Family Therapy

Family relationships are one of the most important things in life, amirite?—but that doesn’t mean they’re always easy. Sometimes, in order to best protect and nurture these relationships, your family may need help from an outside, neutral professional. A family therapist has no dog in your family fight, so it can be an extremely helpful set of eyes. A family therapist can help focus on relationships and interactions among members of a family (big or small) and how they contribute to overall mental and emotional health. Family Therapy is based on the idea that the family is an emotional unit. Individuals (like us) cannot be fully understood in isolation from their family system. Family members learn to better understand their roles within the family and how their relationships impact each other. Gaining insight and making changes improves the emotional well-being of the family as a whole.

if your family is going through a tough time -- whether it's from stress, anger, or grief, family therapy can make a difference. It can help couples, children, or members of an extended family learn to communicate better and work through conflicts.

When it feels like the issues in your family are too big for you to handle -- and aren't getting better -- it may be time to see a family therapist. They can help you find new ways to manage struggles, conflicts, and challenges.

While family therapists often seek to have all family members (affected by the problem) in the room (or screen), that is not always possible or necessary. What highlights family therapy from individual counseling is its perspective or framework, not how many people are present at the therapy session. This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person. It is within this system that we see the problem.

One way to “see” a family is Systemically. This model focuses on the meaning behind family member’s behaviors and proposes that family communications are happening on an unconscious level. The therapist takes a neutral and objective approach, yet confronts the family with rituals and behaviors that allow family members to provide insight and understanding as to why a problem is occurring. Power is not seen as belonging to any one person in the family, but rather to the unconscious “game” that family members participate in to keep a problem going.

We’ve seen positive outcomes from Family Therapy.

Family therapy can be helpful on many levels.  A good course of family therapy helps:

• Develops and maintains healthy boundaries (where you can love yourself and others at the same time).

• Facilitates cohesion and communication among family members.

• Promotes problem solving through the understanding of specific and unique family patterns and dynamics (once you know you can’t un-know)

• Builds empathy and understanding.

• Reduces family conflict.

The overall goal of family therapy is to help family members appreciate the importance of family by creating and maintaining healthy relationships and mental health. These two go hand in hand.

We love families at Catalyst Counseling and will work hard to help you love (and like, or accept that you do not like) yours too.

Want to learn more?