Family Therapy
My Approach
When one person in a family is having challenges, it’s often a signal that the whole system could benefit from recalibrating. Healing often happens relationally. The mental health of a child, for example, is usually connected to their relationship with their primary caregivers. Family therapy can be an effective way to help everyone involved heal. I see any number of configurations of family members: parents and children/adolescents; adult siblings; or adult parents and their adult offspring.
My Process
At its most basic, my work with families is focussed around trying to get family members to see their challenges as being relational rather than unidirectional; I aim to help each person take accountability for their own role in whatever difficulties the family is facing. This involves coaching clients to speak from their more vulnerable emotions and to actively listen to one another, without getting defensive.
My sessions are between 60 and 75 minutes long. I find that we make more progress with consistent, weekly sessions. The process can differ depending on the configuration of the family. If I’m seeing a parent or parents with younger children, I’ll usually meet just the parents first, before meeting with the whole family. If it’s a parent or parents with adult children or adult siblings, I’ll meet with the whole family at once.
Family therapy tends to be more fluid than other types of therapy—it may feel valuable to have individual meetings with each member of the family, or that may not be necessary. Family therapy is also often a bit shorter term—I usually work with families for two to six months at a time.
Types of Cases I see:
Parents with younger children. Often, when a child or adolescent is having challenges, it can be valuable for the whole family to come in. It’s useful for each family member to express what they need and to reflect on their own role in the family system.
Parents with adult children. As we all know, family conflicts and challenges don’t end once the kids grow up. Family therapy between adult offspring and their parent or parents can be a beautiful and powerful way to make sure we maintain healthy relationships as we navigate new stages in life.
Adult siblings. Siblings are often the people we end up knowing the longest, so, of course, these can be fraught and challenging relationships. Therapy can help us work on and tend to these important bonds.
Substance abuse. When one person has challenges with substance abuse, it impacts everyone in the family. When substance abuse is involved, family therapy can be helpful for all family members to reflect on the impact of their behavior. It often benefits someone in recovery to have the whole family be supportive and part of the process.