What is family therapy?

Family therapy can help if your family is going through a difficult time due to stress, grief or anger. Meeting with a professional family therapist can help with working though family conflict and increasing effective communication with one another. Many changes occur within families, whether it is the birth of a new child, divorce or separation, parents changing jobs or children starting school or the death of a loved one. These changes can lead to periods of stress and conflict which may require the assistance of an outside professional trained to work with families. A trained therapist understands the transitions and challenges in a family and can work with all family members to come up with solutions for conflict resolution and managing struggles.

What types of problems does a family therapist work with?

Family therapists work with families on problems that arise such as child academic and behavioral, divorce or separation, sibling conflict, financial stressors, grief and loss and family conflict. A family therapist works with the family as a system rather than with the individual in isolation. Family therapy has been proven to be an effective treatment modality with families. Family members affect and interact with each other on a daily basis and they may end up stuck in conflicts that they cannot resolve on their own.

What to expect at your first visit

When a family comes in for a family therapy session for the first time, the family therapist will talk to family members together to gain an understanding of what each person may be feeling and experiencing and how best to work through conflicts. The family therapist will get a detailed history about what changes the family has been through and how they have coped with struggles in the past. The family therapist will work together with all family members to create a treatment plan and set goals for change. Throughout the therapeutic process, the family therapist will help family members uncover the sources of the problem,  learn to support each other and work proactively on minimizing conflict and changing the conditions that contribute to the family problems.