Our family affects who we are and who we become, both for the better and for the worse. We learn our vocabulary, our habits, our customs and rituals, and how to view and observe the world around us.
Anyone seeking healthier, closer family relationships can benefit from family therapy.
Common reasons for seeking family therapy include:
- Divorce
- Parent-child conflict
- Behavioral issues
- Problems between siblings
- Life-transitions
- Any type of trauma that the family has faced
Family therapy is necessary to address family issues and heal a family’s wounds. If any of the above scenarios resonate with your family, consider seeking family therapy. Family therapy can be beneficial on many different levels.
Key shifts that occur in Emotionally Focused Family Therapy*
- Identifying and accessing unacknowledged feelings that underly negative interactional positions
- Reframing the problem in terms of underlying feelings, and interactional patterns
- Promoting identification with disowned needs and aspects of self and integrating them into relationship interactions
- Promoting the acceptance of others’ experience and new interactional responses
- Facilitating the expression of needs and wants and creating emotional engagement
In Emotionally Focused Family Therapy I focus on transforming negative interaction cycles through engaging the emotional realities underlying the problematic patterns and their role in blocking a family’s ability to respond to a child or adolescent’s core attachment needs.
*Quoted from: Furrow, James L.; Palmer, Gail; Johnson, Susan M.; Faller, George; Palmer-Olsen, Lisa. Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (pp. 4-5).
Some positive family therapy outcomes are:
- Strategies to develop and maintain boundaries
- A fostered sense of cohesion and communication among family members
- Promotes problem-solving through an understanding of family patterns and dynamics
- Builds empathy and understanding.
- Reduces family conflict
Studies show that family therapy is particularly important for families with members who struggle with depression, anxiety, trauma, life-transition, behavioral problems, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other behavioral issues. When the whole family grows, each member is better off.
If you’re interested in learning about how I can help deepen relational bonds in your family, contact me today for a free consultation.