Poplar House
Systemic Psychotherapy
What is Systemic Psychotherapy?
Systemic psychotherapy is a relational therapy that addresses the current difficulties individuals, couples or families are struggling with by thinking about their relationship contexts, both historically and in the present day. It is a therapy focused on improving relationships and communication and utilising support from those around us. As an evidence-based psychotherapy, it has been rigorously researched for its effectiveness for a wider range of child and adult difficulties.
As systemic psychotherapists, we undergo robust live supervision within our NHS-based training to enable us to create a safe context for individuals, couples and families to explore their difficulties and find solutions. Systemic psychotherapy training is three or four years long in addition to obtaining a core professional (in my case Social Work and Nursing) and a relevant degree in the field.
Our sense of who we are, and our sense of wellbeing are intimately associated with our relationships – both to other people and the contexts in which we live. When relationships do not give us what we need, we lose our sense of comfort and confidence about the person we are. Much psychological distress is a result of relationships going wrong. Conditions that get given labels such as depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder, are very often caused by relationship problems.
Stratton, 2016
2024 Evidence review for family therapy for Children and Young People
Professor Alan Carr (2024) presented his review of the research evidence from meta-analyses and systematic reviews for the effectiveness of systemic interventions for families of young people with common mental and physical health problems and other difficulties where children are the primary focus of concern. In this context, systemic interventions include both family therapy and other family-based approaches such as parent training, or parent-implemented interventions. He found there is now a substantial evidence base supporting the effectiveness of systemic interventions either alone or as part of multimodal programmes for:
- Infant mental health and sleep and feeding problems in infancy.
- Recovery from child abuse and neglect.
- Children and young people with eating, anxiety and mood disorders (depression and bipolar disorder) and psychosis.
- Behaviour problems including substance misuse.
- Somatic problems including functional abdominal pain and the management of chronic medical conditions.
These results showed that, overall, the average child diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder treated with family therapy fared better afterwards than 72% of cases in waiting-list control groups and 62% of cases who received alternative treatments. The average treated family fared better at follow-up than about 60% of cases in waiting lists or alternative treatment control groups.
Carr, A. (2024) Family therapy and systemic interventions for child‐focussed problems: The evidence base, Journal of Family Therapy.
2025 Evidence review for couple therapy and systemic therapy with adults
Professor Alan Carr's most recent (2025) review of the academic literature presents evidence from meta-analyses, systematic reviews and controlled trials for the effectiveness of couple therapy and systemic interventions for adults with a range of relationship, mental physical, and health problems. The evidence supports the effectiveness of systemic interventions, either alone or as part of multimodal programmes, for the following.
- Relationship distress
- Psychosexual problems
- Intimate partner violence
- Anxiety disorders (agoraphobia with panic disorder, OCD and PTSD)
- Mood disorders (Depression and Bipolar Disorder)
- Alcohol problems
- Schizophrenia
- Adjustment to chronic physical illness
Systemic interventions are as effective as evidenced-based individual psychotherapeutic interventions for all these problems, and more effective than individual therapy for some, including for relationship distress, situational intimate partner violence and delaying relapse in schizophrenia.
Carr, A. (2025) Couple therapy and systemic interventions for adult-focused problems: The evidence base. Journal of Family Therapy, 47.
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Frequently asked questions
Psychotherapists undergo a four-year, postgraduate, in-depth and experiential training in how to work with a variety of people with a wide range of emotional distress, mental health issues and difficulties. Psychotherapists are trained in one or more psychotherapy approaches. (UKCP)
I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and therefore bound by their guidelines as well as my professional bodies (UKCP & AFT). I have a separate privacy policy which I will need you to read and agree to at the start of therapy. The content of our sessions is confidential but there are limits of confidentiality to ensure clients safety and I will discuss these with you at our first meeting. If I work with family members/individuals separately and together I will not share information with you without gaining consent first. Parents need to appreciate that their child(ren) may need a confidential space where information is not shared, and this is similar for couples.
To ensure your safety, monitor my practice and in line with my professional registration, I receive regular clinical supervision but no identifying information about clients is shared with my supervisors.
I am a member of the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) and AFT (Association for Family Therapy & Systemic Practice). The high standards of the UKCP register are accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. I am bound by these professional bodies' codes of ethics and practice and subject to their complaint procedures. This includes adhering to their strict standards of clinical supervision of my practice and continued professional development.
The frequency and duration of the therapy will depend on the type of difficulty or problem you are facing and therefore is difficult to anticipate. Generally, I don't see people every week on a long-term basis as it is beneficial for you to have time in between appointments to practice being different with one another.
I may offer weekly or fortnightly sessions to start with to initiate some changes, then sessions may become less frequent. Some people prefer to work with an open contract, whereas others prefer to work with a fixed number of sessions, followed by a review, this is your choice.
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