“Why family therapy…because it deals with family pain.”
~Virginia Satir
Family Therapy
Family therapy is a form of treatment that views problems and treatment in the context of interactions among family members. In a family unit, no one’s actions, behaviors, or feelings occur in isolation, but are in response to and affect each of the other members. The process is cyclical and at times can spin very out of control!
Have you ever found your family stuck in a cycle of tension or arguing that feels so ongoing that you don’t even know what you’re arguing about anymore? Patterns start to get defined, feelings get hurt, and people habitually react rather than listen and respond. Having a neutral third party in family counseling to help pause, reflect, reset, and bring an outside perspective can do wonders in helping improve family functioning and everyone’s well-being! All parties can have a chance to feel heard and share their experience and perspective in a safe and respectful space where the therapist can act as a mediator while also reflecting and sharing observations that may be hard for individual family members to notice on their own.
I have over 20 years of experience as a Ventura family therapist working with diverse families with children and teens of all ages sort through all kinds of challenges and I’d love to see if I can help your family, too! You don’t have to do this alone! Give me a call today to see how I might be able to help.
I offer family counseling treatment in a number of forms:
Family therapy with parents and children together as the only form of treatment
Family therapy in conjunction with your child or teen receiving individual therapy
Parents alone in a family-based parent counseling (alone or in conjunction with your child or teen receiving individual therapy) *At times, I may require the latter parent-only therapy as a component of your child or teen’s treatment.
In the latter parent-only therapy, the parent counseling focuses on:
Ways the parent(s) can practice modeling
Helping to identify and implement rewards and consequences
Increasing mindfulness around the ways your child or teen’s behaviors may be being reinforced
Learning effective mindfulness and self-soothing strategies for yourselves to help remain calm and untriggered (again modeling healthy coping to your child)
Psychoeducation regarding your child’s diagnosis
Psychoeducation regarding interventions/skills being taught to your child to help you better support their work and progress
A safe and non-judgmental place to vent and share your struggles.
Even simply having a space to share your experience, struggles and own feelings about parenting can lift some of the heaviness and turn hopelessness into hope.
I am a parent, too!
I know firsthand just how hard and how joyful parenting can be. I believe it is the single most rewarding and challenging job in the world! I also know, because of my experience as a mother, just how difficult some of the things I may ask you to do are! But I do so because I know they work! And I am here to support you and walk by your side to help you until you can help yourself! Give me a call today to schedule a free 20 minute consultation to see what kind of family-based therapy might be a good fit for your family! Or click the link below to schedule that consult directly through my convenient online scheduler,