Helping families
flourish
Every family is unique, and all families face challenges. Some may encounter more difficulties than others and need support to navigate through tricky times.
WildKin aims to support families to connect with their lived stories and move towards a place of healing and connection.
Growing and learning together
Family therapy at WildKin recognises that each family member influences and is influenced by everyone else. Rather than locating difficulty in one person, systemic family work helps everyone understand patterns, roles, communication, stress responses, and protective behaviours across the whole family system. Therapy may happen at home, outdoors, or in settings where family life naturally unfolds, allowing real-time reflection and meaningful practice of change.
Rachel and Tom’s Journey Through Neurodiversity
Rachel and Tom sought support as parents of two children aged 10 and 5 while also exploring their own neurodiversity. Both were beginning to understand how ADHD traits affected communication, sensory needs, emotional regulation, and parenting stress.
They often found themselves overwhelmed, reacting quickly to one another, and unsure how best to support their children when everyone’s nervous systems felt heightened.
We created space for each parent to describe their own internal experience, timelines, and needs. Using active listening and positive requests, they practiced slowing conversations down and making clearer, kinder requests of one another.
The work focused not only on parenting strategies but on helping each parent regulate themselves first, so they could better support their children.
Nature-Based Practice
Some sessions happened outdoors, using creative nature-based artwork. Together the family gathered leaves, sticks, stones, and petals to create visual pieces representing calm, overwhelm, support, and hope.
We used Tree of Life work:
Roots = ancestry, heritage, culture
Ground = what life feels like now
Trunk = family values
Branches = hopes and dreams
Fruits = gifts they offer others
Flowers = gifts received from others
This helped each family member describe themselves differently and notice shared strengths.
The children especially engaged through creativity, and parents reported that the visual work helped difficult conversations feel safer
A collaborative approach to family therapy
I create safe, reflective spaces where individuals and families can explore their relationships with themselves and others. My approach is flexible, incorporating nature, creativity, and meaningful activities to support connection and growth. By understanding each family’s unique experiences, we work together to develop personalised strategies for positive change.
What Wildkin offers
WildKin provides a supportive space for individuals, families, and teams to explore their relationships, navigate challenges, and foster meaningful change.
Through systemic psychotherapy, I help people reconnect with themselves, others, and the world around them.
My approach is adaptable, incorporating nature, creativity, and personalised strategies to suit the unique needs of each person or group.
Whether through therapy, consultation, or bespoke training, WildKin is here to support growth, resilience, and wellbeing.
Fees for individual, couple or family therapy
Online: Daytime - £100 per hour
Online: Evening - £150 per hour
In person: Daytime - £100 per hour plus £100 per hour travel time depending on location
In person: Evening - £150 per hour plus £100 per hour travel time depending on location
Meet Dom Smith
Systemic Psychotherapist, youth worker, father, son, brother, nature appreciator.
Dom, based in Bristol, offers virtual and in-person therapy for individuals, couples, and families, focusing on helping people have their needs heard and understood. He’s passionate about supporting parents and carers, and enjoys helping families explore new ways of connecting, regulating, and communicating.
Qualifications:
Youth Work BA (Hons), Systemic Psychotherapy MSc
Experience:
With over 20 years of experience, Dom has worked across the UK in youth work, bereavement support, and as a Family Therapist since 2018. He has worked with schools, mental health professionals, and addiction services and was the Lead Family Therapist at a Family Therapy and Eating Disorders Clinic in Bristol. Dom also spent seven years at Winston’s Wish, specialising in complex bereavement cases, including homicide, suicide, and military family losses. He is currently part-time in the NHS CAMHS team and the founder of WildKin.
Make a change today
-
1. Book a consultation
We start with a free 15 minute call to talk through your hopes and aims, and to see if we can work together. After this we'll send you an information and consent form, and confirm a date, time and place to meet.
-
2. First session
This is where we set goals and create a plan for working together. We’ll decide who should attend sessions, how often, explore the history of your challenge, what has or hasn’t helped before, and map out potential approaches for future sessions.
-
3. Do the work
We can set a schedule – weekly, fortnightly, or monthly – based on your needs and availability. Together, we’ll create a safe, trusted space for exploration, with the option to try activities in sessions and, if willing, practice tasks between them.
Trusted by families
-
“Dom has helped me realise that therapy isn't all about talking. I've learned to notice what my body is saying, and slowing myself down when I need to find calm, rather than jumping head first into things."
Alex, 24
-
“It's been so tranformational having Dom as a therapist. He has guided me though exploring some of my biggest insecurities. He was kind and compassionate and even made therapy fun when I needed it.”
Lindsey, 30
-
“Being able to meet at home and out in nature was brilliant. Dom was able to really hear us as a family and helped us with our communication and understanding of what we each need to connect and find calm.”
David, 43 and Sam, 40
-
“Dom is really down to earth, he took time to help us all feel at ease with the concept of therapy. It was good to celebrate our strengths as a family, something we had lost sight of because of the challenges we were facing.”
Keith, 51