Fee per session, confirmed in advance. Sessions are typically around 50 minutes. |
| Health insurance | Some plans contribute towards counselling. Check your policy, as cover varies and often needs the therapist to be on the insurer's list. |
| Public and voluntary services | The HSE and voluntary organisations run some free or low-cost counselling, with eligibility criteria and waiting lists. Citizens Information is a useful starting point. |
Is online family counselling as effective as meeting a counsellor in person?
Based on the available research, video sessions appear to work comparably to in-person sessions for many common difficulties, and the relationship with the counsellor still does most of the work. Some families actually find it easier online, because being in your own sitting room takes some of the formality out of it. Others prefer a room. Both are reasonable.
What if one family member refuses to attend counselling?
This happens often, and it does not have to stop you. Useful work can be done with whoever is willing, and when one person changes how they respond, the pattern between everyone tends to shift a little. People who said no at the start sometimes join later, once they hear it was not an ambush.
How can we take the first step towards family counselling?
Make a confidential enquiry, or fill in the counselling form, whenever you feel ready. Booking takes a couple of minutes and you do not need an account.
It helps if you can include:
- Who is involved, and the ages of any children or teenagers
- The main concern in a sentence or two, as you would say it out loud
- Times that would actually suit, including evenings or weekends
- Anything you need to make sessions workable, such as accessibility requirements
After that, there is a short conversation about whether this is the right support, the fee is confirmed, you are matched with a counsellor who works with your kind of difficulty, and you get clear instructions for joining the first session.
You do not need to have the problem worked out before you get in touch. You do not need everyone in the family to agree either. Starting with one honest email is enough.