Family Therapy
There is no way around it… family therapy can be tough! First, getting multiple people to commit to a specific time once a week to meet together with everyone’s busy schedule can be a daunting task in its own right. After that, getting everyone to open up about various family struggles can also be difficult. Doing this alone can be overwhelming. But guess what? You are not alone and this is where we come in. Meeting in a natural environment with an outside person, your therapist, you can slowly start to tackle some family concerns. The therapist’s job is to help create a safe therapeutic environment with important ground rules for how to manage and discuss family dynamics that cause difficulty for your family unit.
Family stress and conflict can arise no matter what stage of life your family is in. You might have young children, teenagers, or the children can be grown-up and out of the home. Perhaps your family struggles during holiday parties or maybe your young children are constantly getting into trouble and fighting with each other. Sometimes environment changes bring on, what seems to be, a whole new issue out of nowhere. For example, COVID-19 and the lockdowns and increased isolation have increased family stress across the country. Perhaps it's clear now that family therapy is what is needed. Below you will see a short list of some goals for family therapy and some ground rules that must apply for successful family counseling.
Goals for family therapy:
Ground rules for family therapy. Be aware that your therapist will most likely add or subtract from this list based on your unique family dynamic.
As a family, no matter what stage of life you find yourself in, you do not have to be stuck in a pattern of unhealthy communication and dysfunctional interactions. Hope and change is always possible no matter what your fears and insecurities might be telling you.