More seek help to strengthen relationship

The increase in the number of new family counselling service cases applied to all regions except Region East, where there was a decrease of 2 per cent.

- ‘The largest percentage increase was for Region South, with 7 per cent more cases,’ says Vibeke Sky, adviser in Statistics Norway. Region North had most cases per 1 000 inhabitants, with 10 cases.

- ‘As in previous years, Region West had the lowest number of family counselling cases, with 6 cases per 1 000 inhabitants,’ said Sky.

Most want to talk about relationship and parental collaboration

The family counselling offices dealt with more than 38 500 cases in 2017. This represents an overall increase from 2001, but the growth is nevertheless smaller than in the preceding two years.

In 2017 there were 29 600 new family counselling cases according to the family counselling service statistics. This is about the same level as the year before. As shown in figure 2, issues relating to the parents’ relationship were the main reason for the enquiry in four out of ten cases. About the same share of primary clients contacted a family counselling office regarding parental collaboration or guidance.

Longer waiting times and case duration

The figures for 2017 show that both waiting times and case duration were somewhat longer for new family counselling cases, in terms of number of days.

On average, 145 days were spent on a family counselling case in 2017, which is eight days longer than the year before.

More couple counselling

Four out of 10 cases that family counsellors worked with last year related to couple counselling. Nearly three out of 10 cases were individual conversations.

It is also evident that relationships and parental collaboration are the main topics of conversation at the family counselling offices. This is shown in Figure 3, which shows concluded cases in the family counselling services, by sex and main subject.