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At Alna Family Therapy Centre, we work collaboratively with you to address your concerns. Our therapists are compassionate, resourceful people who believe that, when we pool our resources with those of our clients, together we will find solutions. Whether you’re experiencing relationship problems, or looking for ways to grow personally and professionally, Alna Family Therapy Centre would like to help you to reach your goals.

The therapists and staff at the Alna Family Therapy Centre are helping people — young and old, single and coupled, families and individuals
We work with you to find a satisfactory resolution to your problems — whether they have their roots in the trauma of grief and loss, the paralysis of post-divorce feelings, past or present sexual, physical or emotional abuse, or other issues that affect your relationships with your partner or children, and stop you being the best you can be. Your therapist will help you to name the problem that brought you to Alna, and will work with you to set goals and find solutions that work for you.

Mission Statement

Alna Family Therapy Centre is committed to promoting interpersonal and personal well-being through the provision of family therapy that is accessible to all, and to providing a venue for the clinical training of marriage and family therapists, with the overall intent of contributing to the promotion of healthy relationships and healthy community. Alna Family Therapy Centre offers therapy to families, couples and individuals. We strive to be culturally sensitive, inclusive and accessible.

Our Commitment is:

1. To provide therapy for families, couples, and individuals that is founded on validated theory, and embodied in compassionate, resourceful people.
2. To facilitate the training of competent family therapists who will artfully and skillfully care for families, and conscientiously promote hope, love and creativity wherever they serve.
3. To offer consultation to other professionals and systems, and sponsor workshops which are both personal and professional in nature.

We Value:

1. Respect, confidentiality and integrity as manifested by our therapists’ adherence to the Code of Ethics of the European Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
2. Inclusivity and diversity, for instance welcoming those of all ages, cultures, ethnicities, genders, abilities, nationalities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.
3. A systemic and holistic approach that attends to all dimensions of the human condition, including intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, relational and social well-being.
4. Collaboration as manifested in the way we work together, and in our networking with other agencies and systems within our wider community.
5. Mutual caring and the creation of ’safe space’- a context wherein all can become the best they can be.

Therapy Program for Immigrant and Refugee Families

The new Therapy Program for Immigrant and Refugee Families comes as a result of our efforts to become more involved with our surrounding community. We recognize that there is a large part of this community that we had not been able to serve due to various obstacles, including language, cultural differences, and the stigma many members of refugee and immigrant communities associate with mental health issues.

We examined ways to remove some of these obstacles, and offer services in a manner that would make family therapy more accessible to, and accepted by, refugee and immigrant populations. Many of these populations came from cultures practicing different ways of healing, and did not use ‘therapy’ the way it was used in the Western context. As a result, we have simplified our intake procedure, offered to meet clients at their homes, community centers, other provider’s offices, and places where they felt safe; we have become more flexible with the length of session, secured funding to provide therapy free of charge, and engaged in a truly collaborative approach.

Reaching out and connecting with other service providers working with refugees and immigrants is also a significant part of this program, as we recognized the complex nature of the immigrant and refugee experience and the need for a network of resources. As a result, Alna become a member of several interagency associations and coalitions focused on helping refugee and immigrant populations, some of which are facilitated by the Government. We are also involved in providing education, workshops and training about war related trauma and other therapy related issues to fellow agencies and professionals.

The program is evolving, taking shape, and growing solid roots. Our new clients come from many different countries. Some have arrived to Norway as recently as a few months ago, and others have been here for many years. At this point, we are largely dealing with issues of war related trauma, parenting, and relationship conflict. Therapy is provided in many languages either through direct service in clients’ mother tongue, or through working with interpreters. In spite of all this, there is still much to learn about various cultures, their strengths, wisdom, and ways of healing. There is also a lot of learning in working with interpreters, providing therapy in different languages, and so on. We are very excited about these new opportunities for learning and the potential of being involved in such a significant way, using what we do well to help our community heal.

Alna is very grateful toGrants for Voluntary activity, as with their generous support we will be able to provide such diverse services, meeting the needs of various client populations, free of charge.