Counselling Family Support Services has been working towards respectful relationships in a diverse and changing world since its foundation in 1973, providing a wide range of counselling services and courses to all parts of the community: individuals, couples, families, children and groups.

Family relationships are the backbone of this service, whether preparing individuals for marriage or other serious commitment, or helping enrich existing long-term partnerships with parenting, communication and personal development courses.

Many couples enter into marriage or committed relationships without exploring their relationship dynamics and identifying their individual goals and dreams.  Counselling Family Support Services offers a choice of pre-marital education options for couples to assess their expectations of each other, including:

• FOCCUS : a questionnaire-based discussion (not counselling) process, with feedback by an experienced facilitator;
• Building our future together : an interactive group program for couples preparing for a relationship, covering values, intimacy and spirituality;
• Creating new beginnings : a group program for couples where either or both partners have had a serious prior relationship, investigating past influences to help strengthen the present relationship.

When relationships are in difficulty, we are there for couples separating or divorcing, or helping individuals build their relationships anew. As well as our standard range of courses, we tailor customised services to individuals and community groups.

Our professionally-trained and experienced male and female counsellors offer a sensitive and confidential service to adults and kids alike, from all the challenges of life to dealing with grief and bereavement.

Young people are another strong focus of our work, and our RAP (Resourceful Adolescent Program) is available for both pre-teens and their parents, to work through such early developmental issues as the stress of peer pressure, study demands and performance expectations, as well as nurturing self-esteem.

The goal is to help kids develop skills to deal with their own emotions, with the challenges they encounter, and with other people, and help them feel constructively empowered and more resilient.

Living without domestic violence is a key theme of the work of Counselling Family Support Services, and we offer facilitated, small-group programs for both men and women separately, over 9-12 weeks, which address topics like: conflict resolution and dealing with anger; accepting responsibility for emotions and actions; dealing with stress and non-violent ways of breaking difficult behavioural cycles.

Kids are far from forgotten in this regard, with programs such as F.A.I.R. (Families And Intimate Relationships), which works with all members of the family to find alternatives to violence, and Kids Kount, a counselling and support group for young people themselves who have experienced domestic violence, helping rebuild their strength and resilience.

One often-overloooked issue in our society is that facing men who have experienced childhood sexual abuse or even adult sexual assault, and the highly-trained and sensitive Spiritus staff provide a supportive environment in the form of our 10-week-long Regeneration group program, in which participants themselves steer the content and direction of the journey towards dealing with the different effects of their experiences.

In all these examples, the ethos of Spiritus remains the same: building (or helping rebuild) healthy and respectful interpersonal relations in a challenging world.

Spiritus is happy to facilitate workshops and programs according to need, and we will be happy to discuss individuals’ or groups’ interests.  Our main office is at Buranda in Brisbane’s inner southside, but we also provide outreach services from Wynnum and Ipswich, as well as courses around Southeast Queensland (Warwick and Toowoomba, in association with other service providers).

For more information please contact us or call 1300 114 397