Family Therapy

Using Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) I can help you learn to manage the conflicts that feel like they are tearing your family apart. Emotionally Focused Family Therapy begins focusing first on where the immediate pain is in the family and the underlying patterns that have formed from this pain. I’ll help the person who is hurt, angry, feeling alienated or misunderstood to be heard by those that they feel have hurt them. I’ll also help the other members of the family to express exactly what it is that is causing them to upset or unhappy. You’ll begin to understand why people respond to each other the way that they do. I’ll create an environment that will support everyone in the family to understand their own triggers, perceptions and behaviors as well as to begin to develop tolerance and understanding of the feelings and triggers of the other members. Together we’ll slow things down so that you can each develop curiosity about the other family members and learn how to ask for your needs to be met in healthy ways.

Whether you are a parent, child, sibling, or part of a blended family there is hope that the negative patterns that have developed over time can be changed. By developing an understanding of the interaction cycles that keep your family stuck in a state of distress I’ll help you to develop skills to communicate clearly with the others. Everyone will learn to understand the significant emotions that drive the dynamics of the family as well as learn to restructure the interactions between parent and child/children, siblings, and extended family members.

I’ll be sure that each member of the family feels respected and able to speak their truth. Sessions will not be used to find blame or attribute the upsets to one person in particular. Together we’ll establish firm guidelines of behavior both in and outside of the session so that no one feels that they are being attacked or invalidated. Relationships that have been damaged can be healed and the dynamics within the system can be re-created so that all members feel happy and valued.

While it is ideal for all members of the family to be present sometimes people will refuse to come. There is still much goodness that comes for the people that attend sessions to learn to relate in more positive and healthy ways. Those in attendance will come to understand how to get in touch with their emotions and express them in useful ways that will begin to soften the exchanges within the family. When that happens the people who refused to attend the sessions may come to trust that family counseling sessions are not meant to blame and put people on the defensive but to help each member to connect with the others in ways that support a healthy and happy family system.

Family Counseling Can Change the Dynamics of Your Family! I’m quite drawn to family therapy because of the powerful restructuring that I’ve witnessed with families that I’ve worked with. Family members learn about the often-hidden dynamics within the family and discover the patterns of behavior and perceptions that have caught the family in an unhappy cycle. With help, families can develop effective patterns of communication that allow them to truly show each other the love and respect that they feel.