Your family is a collection of multiple members who all come together to create your family unit. Your family unit will go through several transitions including the joining and departure of members byway of marriages, divorces, life transitions, incarcerations, and illnesses. During these transitions it is to be expected that inflection points will occur, creating conflicts, traumas and dramas, and negative feelings which damage relationships.
Family counseling, also referred to as family therapy is designed to restore your family by way of providing each member a space to feel safe, heard, and understood. Working with a licensed marriage and family therapist will provide you and your family with the right tools, so the love that is there underneath the pain can rise again. Unlike individual therapy, no one person is the center of the process, instead the sum of the family is greater than the individuals, which makes the family itself the client.
Your family is comprised of subsystems such as parent-child, mother-child, father-child, and sibling-sibling relationships which are also treated by way of family counseling. Not all family counseling concludes with members restoring ongoing relationships, unfortunately some hurts and pains run too deep for forgetfulness but that does not eliminate forgiveness. Since forgiveness is for the hurting, some family members choose to go through family counseling to release the pain and hurt by confronting the parent, caregiver, or relative who was absent or abusive. Overtime, these relationships may or may not be mended, however, despite the long-term outcome family therapy will activate the healing process in a safe and controlled space.
Family counseling is also utilized to support joyous transitions such as the preparation of a child leaving home for college, the joining or blending of family’s byway of a marriage, and the birth or adoption of a new child. During these types of family therapy sessions, each member is able to address their unique feelings, needs, and expectations as these types of transitions can evoke a lot of different emotions for each person involved.
If you and your family members are ready to open up, so you can heal up, then complete the appointment request form below.