Family Therapy

Family Therapy

Family therapy is a type of psychological counseling that helps family members improve communication and resolve conflicts.  Family therapy is often short term; often including all family members or just those able or willing to participate. Often clients ask “ How can we fix our family if someone won’t attend therapy”; we often tell our clients, that change begins in therapy with the participants and is brought home to the others who refuse to partake, one person can simply be the catalyst for change. Your specific treatment plan will depend on your family’s situation and we work hard to pair your family with the right therapist for your specific needs.  Family therapy sessions can teach you skills to deepen family connections and get through stressful times, even after you’re done going to therapy sessions.

Family is composed of blood relatives, adopted parents, a close-knit neighborhood, chosen family through friends, a community, or a foster family. This family that we acquire when we are born or join in our youth influences every aspect of our lives, from our first moments to our last, affecting who we are and who we become, for better and for worse. We learn our habits, vocabulary, our morals, our customs and rituals, and how to view and observe the world around us.

We also learn how to communicate, how to act, what to expect, and how to love others from these first important relationships.

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Family members coping with a relative who has a serious mental illness.

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Family members dealing with a relative with substance abuse

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Family situations that cause Stress, Grief, Anger, or Conflict.

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Families needing the ability to solve problems and express thoughts and emotions in a healthy & productive manner.

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Family roles, rules and behavior patterns that contribute to conflict

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Major transitions

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Behavioral or emotional problems in children

Milan treatment is comparable to Structural Therapy in that it sees family as a single framework.  Family individuals are empowered to tune in and react carefully to one another.

As the title implies, it permits therapists and family members to use a more hands-on approach to conflict by identifying patterns inside the family.

Treats the family as individuals and encourages, empowers each family member, and improves self-esteem. This is the most individualistic form of Family therapy.

Concentrates on the conflicts that emerge between distinctive generations. This modality states that the familial clashes are due to contrasts between generational behaviors and desires.

BFT is best suited for situations in which individuals cannot or do not want to involve other family members in the treatment. Bowenian Therapy is built on two core concepts: differentiation (learning to become less emotionally reactive in family relationships) and triangulation (the natural tendency to vent or distress by talking to a third party).

Focuses on adjusting and strengthening the family system to ensure that the parents are in control and that both children and adults set appropriate boundaries.  In Structural Family Therapy, the therapist “joins” the family in order to observe, learn, and enhance their ability to help the family strengthen their relationships.

The Systemic model focuses on the unconscious communications and meanings behind family members’ behaviors. The therapist in this form of treatment is neutral and distant, allowing the family members to dive deeper into their problems and  issues as a family.

If you’re looking for homework, this is the treatment for you! This form of therapy is more direct and hence brief than the others. This homework is intended to change the way family members interact by assessing and adjusting the way the family communicates and makes decisions. The therapist takes the position of power in this type of therapy, which allows other family members who may not usually hold as much power to communicate more effectively.

The focus is for family members to improve the interactions and communication between the family.  Your therapist is there to support the family as they work through their challenges and reach their goal.  Also your therapist will encourage each family member to talk about their experiences and to listen to each other.  If you would like to improve your family relationship please give us a call.  We are here to help and support.