Family Therapy

Family Therapy For Family Systems​

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In our high-stress world, there are many issues that can arise in children, adolescents, and parents that have a destabilizing effect on the whole family. Some of these might be happening in your family:  

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• Behavioral problems

• Substance abuse

• Addiction

• Acute or chronic illness

• Trauma – including sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or exposure to it

• Anxiety or fear

• Depression or withdrawal

• Chronic grief

• Sibling conflict

• Defiance

• Eating disorders

• Mood disorders

• Developmental delay

• Inconsistent parenting

• Marital problems

• Divorce – coping with or adjusting to life after

• Remarriage and blended family issues

• Adapting to a major change

 

There can also be issues with extended family like in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, ex-spouses, and other relations.  Add to that the challenges of parenting, co-parenting, single-parenting, divorce, blending families, aging parents, father wounds, and mother issues, and you can see that families, especially as they grow, take work to keep healthy.

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Family therapy focuses on helping your family develop and maintain a healthy family dynamic.  The goal is to identify and address emotional, relational, psychological, spiritual, or behavioral issues in the family.  If there is a problem with a member of your family or between members of your family, it is wise to seek family therapy.

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Family Therapy: All Families Have Problems

 

All families have problems but when they do, the immediate response is shame and self-protection.  If your child is struggling, as a parent you feel like you have failed.  You also want to protect your child from humiliation. So, the natural instinct is to "keep it in-house" and don't let anyone know. Most families try to deal with big issues on their own, but they may not know how and often they do more harm than good.  Things may even get worse.  Or they go into denial and pretend that things are fine, and they definitely get worse.

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​Guess what?  You're not alone. Every family has struggles with something.  Some struggles are bigger than others, but every family has something they need help with.

 

In a National Institutes of Health study of teenagers, 42% reported having been abused, 33% wanted to hurt themselves or someone else, 28% said there was conflict in the home, 27% had problems with their family, and 20% were concerned about their parent’s relationship.  In addition, 27% worried about the mental health of family members, and 22% said a family member had a problem with alcohol or drugs.

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In America, the family with two parents who stay together for life is not the reality for many families. 40% of children are born to mothers who are single or cohabiting with someone.  23% of children under age 18 live in a single-parent family.  40% of families are blended with at least one parent having a child from a previous relationship. 

 

Whatever your family situation is or whatever you may be struggling with, you’re not alone.  Every family has something they need help with. There is a reason why the Bible says that we are to pray for another and encourage one another.  We need help.  

 

Family Therapy Gives Your Family Hope

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In family therapy, you will set healthy boundaries, improve family dynamics and relationships, get coping skills, address dysfunctional interactions and behaviors, and get help with problem solving.

 

We offer counseling for divorce as well.  We can also help you with parenting skills so you can be the best parent for your children that you can be.  We are here for you if you are a single parent who may be dealing with depression and anxiety more than married parents.  If you are co-parenting, you still want to be there for your child even though you and the other parent are no longer married, and we can walk with you and the other parent, together or individually, through that challenge. We can help you with parent-child issues, wounds of a father, mother issues, etc.  And we can work with your child’s behavioral issues with child therapy techniques like play therapy.

 

​What Happens In Family Therapy?

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It depends on who the counselor is seeing.  Sometimes counselors work with a child or adolescent using various age-appropriate techniques that enable children or teens to feel safe so they can open up.  Other times counselors work with parents, usually regarding helping you sharpen your parenting skills.  In family therapy, the whole family is the client and the counselor will bring in family members for some sessions and also see an individual family member or just the family members at the center of the conflict for some sessions.  ​

 

​Your family will learn ways to communicate better, solve problems, and find ways to work together.  You’ll set goals and work on ways to fulfill them. There will also be the empowerment of knowing that your family is “in this together.”​

 

With children and teens, the counselor will focus on helping them process feelings and experiences, which can be difficult sometimes, especially for young children.  So, our counselors will use methods to help children express themselves non-verbally, such as play therapy or art therapy. The therapist might do therapy that involves playing games that teach coping concepts, drawing, building, writing, pretending, doing experiments as well as talking. You can ask your therapist about his or her techniques when you meet for your free consultation.

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Take The Next Step

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If you’re ready to get help for divorce, parenting, parent-child issues, psychological or behavioral issues with your child or adolescent, it’s easy to make an appointment with one of our trained Christian counselors.  Just reach out to us or call 972-422-8383.